Alameda County, CA

Home values #

Typical home $1.0 m (Sep 2026), -0.4% over one year, +1.1% over five

• 99th pct · 18th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 89th pct · 7th of 58 California counties · median $494,569
• 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro · median $1,441,170

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 $2,956/mo (Sep 2026), +7.4% over one year; price-to-rent 29.5

• 97th pct · 34th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 80th pct · 10th of 48 California counties · median $2,448
• 25th pct · 4th of 5 counties in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro · median $3,865

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 $5,788 a month on $1,044,951 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $9,282 a month: 62.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $1.0 m × 80% = $835,961, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $5,788/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $2,142 × 52 / 12 = $9,282) = 62% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $1.0 m / ($2,142 × 52) = 9.4
• price-to-rent = $1.0 m / ($2,956 × 12) = 29.5

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 #

780,056 jobs at 78,227 employers (2026 Q1); -0.3% jobs and +5.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 99th pct · 28th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 89th pct · 7th of 58 California counties · median 74,865
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro · median 413,139

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 #

2 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 2, 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 #

364 gauges · 0 flooding · 99 with quality panels averaging 83 % · 82 stale

Sites found: 364, 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 #

5 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 5, 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 (0.06)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.17 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$69.1 bn in deposits at 233 offices of 37 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,352, moderately concentrated. $42.4 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $35.5 bn, contracts $6.1 bn), $54,387 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,352 across 37 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 37 banks with deposits in the county = 21.4² + 20.7² + 18.0² + … (34 more) = 1,352

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 $54,387 per covered job, against 780,056 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $42.4 bn / 780,056 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $54,387

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.

Public companies #

66 public companies file with the SEC from a business address here (PG&E Corp, Block, Inc., LAM RESEARCH CORP, and 63 more). The snapshot was pulled 2026-10-20; 65 of 66 carry financial facts. The county's jobs mix maps to 10 GICS sectors, led by Communication Services.

Snapshot pulled 2026-10-20: 66 filers, 65 with financial facts.

Public filers whose registered business address with the SEC falls in this county, from a committed snapshot of EDGAR's company_tickers_exchange file. A position is the centroid of the address's ZIP code (Census ZCTA) or, where the snapshot says so, of its city: it is not a building. Legal entities only - no officer, insider or shareholder data is read, and Forms 3, 4 and 5 are excluded everywhere. Sector exposure is the county's BLS QCEW jobs mix bridged to GICS sectors by a convention documented in lib/companies/sectors.ts; a jobs mix is not a portfolio.

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 #

Alameda County, CA: 18 findings, 5 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. watchAlameda County, CA's price-to-rent ratio of 29.5 ranks 25th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; 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: priceToRent percentile = 98.23139277818717 >= 90
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

2. watchAlameda County, CA's years of wages of 9.4 ranks 103rd of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 96.66884389288047 >= 90
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level

3. watchAlameda County, CA's price-to-rent ratio is 29.5, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; 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 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent = 29.45792916290926 >= 25
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchAlameda County, CA's typical home value is -0.4% 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 = -0.3714558245205407 < 0

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

5. watchAlameda County, CA's covered employment is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0

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

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.