Portsmouth city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $268,363 (Aug 2026), +1.9% over one year, +25.9% over five

• 61st pct · 1,184th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 36th pct · 85th of 133 Virginia counties · median $307,999
• 5th pct · 17th 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 $1,629/mo (Aug 2026), +5.2% over one year; price-to-rent 13.7

• 60th pct · 548th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 35th pct · 51st of 79 Virginia counties · median $1,757
• 8th pct · 12th 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 $1,469 a month on $268,363 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,691 a month: 22.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $268,363 × 80% = $214,690, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,469/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,544 × 52 / 12 = $6,691) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $268,363 / ($1,544 × 52) = 3.3
• price-to-rent = $268,363 / ($1,629 × 12) = 13.7

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 #

41,898 jobs at 1,930 employers (2026 Q1); -3.1% jobs and +13.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 81st pct · 585th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 84th pct · 21st of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 64th pct · 7th 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 #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

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 #

115 gauges · 0 flooding · 14 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 17 stale

Sites found: 115, 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 #

231 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 231, 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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.7 bn in deposits at 10 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,362, highly concentrated. $1.7 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (contracts $1.1 bn, direct payments $615.8 m), $40,398 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 5,362 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 71.1² + 12.7² + 11.4² + … (3 more) = 5,362

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 $40,398 per covered job, against 41,898 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.7 bn / 41,898 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $40,398

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 #

Portsmouth city, VA: 14 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 12 noted

1. alertPortsmouth city, VA's covered employment is -3.1% 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 = -3.1 <= -3

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

2. watchPortsmouth city, VA's covered employment is -3.1% 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 = -3.1 < 0

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

3. notePortsmouth city, VA's average weekly wage was 13.1% 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

   • +13.1 % = 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

4. notePortsmouth city, VA's covered employment was 3.1% 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

   • -3.1 % = 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. notePortsmouth city, VA's typical asking rent rose 0.5% from $1,621 in July 2026 to $1,629 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.5% = (1628.6325925925928 - 1620.5555681600354) / 1620.5555681600354 × 100
   • 1628.6325925925928 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1620.5555681600354 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

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.