Lake County, IN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.47, -87.37.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 57th pct · 1,317th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 60th pct · 37th of 92 Indiana counties · median $230,095
- 8th pct · 12th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median $340,258
- 39th pct · 1,854th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 16th pct · 77th of 92 Indiana counties · median +4.2%
- 0th pct · 13th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median +3.6%
- 45th pct · 735th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 76th pct · 11th of 44 Indiana counties · median $1,207
- 20th pct · 9th of 11 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median $2,105
- 94th pct · 170th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 97th pct · 3rd of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
- 58th pct · 6th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median 94,945
- 81st pct · 590th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 81st pct · 18th of 92 Indiana counties · median $1,045
- 58th pct · 6th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median $1,235
- 41st pct · 1,784th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 39th pct · 56th of 92 Indiana counties · median 4.1
- 16th pct · 11th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median 4.9
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 $250,943 (Sep 2026), +2.0% over one year, +22.9% over five
- 57th pct · 1,317th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 60th pct · 37th of 92 Indiana counties · median $230,095
- 8th pct · 12th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median $340,258
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake County, IN | $250,943 · +2.0% 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 $1,457/mo (Sep 2026), +5.0% over one year; price-to-rent 14.4
- 45th pct · 735th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 76th pct · 11th of 44 Indiana counties · median $1,207
- 20th pct · 9th of 11 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median $2,105
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake County, IN | $1,457/mo · +5.0% 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 $1,390 a month on $250,943 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,451 a month: 25.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $250,943 × 80% = $200,755, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,390/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,258 × 52 / 12 = $5,451) = 25% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $250,943 / ($1,258 × 52) = 3.8
- price-to-rent = $250,943 / ($1,457 × 12) = 14.4
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 #
190,567 jobs at 12,321 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +3.9% average weekly wage over the year
- 94th pct · 170th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 97th pct · 3rd of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
- 58th pct · 6th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro · median 94,945
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake County, IN | 190,567 jobs · $1,258/wk · +0.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 32,283 | $1,154 | 1.13 | -1.4% |
| Manufacturing | 21,940 | $2,212 | 1.43 | -1.3% |
| Retail trade | 21,759 | $709 | 1.17 | -2.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 20,416 | $482 | 1.19 | -1.2% |
| Construction | 12,608 | $1,958 | 1.26 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 9,977 | $1,216 | 1.24 | +7.5% |
| Administrative and waste services | 9,263 | $1,130 | 0.86 | +3.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 8,103 | $1,419 | 0.62 | +3.3% |
| Other services | 7,980 | $878 | 1.40 | +0.9% |
| Finance and insurance | 4,628 | $1,899 | 0.60 | -0.6% |
| Educational services | 3,278 | $842 | 0.80 | +2.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 2,862 | $694 | 0.91 | -5.7% |
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 #
$16.1 bn in deposits at 126 offices of 16 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,810, highly concentrated. $3.3 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $2.9 bn, grants $236.8 m), $17,402 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Centier Bank | $5.6 bn · 34.9% share · 24 offices | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $3.0 bn · 18.4% share · 15 offices | |
| Old National Bank | $1.4 bn · 8.7% share · 12 offices | |
| Lake, IN | $3.3 bn FY2026 · $17,402/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $2.8 bn · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centier Bank | $5,602,061,000 | 34.9% | 24 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $2,952,217,000 | 18.4% | 15 |
| Old National Bank | $1,395,982,000 | 8.7% | 12 |
| First Merchants Bank | $1,058,596,000 | 6.6% | 8 |
| Peoples Bank | $1,058,097,000 | 6.6% | 12 |
| First Financial Bank | $948,301,000 | 5.9% | 7 |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $837,226,000 | 5.2% | 9 |
| BMO Bank National Association | $629,400,000 | 3.9% | 11 |
| American Community Bank of Indiana | $344,779,000 | 2.1% | 5 |
| Providence Bank & Trust | $289,945,000 | 1.8% | 3 |
Deposit concentration is 1,810 across 16 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 16 banks with deposits in the county = 34.9² + 18.4² + 8.7² + … (13 more) = 1,810
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 | $2,504,190,339 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $238,743,997 |
| Department of Transportation | $197,145,049 |
| Department of Defense | $174,777,654 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $71,457,048 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $53,189,675 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $30,282,727 |
| Department of Education | $29,504,318 |
| Department of Justice | $8,212,041 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $4,488,031 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,666,614 |
| General Services Administration | $2,175,105 |
That is $17,402 per covered job, against 190,567 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $3.3 bn / 190,567 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,402
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 #
Lake County, IN: 10 findings, 1 at a watch level and 9 noted
watchLake County, IN's typical asking rent of $1,457 scores 46 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 77 across Indiana counties, a gap of 31 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 31 = |46 across US counties - 77 across Indiana counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteLake County, IN's average weekly wage was 3.9% 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
- +3.9 % = 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
noteLake County, IN's covered employment was 0.4% 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
- +0.4 % = 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
noteLake County, IN's typical home value of +2.0% ranks 13th of 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro, against a median of +3.6%.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 13 counties in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro that published home.yoyPct
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteLake County, IN's covered employment of 190,567 ranks 3rd of 92 Indiana counties, against a median of 12,958.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 98 on the 0-to-100 scale across 92 Indiana 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.