Massachusetts

Home values #

Typical home $661,896 (Aug 2026), +2.3% over one year, +25.3% over five

• 96th pct · 3rd of 51 US states · median $350,752

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.

Rent #

Rather than print an empty row that suggests a number could arrive, the rows are omitted and the reason is stated. The rent figures for this state's counties are on their own pages.

Jobs & wages #

3.55 m jobs at 296,429 employers (2026 Q1); -0.9% jobs and +4.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 74th pct · 14th of 52 US states · median 1,934,777

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.

Affordability #

A 30-year mortgage on the typical home at 7.28% costs about $3,623 a month in principal and interest.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $661,896 × 80% = $529,517, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,623/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $2,201 × 52 / 12 = $9,538) = 38% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $661,896 / ($2,201 × 52) = 5.8

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.

Trade gateways #

4 ports within 200 km, 0 land crossings within 250 km

These are the gateways near the state’s centroid, within the radii named above, not every port and crossing inside the state boundary. lib/economy searches a disc around a point; there is no clip-to-boundary path.

NGA World Port Index harbours (medium and large, or any with BTS statistics) and BTS Border Crossing Entry Data ports; BTS Port Performance volumes for the latest reporting year.

National pulse #

1 national series, latest 2026-10-01

FRED series (Freddie Mac, Census, BEA, EIA, BLS, S&P) and BTS Supply Chain and Freight Indicators; each item carries its own date and source.

Largest counties #

The 12 counties of Massachusetts with the most covered jobs.

Ranked by BLS QCEW third-month covered employment from the same nationwide table the screener uses. A county whose cell BLS withheld is absent from the ranking, not last in it.

Metropolitan areas #

7 metropolitan statistical areas lie wholly or partly in Massachusetts.

From the bundled place manifest, which derives its metro table offline from the committed BLS OEWS metro index. A metro that spans a state line appears on both states' pages.

Water #

Drought, reservoirs, stream gauges and groundwater wells are reported around a point, with every row's distance printed. That is a county page's section, not a state's.

National indicator context #

None of these series is keyed to this state. They are national, gauge, single-state or port series, shown as context for the numbers above.

lib/indicators has no geographic selection: every registry entry is a United States, gauge, Texas, port, crossing or world series. Reading these as this state's own readings would be wrong.

What changed #

Massachusetts: 8 findings, 1 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchMassachusetts' covered employment is -0.9% 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 = -0.9 < 0

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

2. noteMassachusetts' average weekly wage was 4.8% 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

   • +4.8 % = 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

3. noteMassachusetts' covered employment was 0.9% 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

   • -0.9 % = 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

4. noteMassachusetts' typical home value rose 0.3% from $660,207 in July 2026 to $661,896 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (661896.4844781387 - 660207.2778196674) / 660207.2778196674 × 100
   • 661896.4844781387 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 660207.2778196674 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteMassachusetts' average weekly wage of $2,201 ranks 3rd of 52 US states, against a median of $1,416.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across 52 US states that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

The full Massachusetts brief, with the arithmetic behind every sentence.

Every sentence in the brief is written by a rule table in lib/brief, not generated, and each one can print the arithmetic behind its number.