Saguache County, CO
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 38.03, -106.23.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 53rd pct · 1,428th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 18th pct · 51st of 62 Colorado counties · median $448,803
- 6th pct · 2,875th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 9th pct · 56th of 62 Colorado counties · median -0.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Colorado counties: not published this period
- 11th pct · 2,839th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 23rd pct · 49th of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853
- 9th pct · 2,924th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 7th pct · 59th of 64 Colorado counties · median $1,075
- 74th pct · 782nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 39th pct · 38th of 62 Colorado counties · median 6.4
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 $241,669 (Sep 2026), -3.5% over one year, +5.9% over five
- 53rd pct · 1,428th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 18th pct · 51st of 62 Colorado counties · median $448,803
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Saguache County, CO | $241,669 · -3.5% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Colorado counties: not published this period
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 $1,339 a month on $241,669 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,610 a month: 37.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $241,669 × 80% = $193,335, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,339/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $833 × 52 / 12 = $3,610) = 37% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $241,669 / ($833 × 52) = 5.6
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 #
1,536 jobs at 238 employers (2026 Q1); -9.1% jobs and +5.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 11th pct · 2,839th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 23rd pct · 49th of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Saguache County, CO | 1,536 jobs · $833/wk · -9.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 289 | $840 | 26.05 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 148 | $1,038 | 2.52 | +52.6% |
| Retail trade | 127 | $595 | 0.85 | -11.2% |
| Health care and social assistance | 93 | $791 | 0.40 | -10.6% |
| Other services | 47 | $742 | 1.02 | -14.5% |
| Construction | 40 | $770 | 0.50 | +0.0% |
| Manufacturing | 32 | $781 | 0.26 | +0.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 21 | $3,009 | 0.20 | -12.5% |
| Real estate and rental | 15 | $859 | 0.64 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 14 | $607 | 0.22 | +0.0% |
| Educational services | 11 | $440 | 0.33 | -8.3% |
| Information | withheld |
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 #
D3 extreme 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 #
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 #
high (0.75)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$21.1 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $43.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $35.2 m, grants $8.2 m), $28,311 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Southwest Bank | $21.1 m · 100.0% share · 1 office | |
| Saguache, CO | $43.5 m FY2026 · $28,311/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $34.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Southwest Bank | $21,113,000 | 100.0% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000
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.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $30,528,940 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,660,693 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $3,643,160 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,131,660 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $364,367 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $165,063 |
| Department of Education | $30,973 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $11,313 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | -$50,148 |
That is $28,311 per covered job, against 1,536 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $43.5 m / 1,536 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $28,311
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 #
Saguache County, CO: 17 findings, 1 at an alert level, 4 at a watch level and 12 noted
alertSaguache County, CO's covered employment is -9.1% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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.emp = -9.1 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchSaguache County, CO's covered employment is -9.1% 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 = -9.1 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchSaguache County, CO's typical home value is -3.5% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -3.5076301071880986 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchSaguache County, CO's typical home value of $241,669 scores 53 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 18 across Colorado counties, a gap of 35 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 35 = |53 across US counties - 18 across Colorado counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchSaguache County, CO's years of wages of 5.6 scores 74 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 39 across Colorado counties, a gap of 35 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 35 = |74 across US counties - 39 across Colorado 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
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.