Whitley County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 36.76, -84.14.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 13th pct · 2,651st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 89th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
- 0th pct · 3,032nd of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 14th pct · 103rd of 120 Kentucky counties · median -1.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- 64th pct · 1,150th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 27th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- 20th pct · 2,556th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 33rd pct · 80th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- 20th pct · 2,425th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 27th pct · 87th 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 $140,626 (Sep 2026), -10.7% over one year, -2.4% over five
- 13th pct · 2,651st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 89th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $179,218
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Whitley County, KY | $140,626 · -10.7% 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 $779 a month on $140,626 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,930 a month: 19.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $140,626 × 80% = $112,501, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $779/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $907 × 52 / 12 = $3,930) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $140,626 / ($907 × 52) = 3.0
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 #
14,817 jobs at 1,085 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and -1.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 64th pct · 1,150th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 27th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Whitley County, KY | 14,817 jobs · $907/wk · +0.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 1,610 | $615 | 1.11 | +8.1% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,324 | $409 | 0.99 | +4.3% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,144 | $719 | 1.36 | -2.5% |
| Manufacturing | 1,031 | $1,056 | 0.86 | -12.3% |
| Information | 343 | $858 | 1.26 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 331 | $1,324 | 0.58 | -4.6% |
| Other services | 330 | $659 | 0.75 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 248 | $1,090 | 0.41 | -4.6% |
| Construction | 227 | $948 | 0.29 | +0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 211 | $612 | 0.87 | -5.4% |
| Real estate and rental | 136 | $1,102 | 0.60 | +7.9% |
| Unclassified | 29 | $1,971 | 0.92 | +100.0% |
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 #
No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)
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 #
$569.9 m in deposits at 12 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,212, highly concentrated. $315.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $287.3 m, contracts $14.8 m), $21,300 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | $177.3 m · 31.1% share · 2 offices | |
| Hometown Bank of Corbin, Inc. | $135.7 m · 23.8% share · 3 offices | |
| Forcht Bank, National Association | $93.2 m · 16.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Whitley, KY | $315.6 m FY2026 · $21,300/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $236.4 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | $177,319,000 | 31.1% | 2 |
| Hometown Bank of Corbin, Inc. | $135,663,000 | 23.8% | 3 |
| Forcht Bank, National Association | $93,223,000 | 16.4% | 2 |
| Cumberland Valley National Bank & Trust Company | $86,941,000 | 15.3% | 1 |
| Whitaker Bank | $75,768,000 | 13.3% | 3 |
| Commercial Bank | $939,000 | 0.2% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,212 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 31.1² + 23.8² + 16.4² + … (3 more) = 2,212
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 | $182,533,652 |
| Department of Education | $50,289,503 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $36,928,557 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $16,339,798 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $14,593,587 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $7,602,139 |
| Department of Transportation | $4,386,994 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,481,313 |
| Department of Agriculture | $190,333 |
| Department of Defense | $145,754 |
| General Services Administration | $91,121 |
| Department of the Interior | $18,780 |
That is $21,300 per covered job, against 14,817 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $315.6 m / 14,817 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,300
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 · % | 73.84 | 2026-10-19 | not published |
| 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 #
Whitley County, KY: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 4 at a watch level and 7 noted
alertWhitley County, KY's typical home value is -10.7% 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 = -10.738401672128846 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchWhitley County, KY's typical home value is -10.7% 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 = -10.738401672128846 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchWhitley County, KY's average weekly wage is -1.1% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -1.1 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchWhitley County, KY's typical home value is -1.2% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical home value at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI month columns; 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.momPct = -1.193514233873679 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchWhitley County, KY's momentum index is -0.36, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; 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: momentum = -0.35980392156862745 <= -0.25
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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.