Fayette County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.04, -84.46.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 76th pct · 723rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 95th pct · 6th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median $329,593
- 56th pct · 1,344th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 89th pct · 14th of 120 Kentucky counties · median -1.4%
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median +2.9%
- 60th pct · 539th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 88th pct · 4th of 28 Kentucky counties · median $1,281
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median $1,522
- 95th pct · 156th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 99th pct · 2nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median 16,249
- 86th pct · 420th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 94th pct · 7th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 80th pct · 2nd of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median $1,116
- 61st pct · 1,194th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 84th pct · 20th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 3.5
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median 4.7
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 $330,784 (Sep 2026), +3.4% over one year, +32.9% over five
- 76th pct · 723rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 95th pct · 6th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 60th pct · 3rd of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median $329,593
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Fayette County, KY | $330,784 · +3.4% 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 $1,628/mo (Sep 2026), +3.9% over one year; price-to-rent 16.9
- 60th pct · 539th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 88th pct · 4th of 28 Kentucky counties · median $1,281
- 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median $1,522
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Fayette County, KY | $1,628/mo · +3.9% 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 $1,832 a month on $330,784 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,789 a month: 31.6% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $330,784 × 80% = $264,627, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,832/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,336 × 52 / 12 = $5,789) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $330,784 / ($1,336 × 52) = 4.8
- price-to-rent = $330,784 / ($1,628 × 12) = 16.9
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 #
206,322 jobs at 15,583 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 95th pct · 156th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 99th pct · 2nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Lexington-Fayette metro · median 16,249
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Fayette County, KY | 206,322 jobs · $1,336/wk · +0.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 27,378 | $1,331 | 0.88 | +0.1% |
| Accommodation and food services | 20,518 | $494 | 1.11 | -0.1% |
| Retail trade | 19,976 | $762 | 0.99 | +1.2% |
| Professional and technical services | 13,714 | $1,812 | 0.96 | +0.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 11,900 | $882 | 1.01 | +0.4% |
| Construction | 11,262 | $1,527 | 1.04 | +4.0% |
| Manufacturing | 10,846 | $1,744 | 0.65 | -2.2% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 8,512 | $1,124 | 0.98 | -2.1% |
| Wholesale trade | 6,508 | $1,826 | 0.82 | -3.9% |
| Other services | 6,506 | $997 | 1.06 | +1.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 6,003 | $2,379 | 0.71 | -1.3% |
| Management of companies | 3,757 | $2,796 | 1.09 | +9.6% |
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 #
$12.0 bn in deposits at 114 offices of 31 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 954, unconcentrated. $2.9 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.6 bn, contracts $1.0 bn), $14,219 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $2.0 bn · 16.5% share · 11 offices | |
| Central Bank & Trust Co. | $1.9 bn · 16.0% share · 12 offices | |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $1.6 bn · 13.6% share · 11 offices | |
| Fayette, KY | $2.9 bn FY2026 · $14,219/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $1,978,970,000 | 16.5% | 11 |
| Central Bank & Trust Co. | $1,927,837,000 | 16.0% | 12 |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $1,630,004,000 | 13.6% | 11 |
| Traditional Bank, Inc. | $992,846,000 | 8.3% | 5 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $903,858,000 | 7.5% | 8 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $764,426,000 | 6.4% | 4 |
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | $563,356,000 | 4.7% | 6 |
| Republic Bank & Trust Company | $395,785,000 | 3.3% | 5 |
| Bank of the Bluegrass and Trust Company | $345,953,000 | 2.9% | 4 |
| Bank of Lexington, Inc. | $322,157,000 | 2.7% | 4 |
Deposit concentration is 954 across 30 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls unconcentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 30 banks with deposits in the county = 16.5² + 16.0² + 13.6² + … (27 more) = 954
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 $14,219 per covered job, against 206,322 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $2.9 bn / 206,322 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,219
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 #
Fayette County, KY: 14 findings, 1 at a watch level and 13 noted
watchFayette County, KY's typical home value of +3.4% scores 56 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 89 across Kentucky counties, a gap of 33 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 33 = |56 across US counties - 89 across Kentucky counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteFayette County, KY's average weekly wage was 2.5% 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
- +2.5 % = 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
noteFayette County, KY's typical asking rent rose 2.3% from $1,591 in August 2026 to $1,628 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +2.3% = (1627.6464716509909 - 1590.838646911484) / 1590.838646911484 × 100
- 1627.6464716509909 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
- 1590.838646911484 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
noteFayette County, KY's covered employment was 0.4% 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
- +0.4 % = 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
noteFayette County, KY's typical home value rose 0.3% from $329,911 in August 2026 to $330,784 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.3% = (330783.54144145007 - 329910.5661915168) / 329910.5661915168 × 100
- 330783.54144145007 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 329910.5661915168 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
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.