Christian County, MO

Home values #

Typical home $318,549 (Sep 2026), +2.6% over one year, +27.5% over five

• 74th pct · 795th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 93rd pct · 8th of 113 Missouri counties · median $221,167
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Springfield metro · median $268,140

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 $1,526/mo (Sep 2026), +5.6% over one year; price-to-rent 17.4

• 51st pct · 655th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 82nd pct · 7th of 35 Missouri counties · median $1,229
• counties in the Springfield metro: only 4 of counties in the Springfield metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank

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 $1,764 a month on $318,549 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,792 a month: 46.5% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $318,549 × 80% = $254,839, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,764/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $875 × 52 / 12 = $3,792) = 47% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $318,549 / ($875 × 52) = 7.0
• price-to-rent = $318,549 / ($1,526 × 12) = 17.4

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 #

21,143 jobs at 2,590 employers (2026 Q1); +1.7% jobs and +5.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 72nd pct · 890th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 84th pct · 19th of 115 Missouri counties · median 4,996
• 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Springfield metro · median 9,637

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 #

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 #

30 gauges · 0 flooding · 2 with quality panels averaging 88 % · 5 stale

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 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 #

28 wells in 1 named aquifer: Ozark Plateaus aquifer system

Sites found: 28, 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 (0.52)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 + 0.2×0.13 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.9 bn in deposits at 29 offices of 14 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 998, unconcentrated. $553.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $537.0 m, grants $15.5 m), $26,156 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 998 across 14 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls unconcentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 14 banks with deposits in the county = 15.2² + 15.1² + 11.9² + … (11 more) = 998

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 $26,156 per covered job, against 21,143 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $553.0 m / 21,143 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $26,156

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 #

Christian County, MO: 11 findings, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchChristian County, MO's typical asking rent of $1,526 scores 52 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 82 across Missouri counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |52 across US counties - 82 across Missouri counties|

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

2. noteChristian County, MO's average weekly wage was 5.4% 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

   • +5.4 % = 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

3. noteChristian County, MO's covered employment was 1.7% 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

   • +1.7 % = 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. noteChristian County, MO's typical home value rose 0.3% from $317,471 in August 2026 to $318,549 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (318548.78009715525 - 317471.0860310991) / 317471.0860310991 × 100
   • 318548.78009715525 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
   • 317471.0860310991 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08

5. noteChristian County, MO's typical home value of $318,549 ranks 1st of 5 counties in the Springfield metro, against a median of $268,140.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 100 on the 0-to-100 scale across 5 counties in the Springfield metro that published home.latest

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

Read all 11 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.