Covington County, AL
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 31.24, -86.45.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 16th pct · 2,564th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 28th pct · 48th of 67 Alabama counties · median $177,293
- 19th pct · 2,460th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 19th pct · 54th of 67 Alabama counties · median +2.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Alabama counties: not published this period
- 59th pct · 1,295th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 54th pct · 31st of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118
- 29th pct · 2,280th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 22nd pct · 52nd of 67 Alabama counties · median $1,024
- 21st pct · 2,411th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 40th pct · 40th of 67 Alabama counties · median 3.3
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 $147,960 (Sep 2026), -0.2% over one year, +8.0% over five
- 16th pct · 2,564th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 28th pct · 48th of 67 Alabama counties · median $177,293
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Covington County, AL | $147,960 · -0.2% 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
- Alabama counties: 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 $820 a month on $147,960 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,112 a month: 19.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $147,960 × 80% = $118,368, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $820/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $949 × 52 / 12 = $4,112) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $147,960 / ($949 × 52) = 3.0
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 #
12,365 jobs at 1,185 employers (2026 Q1); +1.4% jobs and +1.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 59th pct · 1,295th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 54th pct · 31st of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Covington County, AL | 12,365 jobs · $949/wk · +1.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 1,836 | $631 | 1.52 | -0.8% |
| Manufacturing | 1,793 | $1,067 | 1.80 | +4.9% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,041 | $343 | 0.94 | +0.7% |
| Utilities | 629 | $2,084 | 12.88 | +2.6% |
| Construction | 563 | $1,093 | 0.87 | +0.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 453 | $775 | 0.64 | +11.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 448 | $1,201 | 0.95 | -6.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 377 | $1,557 | 0.75 | +1.3% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 287 | $1,094 | 0.55 | -5.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 245 | $1,091 | 0.29 | -4.3% |
| Other services | 244 | $814 | 0.66 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 83 | $796 | 0.44 | -1.2% |
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 #
$1.0 bn in deposits at 11 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,214, highly concentrated. $292.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $272.6 m, grants $14.2 m), $23,680 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| CCB Community Bank | $445.7 m · 44.2% share · 2 offices | |
| Southern Independent Bank | $336.5 m · 33.4% share · 3 offices | |
| Regions Bank | $84.3 m · 8.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Covington, AL | $292.8 m FY2026 · $23,680/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $263.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| CCB Community Bank | $445,699,000 | 44.2% | 2 |
| Southern Independent Bank | $336,477,000 | 33.4% | 3 |
| Regions Bank | $84,337,000 | 8.4% | 2 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $65,790,000 | 6.5% | 1 |
| The Huntington National Bank | $51,346,000 | 5.1% | 1 |
| Local Bank | $22,386,000 | 2.2% | 1 |
| Woodforest National Bank | $1,757,000 | 0.2% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,214 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 44.2² + 33.4² + 8.4² + … (4 more) = 3,214
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 | $223,664,677 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $38,840,220 |
| Department of Transportation | $8,508,087 |
| Department of Education | $4,991,404 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $4,423,000 |
| Department of Agriculture | $4,074,440 |
| Department of Defense | $4,033,384 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,008,516 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $966,541 |
| Department of the Interior | $169,453 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $125,245 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $23,680 per covered job, against 12,365 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $292.8 m / 12,365 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $23,680
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 | 17.95 | 2026-10-18 | -2.6% |
| 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 · % | 72.20 | 2026-10-19 | +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 | 7.00 | 2026-10-13 | +133.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 101.91 | 2026-10-14 | +1.0% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.40 | 2026-10-15 | +0.0% |
| 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 | 652,115.00 | 2026-09-01 | +0.7% |
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 #
Covington County, AL: 5 findings, 1 at a watch level and 4 noted
watchCovington County, AL's typical home value is -0.2% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: home.yoyPct = -0.1660250368311202 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
noteCovington County, AL's average weekly wage was 1.5% 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
- +1.5 % = 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
noteCovington County, AL's covered employment was 1.4% 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
- +1.4 % = 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
noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Covington County, AL is due between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Covington County, AL is due between 2026-11-14 and 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.