Walker County, GA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.74, -85.31.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 53rd pct · 1,431st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 58th pct · 67th of 159 Georgia counties · median $215,610
- 0th pct · 6th of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median $268,258
- 33rd pct · 2,028th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 32nd pct · 107th of 159 Georgia counties · median +2.5%
- 80th pct · 2nd of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median +1.3%
- 37th pct · 850th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 23rd pct · 53rd of 69 Georgia counties · median $1,701
- counties in the Chattanooga metro: only 3 of counties in the Chattanooga metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank
- 64th pct · 1,156th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 50th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median 11,575
- 24th pct · 2,433rd of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 37th pct · 100th of 159 Georgia counties · median $964
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median $915
- 65th pct · 1,043rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 65th pct · 55th of 159 Georgia counties · median 4.2
- 40th pct · 4th of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median 5.2
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 $241,479 (Sep 2026), +1.4% over one year, +25.3% over five
- 53rd pct · 1,431st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 58th pct · 67th of 159 Georgia counties · median $215,610
- 0th pct · 6th of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median $268,258
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Walker County, GA | $241,479 · +1.4% 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 #
Typical rent $1,372/mo (Sep 2026), +3.8% over one year; price-to-rent 14.7
- 37th pct · 850th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 23rd pct · 53rd of 69 Georgia counties · median $1,701
- counties in the Chattanooga metro: only 3 of counties in the Chattanooga metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Walker County, GA | $1,372/mo · +3.8% 1-yr |
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 $1,338 a month on $241,479 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,013 a month: 33.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $241,479 × 80% = $193,183, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,338/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $926 × 52 / 12 = $4,013) = 33% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $241,479 / ($926 × 52) = 5.0
- price-to-rent = $241,479 / ($1,372 × 12) = 14.7
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 #
14,754 jobs at 946 employers (2026 Q1); +0.5% jobs and +2.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 64th pct · 1,156th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 50th of 159 Georgia counties · median 7,095
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro · median 11,575
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Walker County, GA | 14,754 jobs · $926/wk · +0.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 4,624 | $966 | 3.90 | -5.0% |
| Retail trade | 1,511 | $534 | 1.05 | -6.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 1,041 | $1,593 | 1.73 | -2.5% |
| Health care and social assistance | 1,004 | $870 | 0.45 | +0.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 830 | $424 | 0.63 | +9.1% |
| Construction | 537 | $1,352 | 0.69 | -6.4% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 521 | $540 | 2.15 | +31.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 416 | $362 | 0.50 | +46.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 352 | $1,212 | 0.62 | +0.3% |
| Other services | 222 | $944 | 0.50 | +0.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 67 | $982 | 0.30 | +21.8% |
| Unclassified | 45 | $1,415 | 1.43 | +60.7% |
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 #
$654.6 m in deposits at 10 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,996, highly concentrated. $407.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $412.9 m, loans $107,317), $27,635 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Bank of LaFayette, Georgia | $396.2 m · 60.5% share · 3 offices | |
| First Financial Bank, National Association | $73.3 m · 11.2% share · 2 offices | |
| Pinnacle Bank | $65.1 m · 9.9% share · 1 office | |
| Walker, GA | $407.7 m FY2026 · $27,635/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $411.4 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bank of LaFayette, Georgia | $396,232,000 | 60.5% | 3 |
| First Financial Bank, National Association | $73,275,000 | 11.2% | 2 |
| Pinnacle Bank | $65,130,000 | 9.9% | 1 |
| Colony Bank | $50,971,000 | 7.8% | 1 |
| The Huntington National Bank | $39,011,000 | 6.0% | 1 |
| Builtwell Bank | $20,834,000 | 3.2% | 1 |
| CB&S Bank, Inc. | $9,176,000 | 1.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,996 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 = 60.5² + 11.2² + 9.9² + … (4 more) = 3,996
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 | $355,707,620 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $53,487,239 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $17,350,648 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $2,230,373 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,646,283 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,117,718 |
| Federal Communications Commission | -$97,103 |
| Department of Transportation | -$23,708,986 |
That is $27,635 per covered job, against 14,754 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $407.7 m / 14,754 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,635
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 #
Walker County, GA: 7 findings, 7 noted
noteWalker County, GA's average weekly wage was 2.7% 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
- +2.7 % = 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
noteWalker County, GA's covered employment was 0.5% 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
- +0.5 % = 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
noteWalker County, GA's typical asking rent rose 0.5% from $1,365 in August 2026 to $1,372 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.5% = (1371.5833333333333 - 1365.2189045000537) / 1365.2189045000537 × 100
- 1371.5833333333333 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
- 1365.2189045000537 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
noteWalker County, GA's typical home value of $241,479 ranks 6th of 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro, against a median of $268,258.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 6 counties in the Chattanooga metro that published home.latest
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Walker County, GA 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 7 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.