Newport News city, VA

Home values #

Typical home $291,426 (Sep 2026), +2.8% over one year, +30.7% over five

• 68th pct · 972nd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 46th pct · 72nd of 133 Virginia counties · median $309,231
• 23rd pct · 14th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $385,676

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 $1,592/mo (Sep 2026), +7.5% over one year; price-to-rent 15.3

• 57th pct · 582nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 30th pct · 50th of 71 Virginia counties · median $1,806
• 8th pct · 12th of 13 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median $2,050

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 $1,614 a month on $291,426 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,652 a month: 24.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $291,426 × 80% = $233,141, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,614/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,535 × 52 / 12 = $6,652) = 24% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $291,426 / ($1,535 × 52) = 3.7
• price-to-rent = $291,426 / ($1,592 × 12) = 15.3

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 #

101,854 jobs at 4,544 employers (2026 Q1); 0.0% jobs and +12.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 90th pct · 293rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 92nd pct · 11th of 133 Virginia counties · median 9,944
• 82nd pct · 4th of 18 counties in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro · median 18,007

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 #

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 #

$2.9 bn in deposits at 20 offices of 12 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,459, highly concentrated. $5.7 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (contracts $4.5 bn, direct payments $1.1 bn), $56,016 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,459 across 12 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 12 banks with deposits in the county = 40.9² + 20.6² + 13.6² + … (9 more) = 2,459

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 $56,016 per covered job, against 101,854 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $5.7 bn / 101,854 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $56,016

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 News city, VA: 10 findings, 10 noted

1. noteNewport News city, VA's average weekly wage was 12.2% 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

   • +12.2 % = 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

2. noteNewport News city, VA's typical asking rent rose 1.0% from $1,576 in August 2026 to $1,592 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.0% = (1592.0691395691395 - 1575.7661848613552) / 1575.7661848613552 × 100
   • 1592.0691395691395 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 1575.7661848613552 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

3. noteNewport News city, VA's typical home value rose 0.3% from $290,509 in August 2026 to $291,426 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (291425.6943338393 - 290508.67978348956) / 290508.67978348956 × 100
   • 291425.6943338393 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
   • 290508.67978348956 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08

4. noteNewport News city, VA's average weekly wage of $1,535 ranks 206th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of $1,039.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 94 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage

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

5. noteNewport News city, VA's covered employment of 101,854 ranks 11th of 133 Virginia counties, against a median of 9,944.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 92 on the 0-to-100 scale across 133 Virginia counties that published jobs.emp

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

Read all 10 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.