Plymouth County, MA

Home values #

Typical home $646,858 (Sep 2026), +4.0% over one year, +28.7% over five

• 97th pct · 88th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 46th pct · 8th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median $681,406
• 33rd pct · 5th of 7 counties in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro · median $715,954

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 $2,700/mo (Sep 2026), +3.0% over one year; price-to-rent 20.0

• 96th pct · 52nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 72nd pct · 4th of 12 Massachusetts counties · median $2,499
• 50th pct · 4th of 7 counties in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro · median $2,700

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 $3,583 a month on $646,858 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,253 a month: 57.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $646,858 × 80% = $517,486, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $3,583/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,443 × 52 / 12 = $6,253) = 57% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $646,858 / ($1,443 × 52) = 8.6
• price-to-rent = $646,858 / ($2,700 × 12) = 20.0

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 #

192,096 jobs at 17,190 employers (2026 Q1); -0.9% jobs and -1.0% average weekly wage over the year

• 94th pct · 167th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 46th pct · 8th of 14 Massachusetts counties · median 194,940
• 33rd pct · 5th of 7 counties in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro · median 319,282

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 #

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 #

134 gauges · 0 flooding · 40 with quality panels averaging 85 % · 43 stale

Sites found: 134, 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 #

74 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 74, 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 (0.05)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.15 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$18.5 bn in deposits at 127 offices of 17 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,471, moderately concentrated. $4.6 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $4.3 bn, contracts $156.0 m), $23,720 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,471 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 = 28.2² + 17.9² + 10.6² + … (14 more) = 1,471

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 $23,720 per covered job, against 192,096 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $4.6 bn / 192,096 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $23,720

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 #

Plymouth County, MA: 18 findings, 6 at a watch level and 12 noted

1. watchPlymouth County, MA's years of wages of 8.6 ranks 157th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 94.90529065969955 >= 90
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level

2. watchPlymouth County, MA's average weekly wage is -1.0% 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 < 0

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

3. watchPlymouth County, MA's covered employment is -0.9% against a year earlier, a watch level here: covered employment below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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.emp = -0.9 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

4. watchPlymouth County, MA's typical home value of $646,858 scores 97 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 46 across Massachusetts counties, a gap of 51 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 51 = |97 across US counties - 46 across Massachusetts counties|

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

5. watchPlymouth County, MA's covered employment of 192,096 scores 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 46 across Massachusetts counties, a gap of 49 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 49 = |95 across US counties - 46 across Massachusetts counties|

   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.