Van Buren County, MI

Home values #

Typical home $272,490 (Sep 2026), +4.3% over one year, +17.6% over five

• 63rd pct · 1,127th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 79th pct · 18th of 83 Michigan counties · median $225,043

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 $1,626/mo (Sep 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 14.0

• 60th pct · 542nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 76th pct · 10th of 40 Michigan counties · median $1,387

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 $1,509 a month on $272,490 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,858 a month: 31.1% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $272,490 × 80% = $217,992, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,509/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,121 × 52 / 12 = $4,858) = 31% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $272,490 / ($1,121 × 52) = 4.7
• price-to-rent = $272,490 / ($1,626 × 12) = 14.0

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 #

20,720 jobs at 1,718 employers (2026 Q1); +3.5% jobs and +4.6% average weekly wage over the year

• 72nd pct · 899th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 67th pct · 28th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

42 gauges · 0 flooding · 6 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 12 stale

Sites found: 42, 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 #

30 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 30, 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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$742.5 m in deposits at 10 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,713, moderately concentrated. $567.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $513.3 m, contracts $28.5 m), $27,381 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,713 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 23.7² + 19.5² + 17.4² + … (4 more) = 1,713

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 $27,381 per covered job, against 20,720 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $567.3 m / 20,720 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,381

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 #

Van Buren County, MI: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchVan Buren County, MI's typical home value of +4.3% scores 68 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 32 across Michigan counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |68 across US counties - 32 across Michigan counties|

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

2. noteVan Buren County, MI's average weekly wage was 4.6% 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

   • +4.6 % = 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

3. noteVan Buren County, MI's covered employment was 3.5% 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

   • +3.5 % = 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

4. noteVan Buren County, MI's typical asking rent rose 1.9% from $1,595 in August 2026 to $1,626 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.9% = (1625.6547619047622 - 1594.7205275339682) / 1594.7205275339682 × 100
   • 1625.6547619047622 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 1594.7205275339682 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

5. noteVan Buren County, MI's momentum index of 0.73 ranks 150th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 0.23.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published momentum
   • momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)

   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.