New Hanover County, NC
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.18, -77.86.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 90th pct · 295th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 90th pct · 10th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $270,749
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 27th pct · 2,235th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 44th pct · 56th of 100 North Carolina counties · median +1.1%
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 66th pct · 455th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 68th pct · 20th of 62 North Carolina counties · median $1,550
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 92nd pct · 238th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 93rd pct · 7th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 87th pct · 405th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 94th pct · 6th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $984
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 83rd pct · 517th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 75th pct · 25th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 5.0
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $445,851 (Sep 2026), +0.7% over one year, +29.4% over five
- 90th pct · 295th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 90th pct · 10th of 100 North Carolina counties · median $270,749
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| New Hanover County, NC | $445,851 · +0.7% 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 #
Typical rent $1,719/mo (Sep 2026), +4.4% over one year; price-to-rent 21.6
- 66th pct · 455th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 68th pct · 20th of 62 North Carolina counties · median $1,550
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| New Hanover County, NC | $1,719/mo · +4.4% 1-yr |
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 $2,470 a month on $445,851 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,837 a month: 42.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $445,851 × 80% = $356,681, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,470/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,347 × 52 / 12 = $5,837) = 42% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $445,851 / ($1,347 × 52) = 6.4
- price-to-rent = $445,851 / ($1,719 × 12) = 21.6
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 #
132,693 jobs at 11,530 employers (2026 Q1); +2.2% jobs and +4.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 92nd pct · 238th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 93rd pct · 7th of 100 North Carolina counties · median 16,739
- counties in the Wilmington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wilmington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| New Hanover County, NC | 132,693 jobs · $1,347/wk · +2.2% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 24,460 | $1,469 | 1.23 | +5.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 17,679 | $491 | 1.48 | +4.2% |
| Retail trade | 15,988 | $819 | 1.24 | +2.9% |
| Professional and technical services | 10,279 | $2,505 | 1.12 | -2.9% |
| Construction | 10,000 | $1,399 | 1.44 | +7.9% |
| Administrative and waste services | 7,442 | $1,013 | 0.99 | +2.1% |
| Other services | 4,742 | $832 | 1.20 | +1.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 4,117 | $1,920 | 0.81 | +0.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 3,824 | $3,023 | 0.71 | -1.6% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 3,423 | $1,166 | 0.61 | +2.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 3,049 | $1,171 | 1.50 | -1.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 2,384 | $615 | 1.09 | -0.5% |
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 #
$23.8 bn in deposits at 55 offices of 22 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,074, highly concentrated. $1.9 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.7 bn, grants $124.6 m), $14,575 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | $14.7 bn · 61.8% share · 1 office | |
| Truist Bank | $3.2 bn · 13.5% share · 7 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1.2 bn · 5.0% share · 7 offices | |
| New Hanover, NC | $1.9 bn FY2026 · $14,575/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Oak Banking Company | $14,680,431,000 | 61.8% | 1 |
| Truist Bank | $3,196,348,000 | 13.5% | 7 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1,180,484,000 | 5.0% | 7 |
| First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company | $1,146,625,000 | 4.8% | 6 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $779,593,000 | 3.3% | 4 |
| First Bank | $552,495,000 | 2.3% | 5 |
| First National Bank of Pennsylvania | $405,190,000 | 1.7% | 3 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $367,668,000 | 1.5% | 3 |
| SouthState Bank, National Association | $289,691,000 | 1.2% | 2 |
| Bank OZK | $175,849,000 | 0.7% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 4,074 across 20 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 20 banks with deposits in the county = 61.8² + 13.5² + 5.0² + … (17 more) = 4,074
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 #
That is $14,575 per covered job, against 132,693 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $1.9 bn / 132,693 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,575
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 · % | 72.20 | 2026-10-19 | +0.0% |
| 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 #
New Hanover County, NC: 12 findings, 12 noted
noteNew Hanover County, NC's average weekly wage was 4.5% 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
- +4.5 % = 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
noteNew Hanover County, NC's covered employment 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
noteNew Hanover County, NC's typical asking rent rose 0.3% from $1,715 in August 2026 to $1,719 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.3% = (1719.3714405257767 - 1714.72820797816) / 1714.72820797816 × 100
- 1719.3714405257767 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
- 1714.72820797816 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
noteNew Hanover County, NC's average weekly wage of $1,347 ranks 6th of 100 North Carolina counties, against a median of $984.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 100 North Carolina counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteNew Hanover County, NC's covered employment of 132,693 ranks 7th of 100 North Carolina counties, against a median of 16,739.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 94 on the 0-to-100 scale across 100 North Carolina counties that published jobs.emp
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.