Powell County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.81, -83.83.
Assembled 2026-10-20. Read the brief.
- 15th pct · 2,585th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 31st pct · 82nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 1st pct · 3,004th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 23rd pct · 92nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median -1.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- 24th pct · 2,418th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 79th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 6th pct · 3,001st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 8th pct · 110th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 32nd pct · 2,054th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 50th pct · 60th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 3.5
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 $145,749 (Sep 2026), -8.1% over one year, +22.4% over five
- 15th pct · 2,585th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 31st pct · 82nd of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Powell County, KY | $145,749 · -8.1% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
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 $807 a month on $145,749 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,480 a month: 23.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $145,749 × 80% = $116,599, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $807/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $803 × 52 / 12 = $3,480) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $145,749 / ($803 × 52) = 3.5
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 #
3,063 jobs at 333 employers (2026 Q1); +4.3% jobs and +2.9% average weekly wage over the year
- 24th pct · 2,418th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 79th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Powell County, KY | 3,063 jobs · $803/wk · +4.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 503 | $953 | 2.04 | +20.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 445 | $375 | 1.62 | +12.4% |
| Retail trade | 400 | $481 | 1.34 | +9.3% |
| Wholesale trade | 101 | $913 | 0.86 | +16.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 100 | $1,031 | 0.57 | +1.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 80 | $1,541 | 0.62 | -14.9% |
| Finance and insurance | 63 | $934 | 0.50 | +0.0% |
| Information | 33 | $848 | 0.58 | +0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 21 | $591 | 0.42 | +5.0% |
| Utilities | 15 | $1,251 | 1.24 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 4 | $682 | 0.09 | +0.0% |
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld |
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 #
$190.5 m in deposits at 5 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,996, highly concentrated. $83.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $79.2 m, grants $3.8 m), $27,249 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Whitaker Bank | $106.2 m · 55.7% share · 2 offices | |
| Peoples Exchange Bank | $47.9 m · 25.1% share · 1 office | |
| Citizens Guaranty Bank | $29.8 m · 15.6% share · 1 office | |
| Powell, KY | $83.5 m FY2026 · $27,249/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $78.8 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitaker Bank | $106,219,000 | 55.7% | 2 |
| Peoples Exchange Bank | $47,875,000 | 25.1% | 1 |
| Citizens Guaranty Bank | $29,800,000 | 15.6% | 1 |
| Pbt Bancorp | $6,636,000 | 3.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,996 across 4 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 4 banks with deposits in the county = 55.7² + 25.1² + 15.6² + … (1 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 | $69,570,195 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $8,575,228 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1,771,297 |
| Department of Agriculture | $963,386 |
| Department of Transportation | $789,998 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $750,000 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $521,081 |
| Department of Justice | $480,982 |
| Department of Defense | $35,305 |
| Small Business Administration | $9,375 |
| Federal Communications Commission | -$3,207 |
That is $27,249 per covered job, against 3,063 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $83.5 m / 3,063 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,249
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 | 17.40 | 2026-10-19 | -3.1% |
| 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 | 2026-10-20 | +0.0% |
| Laredo truck crossings, monthly · trucks | 255,129.00 | 2026-09-01 | -1.4% |
| 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 | 1,221.00 | 2026-09-01 | -5.2% |
| Building permits, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,400.00 | 2026-09-01 | -0.2% |
| 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 #
Powell County, KY: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
alertPowell County, KY's typical home value is -8.1% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -8.073915067916003 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchPowell County, KY's typical home value is -8.1% 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 = -8.073915067916003 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
notePowell County, KY's covered employment was 4.3% 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
- +4.3 % = 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
notePowell County, KY's average weekly wage was 2.9% 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
- +2.9 % = 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
notePowell County, KY's typical home value rose 0.3% from $145,369 in August 2026 to $145,749 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.3% = (145749.3158099453 - 145369.4847387606) / 145369.4847387606 × 100
- 145749.3158099453 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 145369.4847387606 = 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.