Jefferson County, MO

Home values #

Typical home $291,892 (Sep 2026), +4.3% over one year, +25.5% over five

• 68th pct · 965th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 90th pct · 12th of 113 Missouri counties · median $221,167
• 71st pct · 5th of 15 counties in the St. Louis metro · median $225,207

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 $1,582/mo (Sep 2026), +5.3% over one year; price-to-rent 15.4

• 55th pct · 599th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 88th pct · 5th of 35 Missouri counties · median $1,229
• 88th pct · 2nd of 10 counties in the St. Louis metro · median $1,310

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 $1,617 a month on $291,892 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,390 a month: 36.8% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $291,892 × 80% = $233,514, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,617/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,013 × 52 / 12 = $4,390) = 37% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $291,892 / ($1,013 × 52) = 5.5
• price-to-rent = $291,892 / ($1,582 × 12) = 15.4

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 #

49,599 jobs at 4,881 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +4.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 84th pct · 512th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 92nd pct · 10th of 115 Missouri counties · median 4,996
• 64th pct · 6th of 15 counties in the St. Louis metro · median 12,995

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 #

D0 abnormally dry

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 #

$3.9 bn in deposits at 44 offices of 24 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 831, unconcentrated. $1.4 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.4 bn, contracts $34.7 m), $29,206 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 831 across 24 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls unconcentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 24 banks with deposits in the county = 12.7² + 12.0² + 11.5² + … (21 more) = 831

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 $29,206 per covered job, against 49,599 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.4 bn / 49,599 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $29,206

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 #

Jefferson County, MO: 9 findings, 2 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchJefferson County, MO's average weekly wage of $1,013 scores 44 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 78 across Missouri counties, a gap of 34 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 34 = |44 across US counties - 78 across Missouri counties|

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

2. watchJefferson County, MO's typical asking rent of $1,582 scores 56 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 88 across Missouri counties, a gap of 32 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 32 = |56 across US counties - 88 across Missouri counties|

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

3. noteJefferson County, MO's average weekly wage was 4.8% 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

   • +4.8 % = 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

4. noteJefferson County, MO'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

5. noteJefferson County, MO's covered employment of 49,599 ranks 10th of 115 Missouri counties, against a median of 4,996.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 92 on the 0-to-100 scale across 115 Missouri counties that published jobs.emp

   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.