Nelson County, VA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.79, -78.88.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 81st pct · 575th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 64th pct · 48th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 0th pct · 5th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $382,630
- 52nd pct · 1,443rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 55th pct · 60th of 133 Virginia counties · median +2.9%
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median +1.7%
- US counties: not published this period
- Virginia counties: not published this period
- counties in the Charlottesville metro: not published this period
- 32nd pct · 2,190th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 28th pct · 95th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 4,636
- 31st pct · 2,214th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 26th pct · 98th of 133 Virginia counties · median $1,048
- 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $1,165
- 90th pct · 303rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 80th pct · 27th of 133 Virginia counties · median 5.4
- 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 7.3
Typical home value divided by the average annual wage of one covered job.
A percentile here is a min-max scaling of average rank: the smallest published value in the cohort is 0 and the largest is 100, and tied values share the average of the ranks they span. It is not the share of entities below the value, so 0 means smallest, not none below. Entities that did not publish the metric are outside the cohort entirely and are counted in neither the rank nor its denominator.
Home values #
Typical home $362,414 (Aug 2026), +3.2% over one year, +26.0% over five
- 81st pct · 575th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 64th pct · 48th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
- 0th pct · 5th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median $382,630
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Nelson County, VA | $362,414 · +3.2% 1-yr |
Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.
Rents #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Virginia counties: not published this period
- counties in the Charlottesville metro: not published this period
Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).
What the typical home costs to carry #
Principal and interest of $1,984 a month on $362,414 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,147 a month: 47.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $362,414 × 80% = $289,931, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,984/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $957 × 52 / 12 = $4,147) = 48% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $362,414 / ($957 × 52) = 7.3
The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.
Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.
Jobs & wages #
4,072 jobs at 535 employers (2026 Q1); +1.9% jobs and +0.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 32nd pct · 2,190th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 28th pct · 95th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
- 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro · median 4,636
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Nelson County, VA | 4,072 jobs · $957/wk · +1.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 854 | $653 | 2.33 | +6.6% |
| Manufacturing | 530 | $838 | 1.62 | +10.6% |
| Health care and social assistance | 330 | $978 | 0.54 | +19.6% |
| Other services | 297 | $936 | 2.44 | +8.8% |
| Retail trade | 267 | $536 | 0.67 | -0.4% |
| Construction | 219 | $906 | 1.03 | -4.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 124 | $1,186 | 0.54 | +2.5% |
| Educational services | 91 | $1,457 | 1.04 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 53 | $2,206 | 0.32 | +1.9% |
| Real estate and rental | 52 | $748 | 0.83 | -3.7% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 46 | $970 | 0.27 | -4.2% |
| Information | 17 | $1,261 | 0.23 | +6.2% |
BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.
Drought #
D0 abnormally dry
Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.
US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.
Reservoirs #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 0, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.
Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.
Stream gauges #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 0, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.
USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.
Groundwater #
No USGS monitoring wells within 75 km (or above 1,500 km)
Sites found: 0, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.
USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.
Water stress #
low (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$150.6 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,503, highly concentrated. $141.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $136.4 m, grants $5.2 m), $34,837 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Union Bank | $76.7 m · 50.9% share · 1 office | |
| Truist Bank | $65.3 m · 43.3% share · 1 office | |
| Bank of the James | $8.7 m · 5.8% share · 1 office | |
| Nelson, VA | $141.9 m FY2026 · $34,837/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $135.5 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Union Bank | $76,650,000 | 50.9% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $65,285,000 | 43.3% | 1 |
| Bank of the James | $8,668,000 | 5.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,503 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 50.9² + 43.3² + 5.8² = 4,503
FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.
Federal obligations #
USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $122,503,884 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $11,634,385 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $3,043,731 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,485,728 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,228,989 |
| Department of Transportation | $801,236 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $122,191 |
| Department of Defense | $35,030 |
| Department of Justice | $0 |
That is $34,837 per covered job, against 4,072 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $141.9 m / 4,072 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $34,837
USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.
National context, not this county #
These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.
| Series | Latest | As of | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi River at Memphis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Mississippi River at St. Louis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Ohio River at Louisville, stage · ft | 12.69 | 2026-10-05 | +3.3% |
| Missouri River at St. Joseph, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Colorado River below Hoover Dam, flow (Hoover releases) · ft³/s | 5,170.00 | 2026-02-05 | -25.3% |
| Texas reservoirs, statewide percent full · % | 72.60 | 2026-10-06 | +0.0% |
| Laredo truck crossings, monthly · trucks | 258,700.00 | 2026-08-01 | -0.4% |
| Los Angeles + Long Beach container volume, annual · TEU | 10,513,167.00 | 2023-01-01 | -13.5% |
| Containerships waiting for a berth, all US ports · ships | 6.00 | 2026-09-22 | -14.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 6,830.00 | 2026-08-01 | +7.4% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 96.16 | 2026-09-29 | -3.2% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.28 | 2026-10-01 | +3.6% |
| Housing starts, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,275.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.6% |
| Building permits, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,403.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.1% |
| Case-Shiller US home price index · index, Jan 2000 = 100 | 337.31 | 2026-07-01 | +0.1% |
| Unemployment rate · % | 4.20 | 2026-09-01 | +2.4% |
| US goods and services trade balance, monthly · $ millions | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 646,347.00 | 2026-08-01 | +1.1% |
The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.
What changed #
Nelson County, VA: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchNelson County, VA's years of wages of 7.3 ranks 303rd of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: yearsOfWages percentile = 90.13716525146963 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
noteNelson County, VA's covered employment was 1.9% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- +1.9 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
- the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published
noteNelson County, VA's average weekly wage was 0.6% higher than the same quarter a year earlier in 2026 Q1, on BLS QCEW's published over-the-year change.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- +0.6 % = BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change for 2026 Q1, as published
- the newest QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, so no move from one level to another is printed
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published
noteNelson County, VA's typical home value rose 0.4% from $360,870 in July 2026 to $362,414 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.4% = (362413.56525496783 - 360869.50143705035) / 360869.50143705035 × 100
- 362413.56525496783 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 360869.50143705035 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteNelson County, VA's typical home value of $362,414 ranks 5th of 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro, against a median of $382,630.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 5 counties in the Charlottesville metro that published home.latest
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 7 findings in the full brief
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.