Franklin County, AL

Home values #

Typical home $175,986 (Sep 2026), -1.8% over one year, +19.3% over five

• 27th pct · 2,208th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 45th pct · 37th of 67 Alabama counties · median $177,293

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 $975 a month on $175,986 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,060 a month: 24.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $175,986 × 80% = $140,789, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $975/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $937 × 52 / 12 = $4,060) = 24% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $175,986 / ($937 × 52) = 3.6

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 #

10,992 jobs at 718 employers (2026 Q1); +0.7% jobs and +1.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 56th pct · 1,389th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 51st pct · 33rd of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118

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 #

30 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 13 stale

Sites found: 30, 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 #

20 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 20, 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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$892.3 m in deposits at 16 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,505, highly concentrated. $182.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $167.1 m, grants $14.8 m), $16,561 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,505 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 53.8² + 15.8² + 15.6² + … (2 more) = 3,505

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 $16,561 per covered job, against 10,992 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $182.0 m / 10,992 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $16,561

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 #

Franklin County, AL: 6 findings, 1 at a watch level and 5 noted

1. watchFranklin County, AL's typical home value is -1.8% 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 = -1.8087001963767926 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

2. noteFranklin County, AL's average weekly wage was 1.8% 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

   • +1.8 % = 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. noteFranklin County, AL's covered employment was 0.7% 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

   • +0.7 % = 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

4. noteFranklin County, AL's typical home value fell 0.3% from $176,476 in August 2026 to $175,986 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.3% = (175986.06539183474 - 176475.73610714843) / 176475.73610714843 × 100
   • 175986.06539183474 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
   • 176475.73610714843 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08

5. noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Franklin 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

Read all 6 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.