Newport County, RI

Home values #

Typical home $787,185 (Sep 2026), +6.0% over one year, +38.0% over five

• 98th pct · 44th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 Rhode Island counties · median $650,424
• 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Providence-Warwick metro · median $598,058

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 $3,069/mo (Sep 2026), +8.4% over one year; price-to-rent 21.4

• 98th pct · 26th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 Rhode Island counties · median $2,460
• 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Providence-Warwick metro · median $2,326

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 $4,360 a month on $787,185 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,626 a month: 65.8% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $787,185 × 80% = $629,748, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $4,360/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,529 × 52 / 12 = $6,626) = 66% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $787,185 / ($1,529 × 52) = 9.9
• price-to-rent = $787,185 / ($3,069 × 12) = 21.4

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 #

40,418 jobs at 4,489 employers (2026 Q1); -0.5% jobs and +8.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 81st pct · 602nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 25th pct · 4th of 5 Rhode Island counties · median 57,458
• 20th pct · 5th of 6 counties in the Providence-Warwick metro · median 66,158

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 #

135 gauges · 0 flooding · 41 with quality panels averaging 86 % · 44 stale

Sites found: 135, 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 #

38 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 38, 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 + 0.2×0.14 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$2.7 bn in deposits at 25 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,072, highly concentrated. $1.3 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (contracts $679.1 m, direct payments $604.0 m), $32,479 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,072 across 10 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 10 banks with deposits in the county = 51.3² + 15.2² + 8.9² + … (7 more) = 3,072

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 $32,479 per covered job, against 40,418 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.3 bn / 40,418 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $32,479

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 #

Newport County, RI: 24 findings, 6 at a watch level and 18 noted

1. watchNewport County, RI's years of wages of 9.9 ranks 85th 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 = 97.25669497060746 >= 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. watchNewport County, RI's covered employment is -0.5% 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 = -0.5 < 0

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

3. watchNewport County, RI's typical asking rent is -1.5% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI 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: rent.momPct = -1.476671530648755 <= -1
   • month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns

   arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchNewport County, RI's typical asking rent is +8.4% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 8 percent above a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; 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: rent.yoyPct = 8.356159670149266 >= 8

   arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

5. watchNewport County, RI's covered employment of 40,418 scores 81 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 25 across Rhode Island counties, a gap of 56 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 56 = |81 across US counties - 25 across Rhode Island 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.