Yellowstone County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 45.94, -108.28.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 86th pct · 413th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 70th pct · 17th of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 43rd pct · 1,740th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 23rd pct · 43rd of 56 Montana counties · median +3.9%
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 39th pct · 825th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 0th pct · 10th of 10 Montana counties · median $1,628
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 89th pct · 342nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 100th pct · 1st of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 83rd pct · 525th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 92nd pct · 5th of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 79th pct · 622nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 58th pct · 24th of 56 Montana counties · median 5.5
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $401,522 (Sep 2026), +2.3% over one year, +26.0% over five
- 86th pct · 413th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 70th pct · 17th of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone County, MT | $401,522 · +2.3% 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 $1,392/mo (Sep 2026), +3.7% over one year; price-to-rent 24.0
- 39th pct · 825th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 0th pct · 10th of 10 Montana counties · median $1,628
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone County, MT | $1,392/mo · +3.7% 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 $2,224 a month on $401,522 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,568 a month: 39.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $401,522 × 80% = $321,217, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,224/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,285 × 52 / 12 = $5,568) = 40% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $401,522 / ($1,285 × 52) = 6.0
- price-to-rent = $401,522 / ($1,392 × 12) = 24.0
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 #
86,051 jobs at 7,793 employers (2026 Q1); -0.3% jobs and +4.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 89th pct · 342nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 100th pct · 1st of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- counties in the Billings metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Billings metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone County, MT | 86,051 jobs · $1,285/wk · -0.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 15,700 | $1,404 | 1.21 | +1.6% |
| Retail trade | 10,706 | $861 | 1.28 | -1.8% |
| Accommodation and food services | 9,791 | $541 | 1.27 | -2.0% |
| Construction | 5,787 | $1,393 | 1.28 | +4.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 5,424 | $2,077 | 1.65 | -0.8% |
| Professional and technical services | 4,797 | $1,708 | 0.81 | -0.7% |
| Administrative and waste services | 3,994 | $987 | 0.82 | +4.1% |
| Manufacturing | 3,722 | $2,010 | 0.54 | -2.5% |
| Other services | 3,705 | $857 | 1.44 | +4.4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 3,533 | $1,219 | 0.97 | -4.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 2,948 | $2,642 | 0.84 | -5.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,919 | $496 | 1.35 | -6.3% |
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 #
$7.4 bn in deposits at 47 offices of 12 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,668, moderately concentrated. $1.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.0 bn, grants $100.3 m), $14,007 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Interstate Bank | $1.8 bn · 24.6% share · 10 offices | |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $1.5 bn · 19.8% share · 4 offices | |
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $1.3 bn · 17.1% share · 6 offices | |
| Yellowstone, MT | $1.2 bn FY2026 · $14,007/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Interstate Bank | $1,824,197,000 | 24.6% | 10 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $1,467,518,000 | 19.8% | 4 |
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $1,272,424,000 | 17.1% | 6 |
| Glacier Bank | $895,408,000 | 12.1% | 7 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $894,649,000 | 12.0% | 4 |
| The Yellowstone Bank | $678,185,000 | 9.1% | 5 |
| Opportunity Bank of Montana | $107,523,000 | 1.4% | 3 |
| Little Horn State Bank | $105,652,000 | 1.4% | 1 |
| Bravera Bank | $93,070,000 | 1.3% | 3 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $48,832,000 | 0.7% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 1,668 across 11 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 11 banks with deposits in the county = 24.6² + 19.8² + 17.1² + … (8 more) = 1,668
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 $14,007 per covered job, against 86,051 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $1.2 bn / 86,051 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,007
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 #
Yellowstone County, MT: 12 findings, 4 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchYellowstone County, MT's price-to-rent ratio of 24.0 ranks 126th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: priceToRent percentile = 90.78850405305822 >= 90
- typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level
watchYellowstone County, MT's covered employment is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchYellowstone County, MT's price-to-rent ratio of 24.0 scores 91 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 33 across Montana counties, a gap of 57 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 57 = |91 across US counties - 33 across Montana counties|
- 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
watchYellowstone County, MT's typical asking rent of $1,392 scores 39 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 0 across Montana counties, a gap of 39 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 39 = |39 across US counties - 0 across Montana counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteYellowstone County, MT's average weekly wage was 4.3% 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
- +4.3 % = 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
Read all 12 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.