Jefferson County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.19, -85.66.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 61st pct · 1,193rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 86th pct · 17th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 18th pct · 10th of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median $272,615
- 33rd pct · 2,038th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 75th pct · 30th of 120 Kentucky counties · median -1.4%
- 27th pct · 9th of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median +2.1%
- 33rd pct · 898th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 55th pct · 13th of 28 Kentucky counties · median $1,281
- 50th pct · 4th of 7 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median $1,336
- 98th pct · 56th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 100th pct · 1st of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 100th pct · 1st of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median 16,814
- 93rd pct · 205th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 98th pct · 3rd of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 100th pct · 1st of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median $1,073
- 28th pct · 2,189th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 40th pct · 72nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median 3.5
- 0th pct · 12th of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median 4.9
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 $264,274 (Sep 2026), +1.4% over one year, +21.9% over five
- 61st pct · 1,193rd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 86th pct · 17th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 18th pct · 10th of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median $272,615
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County, KY | $264,274 · +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 $1,336/mo (Sep 2026), +2.1% over one year; price-to-rent 16.5
- 33rd pct · 898th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 55th pct · 13th of 28 Kentucky counties · median $1,281
- 50th pct · 4th of 7 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median $1,336
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County, KY | $1,336/mo · +2.1% 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 $1,464 a month on $264,274 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,673 a month: 21.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $264,274 × 80% = $211,419, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,464/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,540 × 52 / 12 = $6,673) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $264,274 / ($1,540 × 52) = 3.3
- price-to-rent = $264,274 / ($1,336 × 12) = 16.5
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 #
475,926 jobs at 34,503 employers (2026 Q1); -0.5% jobs and +3.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 98th pct · 56th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 100th pct · 1st of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 100th pct · 1st of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro · median 16,814
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson County, KY | 475,926 jobs · $1,540/wk · -0.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 79,111 | $1,538 | 1.10 | +2.8% |
| Manufacturing | 48,582 | $1,885 | 1.27 | -7.6% |
| Retail trade | 41,830 | $839 | 0.90 | -0.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 41,154 | $557 | 0.96 | -1.2% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 40,406 | $1,615 | 2.01 | -2.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 30,285 | $1,015 | 1.12 | +0.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 27,349 | $2,914 | 1.41 | +1.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 27,192 | $1,910 | 0.83 | -1.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 22,328 | $2,151 | 1.22 | -2.5% |
| Construction | 22,228 | $1,625 | 0.89 | +4.2% |
| Other services | 12,525 | $1,011 | 0.88 | -0.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 8,170 | $1,136 | 1.04 | -1.0% |
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 #
$32.8 bn in deposits at 195 offices of 28 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,459, moderately concentrated. $136.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $129.1 bn, contracts $6.5 bn), $286,256 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| PNC Bank, National Association | $7.9 bn · 24.0% share · 30 offices | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $7.0 bn · 21.3% share · 19 offices | |
| Republic Bank & Trust Company | $3.8 bn · 11.6% share · 17 offices | |
| Jefferson, KY | $136.2 bn FY2026 · $286,256/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNC Bank, National Association | $7,865,658,000 | 24.0% | 30 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $6,993,059,000 | 21.3% | 19 |
| Republic Bank & Trust Company | $3,824,006,000 | 11.6% | 17 |
| Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company | $3,725,563,000 | 11.3% | 28 |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $2,884,616,000 | 8.8% | 24 |
| Truist Bank | $2,240,387,000 | 6.8% | 16 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $1,932,012,000 | 5.9% | 15 |
| River City Bank, Inc. | $426,870,000 | 1.3% | 6 |
| Old National Bank | $424,708,000 | 1.3% | 3 |
| Pinnacle Bank | $416,589,000 | 1.3% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,459 across 28 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 28 banks with deposits in the county = 24.0² + 21.3² + 11.6² + … (25 more) = 1,459
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 $286,256 per covered job, against 475,926 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $136.2 bn / 475,926 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $286,256
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 #
Jefferson County, KY: 14 findings, 2 at a watch level and 12 noted
watchJefferson County, KY's covered employment is -0.5% 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 = -0.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchJefferson County, KY's typical home value of +1.4% scores 33 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 76 across Kentucky counties, a gap of 42 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 42 = |33 across US counties - 76 across Kentucky counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteJefferson County, KY's average weekly wage was 3.4% 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
- +3.4 % = 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
noteJefferson County, KY's covered employment was 0.5% 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
- -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
noteJefferson County, KY's average weekly wage of $1,540 ranks 1st of 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro, against a median of $1,073.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 100 on the 0-to-100 scale across 12 counties in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; 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.