Des Moines County, IA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 40.92, -91.19.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 16th pct · 2,565th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 11th pct · 88th of 99 Iowa counties · median $192,339
- 47th pct · 1,602nd of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 27th pct · 72nd of 99 Iowa counties · median +4.2%
- 5th pct · 1,289th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 33rd pct · 15th of 22 Iowa counties · median $1,052
- 70th pct · 936th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 86th pct · 14th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
- 53rd pct · 1,484th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 50th pct · 49th of 99 Iowa counties · median $1,057
- 14th pct · 2,609th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 12th pct · 87th of 99 Iowa counties · median 3.5
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 $147,927 (Sep 2026), +2.7% over one year, +15.5% over five
- 16th pct · 2,565th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 11th pct · 88th of 99 Iowa counties · median $192,339
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines County, IA | $147,927 · +2.7% 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 $961/mo (Sep 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 12.8
- 5th pct · 1,289th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 33rd pct · 15th of 22 Iowa counties · median $1,052
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines County, IA | $961/mo · n/a 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 $819 a month on $147,927 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,580 a month: 17.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $147,927 × 80% = $118,342, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $819/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,057 × 52 / 12 = $4,580) = 18% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $147,927 / ($1,057 × 52) = 2.7
- price-to-rent = $147,927 / ($961 × 12) = 12.8
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 #
19,801 jobs at 1,422 employers (2026 Q1); -0.6% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year
- 70th pct · 936th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 86th pct · 14th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines County, IA | 19,801 jobs · $1,057/wk · -0.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 4,008 | $1,224 | 2.52 | -2.8% |
| Health care and social assistance | 3,376 | $1,323 | 1.13 | +3.0% |
| Retail trade | 2,577 | $694 | 1.34 | +0.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,828 | $373 | 1.03 | -5.8% |
| Construction | 888 | $1,279 | 0.86 | +7.8% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 861 | $1,070 | 1.03 | +0.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 551 | $1,069 | 0.49 | -2.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 542 | $543 | 1.66 | +3.2% |
| Professional and technical services | 541 | $1,399 | 0.40 | +0.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 468 | $1,592 | 0.58 | +4.5% |
| Other services | 423 | $777 | 0.71 | -3.9% |
| Educational services | 188 | $825 | 0.44 | +5.0% |
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 #
$1.5 bn in deposits at 20 offices of 11 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,893, highly concentrated. $499.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $270.9 m, contracts $220.7 m), $25,221 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Mid Bank & Trust, National Association | $569.6 m · 37.6% share · 4 offices | |
| Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust | $187.0 m · 12.3% share · 4 offices | |
| Mediapolis Savings Bank | $131.0 m · 8.6% share · 3 offices | |
| Des Moines, IA | $499.4 m FY2026 · $25,221/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Mid Bank & Trust, National Association | $569,596,000 | 37.6% | 4 |
| Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust | $187,024,000 | 12.3% | 4 |
| Mediapolis Savings Bank | $130,960,000 | 8.6% | 3 |
| Nicolet National Bank | $114,176,000 | 7.5% | 1 |
| First Interstate Bank | $113,855,000 | 7.5% | 1 |
| Danville State Savings Bank | $109,548,000 | 7.2% | 1 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $99,429,000 | 6.6% | 1 |
| Connection Bank | $67,752,000 | 4.5% | 1 |
| BANK | $54,679,000 | 3.6% | 2 |
| Farmers Savings Bank | $43,691,000 | 2.9% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,893 across 11 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 11 banks with deposits in the county = 37.6² + 12.3² + 8.6² + … (8 more) = 1,893
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 $25,221 per covered job, against 19,801 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $499.4 m / 19,801 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,221
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 #
Des Moines County, IA: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchDes Moines County, IA's covered employment is -0.6% 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 = -0.6 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteDes Moines County, IA's average weekly wage was 3.8% 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
- +3.8 % = 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
noteDes Moines County, IA's typical asking rent rose 1.3% from $948 in August 2026 to $961 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +1.3% = (960.8333333333334 - 948.4969590716407) / 948.4969590716407 × 100
- 960.8333333333334 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
- 948.4969590716407 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
noteDes Moines County, IA's covered employment was 0.6% lower 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
- -0.6 % = 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
noteDes Moines County, IA's price-to-rent ratio of 12.8 ranks 22nd of 22 Iowa counties, against a median of 19.0.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 22 Iowa counties that published priceToRent
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 9 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.