Madison County, NE

Home values #

Typical home $254,172 (Sep 2026), +3.4% over one year, +30.4% over five

• 58th pct · 1,275th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 76th pct · 22nd of 89 Nebraska counties · median $214,386

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 $1,230/mo (Sep 2026), +2.8% over one year; price-to-rent 17.2

• 23rd pct · 1,036th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 38th pct · 9th of 14 Nebraska counties · median $1,287

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 $1,408 a month on $254,172 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,823 a month: 29.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $254,172 × 80% = $203,338, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,408/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,113 × 52 / 12 = $4,823) = 29% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $254,172 / ($1,113 × 52) = 4.4
• price-to-rent = $254,172 / ($1,230 × 12) = 17.2

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 #

21,481 jobs at 1,306 employers (2026 Q1); -1.4% jobs and +3.5% average weekly wage over the year

• 72nd pct · 878th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 94th pct · 6th of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151

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 #

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 #

20 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 4 stale

Sites found: 20, 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 #

8 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 8, 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 #

$2.4 bn in deposits at 29 offices of 16 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,713, moderately concentrated. $402.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $219.2 m, contracts $158.5 m), $18,748 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,713 across 16 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 16 banks with deposits in the county = 32.9² + 16.4² + 12.6² + … (13 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 $18,748 per covered job, against 21,481 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $402.7 m / 21,481 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,748

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 #

Madison County, NE: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchMadison County, NE's covered employment is -1.4% 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 = -1.4 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. noteMadison County, NE's average weekly wage 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

3. noteMadison County, NE's covered employment was 1.4% 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

   • -1.4 % = 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

4. noteMadison County, NE's covered employment of 21,481 ranks 6th of 93 Nebraska counties, against a median of 2,151.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 93 Nebraska counties that published jobs.emp

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

5. noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Madison County, NE is due between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

Read all 7 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.