Linn County, OR

Home values #

Typical home $408,244 (Sep 2026), +0.3% over one year, +15.7% over five

• 87th pct · 395th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 45th pct · 20th of 36 Oregon counties · median $428,005
• counties in the Albany metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Albany metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,635/mo (Sep 2026), +1.0% over one year; price-to-rent 20.8

• 60th pct · 532nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 28th pct · 19th of 26 Oregon counties · median $1,770
• counties in the Albany metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Albany metro; 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 $2,261 a month on $408,244 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,096 a month: 44.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $408,244 × 80% = $326,595, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,261/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,176 × 52 / 12 = $5,096) = 44% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $408,244 / ($1,176 × 52) = 6.7
• price-to-rent = $408,244 / ($1,635 × 12) = 20.8

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 #

47,595 jobs at 3,656 employers (2026 Q1); -1.9% jobs and +4.0% average weekly wage over the year

• 83rd pct · 528th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 80th pct · 8th of 36 Oregon counties · median 15,683
• counties in the Albany metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Albany metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

D2 severe 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 #

1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

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 #

177 gauges · 0 flooding · 140 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 80 stale

Sites found: 177, 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 #

18 wells in 1 named aquifer: Pacific Northwest volcanic-rock aquifers

Sites found: 18, 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 (0.32)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.4 bn in deposits at 19 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,479, moderately concentrated. $987.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $902.0 m, grants $61.4 m), $20,752 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,479 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 19.7² + 17.5² + 16.0² + … (6 more) = 1,479

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 $20,752 per covered job, against 47,595 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $987.7 m / 47,595 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,752

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 #

Linn County, OR: 10 findings, 5 at a watch level and 5 noted

1. watchLinn County, OR's covered employment is -1.9% 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 = -1.9 < 0

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

2. watchLinn County, OR's price-to-rent ratio of 20.8 scores 79 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 36 across Oregon counties, a gap of 43 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 43 = |79 across US counties - 36 across Oregon 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

3. watchLinn County, OR's typical home value of $408,244 scores 87 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 46 across Oregon counties, a gap of 41 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 41 = |87 across US counties - 46 across Oregon counties|

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

4. watchLinn County, OR's years of wages of 6.7 scores 86 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 49 across Oregon counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |86 across US counties - 49 across Oregon counties|
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

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

5. watchLinn County, OR's typical asking rent of $1,635 scores 61 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 28 across Oregon counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |61 across US counties - 28 across Oregon counties|

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

Read all 10 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.