Washington County, MD

Home values #

Typical home $327,924 (Sep 2026), +0.5% over one year, +21.0% over five

• 75th pct · 736th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 26th pct · 18th of 24 Maryland counties · median $417,647
• counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,442/mo (Sep 2026), +2.5% over one year; price-to-rent 19.0

• 44th pct · 754th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 14th pct · 19th of 22 Maryland counties · median $1,875
• counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,816 a month on $327,924 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,931 a month: 36.8% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $327,924 × 80% = $262,339, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,816/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,138 × 52 / 12 = $4,931) = 37% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $327,924 / ($1,138 × 52) = 5.5
• price-to-rent = $327,924 / ($1,442 × 12) = 19.0

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 #

67,595 jobs at 3,790 employers (2026 Q1); +4.7% jobs and -0.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 87th pct · 407th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 65th pct · 9th of 24 Maryland counties · median 44,580
• counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Hagerstown-Martinsburg metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

5 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 5, 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 #

94 gauges · 0 flooding · 22 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 29 stale

Sites found: 94, 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 #

50 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 50, 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 (0.16)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$3.4 bn in deposits at 40 offices of 13 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,389, moderately concentrated. $1.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $914.1 m, contracts $175.6 m), $17,327 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,389 across 13 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 13 banks with deposits in the county = 18.5² + 17.5² + 16.9² + … (10 more) = 1,389

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 $17,327 per covered job, against 67,595 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.2 bn / 67,595 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,327

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 #

Washington County, MD: 12 findings, 4 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchWashington County, MD's average weekly wage is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchWashington County, MD's typical home value of $327,924 scores 76 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 26 across Maryland counties, a gap of 50 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 50 = |76 across US counties - 26 across Maryland counties|

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

3. watchWashington County, MD's years of wages of 5.5 scores 74 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 39 across Maryland counties, a gap of 35 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 35 = |74 across US counties - 39 across Maryland counties|
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

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

4. watchWashington County, MD's typical asking rent of $1,442 scores 45 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 14 across Maryland counties, a gap of 30 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 30 = |45 across US counties - 14 across Maryland counties|

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

5. noteWashington County, MD's covered employment was 4.7% 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

   • +4.7 % = 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

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.