Poquoson city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $463,742 (Aug 2026), +1.6% over one year, +22.5% over five

• 91st pct · 264th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 84th pct · 22nd of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 82nd pct · 4th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $389,478

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 #

Typical rent $1,713/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 22.6

• 67th pct · 457th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 44th pct · 44th of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 25th pct · 10th of 13 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $2,064

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 $2,538 a month on $463,742 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,874 a month: 65.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $463,742 × 80% = $370,994, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,538/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $894 × 52 / 12 = $3,874) = 66% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $463,742 / ($894 × 52) = 10.0
• price-to-rent = $463,742 / ($1,713 × 12) = 22.6

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 #

1,790 jobs at 246 employers (2026 Q1); -3.9% jobs and +1.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 14th pct · 2,760th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 4th pct · 127th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 17th pct · 15th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 18,007

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 #

D1 moderate drought

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

36 gauges · 0 flooding · 17 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 17 stale

Sites found: 36, 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 #

243 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 243, 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 (0.16)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$73.6 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $103.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $100.5 m, grants $1.9 m), $57,595 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000

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.

That is $57,595 per covered job, against 1,790 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $103.1 m / 1,790 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $57,595

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.

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 #

Poquoson city, VA: 16 findings, 1 at an alert level, 2 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. alertPoquoson city, VA's covered employment is -3.9% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -3.9 <= -3

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchPoquoson city, VA's years of wages of 10.0 ranks 82nd 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 = 97.3546701502286 >= 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

3. watchPoquoson city, VA's covered employment is -3.9% against a year earlier, a watch level here: covered employment below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -3.9 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

4. notePoquoson city, VA's covered employment was 3.9% lower 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

   • -3.9 % = 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

5. notePoquoson city, VA's average weekly wage was 1.7% 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

   • +1.7 % = 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

Read all 12 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.