Kenton County, KY

Home values #

Typical home $286,827 (Sep 2026), +2.1% over one year, +25.2% over five

• 67th pct · 1,002nd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 91st pct · 11th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
• 50th pct · 8th of 15 counties in the Cincinnati metro · median $286,827

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 $1,483/mo (Sep 2026), +5.0% over one year; price-to-rent 16.1

• 47th pct · 709th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 70th pct · 9th of 28 Kentucky counties · median $1,281
• 28th pct · 6th of 8 counties in the Cincinnati metro · median $1,498

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 $1,589 a month on $286,827 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,392 a month: 24.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $286,827 × 80% = $229,462, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,589/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,475 × 52 / 12 = $6,392) = 25% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $286,827 / ($1,475 × 52) = 3.7
• price-to-rent = $286,827 / ($1,483 × 12) = 16.1

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 #

75,074 jobs at 6,288 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 88th pct · 375th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 97th pct · 4th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
• 71st pct · 5th of 15 counties in the Cincinnati metro · median 14,828

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 #

$4.2 bn in deposits at 45 offices of 18 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,235, moderately concentrated. $1.0 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $860.6 m, grants $107.3 m), $13,781 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,235 across 17 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 17 banks with deposits in the county = 20.9² + 16.6² + 12.8² + … (14 more) = 1,235

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 $13,781 per covered job, against 75,074 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.0 bn / 75,074 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $13,781

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.

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 #

Kenton County, KY: 12 findings, 1 at a watch level and 11 noted

1. watchKenton County, KY's typical home value of +2.1% scores 41 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 79 across Kentucky counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |41 across US counties - 79 across Kentucky counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

2. noteKenton County, KY's average weekly wage was 4.4% 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

   • +4.4 % = 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

3. noteKenton County, KY's typical asking rent rose 0.7% from $1,473 in August 2026 to $1,483 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.7% = (1482.5021330496022 - 1472.511576935949) / 1472.511576935949 × 100
   • 1482.5021330496022 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 1472.511576935949 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

4. noteKenton 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

5. noteKenton County, KY's average weekly wage of $1,475 ranks 4th of 120 Kentucky counties, against a median of $953.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 97 on the 0-to-100 scale across 120 Kentucky counties 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.