Monroe County, AL
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 31.58, -87.38.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 13th pct · 2,664th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 19th pct · 54th of 67 Alabama counties · median $177,293
- 64th pct · 1,085th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 72nd pct · 19th of 67 Alabama counties · median +2.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Alabama counties: not published this period
- 40th pct · 1,901st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 44th of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118
- 58th pct · 1,341st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 68th pct · 22nd of 67 Alabama counties · median $1,024
- 11th pct · 2,720th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 18th pct · 55th 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 $139,546 (Sep 2026), +4.0% over one year, +7.7% over five
- 13th pct · 2,664th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 19th pct · 54th of 67 Alabama counties · median $177,293
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Monroe County, AL | $139,546 · +4.0% 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 $773 a month on $139,546 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,676 a month: 16.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $139,546 × 80% = $111,637, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $773/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,079 × 52 / 12 = $4,676) = 17% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $139,546 / ($1,079 × 52) = 2.5
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 #
5,744 jobs at 509 employers (2026 Q1); -4.5% jobs and +1.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 40th pct · 1,901st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 44th of 67 Alabama counties · median 10,118
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Monroe County, AL | 5,744 jobs · $1,079/wk · -4.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,263 | $1,691 | 2.73 | -0.8% |
| Retail trade | 718 | $583 | 1.28 | +2.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 350 | $1,095 | 1.45 | -5.1% |
| Accommodation and food services | 308 | $351 | 0.60 | +0.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 244 | $754 | 0.75 | +2.5% |
| Construction | 182 | $1,478 | 0.60 | -4.2% |
| Other services | 171 | $1,068 | 1.00 | -9.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 157 | $1,651 | 0.71 | -48.7% |
| Finance and insurance | 123 | $1,230 | 0.53 | +0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 40 | $349 | 0.42 | +0.0% |
| Utilities | 30 | $2,219 | 1.32 | +3.4% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld |
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 #
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$420.2 m in deposits at 7 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,385, highly concentrated. $148.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $144.5 m, grants $3.7 m), $25,917 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| United Bank | $129.5 m · 30.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Trustmark Bank | $120.2 m · 28.6% share · 1 office | |
| Peoples Exchange Bank | $86.6 m · 20.6% share · 1 office | |
| Monroe, AL | $148.9 m FY2026 · $25,917/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Bank | $129,490,000 | 30.8% | 2 |
| Trustmark Bank | $120,216,000 | 28.6% | 1 |
| Peoples Exchange Bank | $86,612,000 | 20.6% | 1 |
| Regions Bank | $46,315,000 | 11.0% | 1 |
| The First National Bank and Trust | $35,237,000 | 8.4% | 1 |
| Woodforest National Bank | $2,368,000 | 0.6% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,385 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 = 30.8² + 28.6² + 20.6² + … (3 more) = 2,385
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 #
That is $25,917 per covered job, against 5,744 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $148.9 m / 5,744 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,917
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 #
Monroe County, AL: 10 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertMonroe County, AL's covered employment is -4.5% 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 = -4.5 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchMonroe County, AL's covered employment is -4.5% 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 = -4.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteMonroe County, AL's covered employment was 4.5% 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
- -4.5 % = 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
noteMonroe County, AL's average weekly wage was 1.1% 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
- +1.1 % = 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
noteMonroe County, AL's typical home value rose 0.7% from $138,558 in August 2026 to $139,546 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.7% = (139545.9820095007 - 138557.84623460137) / 138557.84623460137 × 100
- 139545.9820095007 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 138557.84623460137 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
Read all 10 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.