Eddy County, NM

Home values #

Typical home $247,965 (Sep 2026), +3.1% over one year, -5.7% over five

• 56th pct · 1,339th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 65th pct · 11th of 30 New Mexico counties · median $216,844

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), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 13.1

• 56th pct · 597th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 61st pct · 6th of 14 New Mexico counties · median $1,498

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 $1,373 a month on $247,965 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,764 a month: 20.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $247,965 × 80% = $198,372, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,373/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,561 × 52 / 12 = $6,764) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $247,965 / ($1,561 × 52) = 3.1
• price-to-rent = $247,965 / ($1,582 × 12) = 13.1

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 #

33,919 jobs at 2,011 employers (2026 Q1); -0.8% jobs and +3.0% average weekly wage over the year

• 79th pct · 675th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 81st pct · 7th of 33 New Mexico counties · median 8,227

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 #

D1 moderate 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 #

46 % of conservation capacity, weighted over 1 TWDB reservoirs

Sites found: 1, 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 · 4 with quality panels averaging 67 % · 3 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 #

1 wells in 1 named aquifer: Other aquifers

Sites found: 1, 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 #

moderate (0.37)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.54 + 0.2×0.33 / 0.85

Banks & federal dollars #

$2.9 bn in deposits at 17 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,111, highly concentrated. $446.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $273.3 m, contracts $124.6 m), $13,154 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,111 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 33.3² + 21.0² + 17.7² + … (6 more) = 2,111

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 $13,154 per covered job, against 33,919 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $446.2 m / 33,919 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $13,154

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 #

Eddy County, NM: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchEddy County, NM's covered employment is -0.8% 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 = -0.8 < 0

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

2. noteEddy County, NM's average weekly wage was 3.0% 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 % = 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. noteEddy County, NM's typical asking rent fell 0.8% from $1,596 in August 2026 to $1,582 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.8% = (1582.288888888889 - 1595.5156781722) / 1595.5156781722 × 100
   • 1582.288888888889 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 1595.5156781722 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

4. noteEddy County, NM's covered employment was 0.8% 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

   • -0.8 % = 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

5. noteEddy County, NM's average weekly wage of $1,561 ranks 2nd of 33 New Mexico counties, against a median of $968.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 97 on the 0-to-100 scale across 33 New Mexico counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage

   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.