Franklin County, ME

Home values #

Typical home $290,988 (Sep 2026), +1.0% over one year, +24.4% over five

• 68th pct · 976th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 33rd pct · 11th of 16 Maine counties · median $322,387

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
• Maine 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 $1,612 a month on $290,988 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,108 a month: 39.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $290,988 × 80% = $232,790, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,612/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $948 × 52 / 12 = $4,108) = 39% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $290,988 / ($948 × 52) = 5.9

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 #

10,837 jobs at 1,102 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +2.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 56th pct · 1,398th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 26th pct · 12th of 16 Maine counties · median 16,807

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 #

D1 moderate drought

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

19 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels

Sites found: 19, 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 #

8 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 8, 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 #

moderate (0.25)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35

Banks & federal dollars #

$870.5 m in deposits at 12 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,376, highly concentrated. $246.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $227.6 m, grants $17.5 m), $22,752 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,376 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 52.2² + 18.1² + 14.0² + … (2 more) = 3,376

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.

That is $22,752 per covered job, against 10,837 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $246.6 m / 10,837 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $22,752

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 #

Franklin County, ME: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchFranklin County, ME's typical home value of $290,988 scores 68 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 33 across Maine counties, a gap of 35 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 35 = |68 across US counties - 33 across Maine counties|

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

2. noteFranklin County, ME's average weekly wage was 2.2% 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

   • +2.2 % = 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. noteFranklin County, ME's typical home value fell 0.5% from $292,455 in August 2026 to $290,988 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.5% = (290987.8733511917 - 292454.55936283636) / 292454.55936283636 × 100
   • 290987.8733511917 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
   • 292454.55936283636 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08

4. noteFranklin County, ME'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. noteFranklin County, ME's average weekly wage of $948 ranks 15th of 16 Maine counties, against a median of $1,117.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 7 on the 0-to-100 scale across 16 Maine counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage

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

Read all 7 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.