Clay County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 33.79, -98.21.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 38th pct · 1,884th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 43rd pct · 137th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 45th pct · 1,655th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 72nd pct · 67th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.1%
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 12th pct · 2,806th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 22nd pct · 196th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 29th pct · 2,280th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 17th pct · 208th of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 47th pct · 1,616th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 63rd pct · 90th of 243 Texas counties · median 3.5
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls 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 $200,720 (Sep 2026), +2.5% over one year, +8.3% over five
- 38th pct · 1,884th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 43rd pct · 137th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Clay County, TX | $200,720 · +2.5% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls 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 $1,112 a month on $200,720 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,112 a month: 27.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $200,720 × 80% = $160,576, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,112/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $949 × 52 / 12 = $4,112) = 27% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $200,720 / ($949 × 52) = 4.1
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 #
1,645 jobs at 196 employers (2026 Q1); -2.9% jobs and +5.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 12th pct · 2,806th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 22nd pct · 196th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- counties in the Wichita Falls metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Wichita Falls metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Clay County, TX | 1,645 jobs · $949/wk · -2.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 203 | $1,030 | 1.53 | -6.9% |
| Retail trade | 191 | $928 | 1.19 | +0.5% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 66 | $1,225 | 5.55 | -8.3% |
| Construction | 57 | $1,177 | 0.66 | +1.8% |
| Finance and insurance | 50 | $1,372 | 0.75 | -20.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 43 | $982 | 0.68 | +2.4% |
| Other services | 42 | $740 | 0.85 | +23.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 25 | $1,419 | 0.22 | -39.0% |
| Mining, oil and gas | 11 | $1,668 | 1.88 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 8 | $681 | 0.32 | -55.6% |
| Unclassified | 2 | $999 | 0.57 | +100.0% |
| Utilities | withheld |
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 #
79 % of conservation capacity, weighted over 22 TWDB reservoirs
Sites found: 31, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Arrowhead | 71 % full · 230k ac-ft | 15 km |
| Lake Amon G Carter | 81 % full · 19k ac-ft | 47 km |
| Lake Nocona (Farmer's Creek) | 74 % full · 21k ac-ft | 53 km |
| Lake Kickapoo | 81 % full · 86k ac-ft | 54 km |
| North Fork Buffalo Creek Reservoir | 76 % full · 15k ac-ft | 55 km |
| Lost Creek Reservoir | 88 % full · 12k ac-ft | 61 km |
| Bridgeport Res abv Bridgeport, TX | 264,100 Acre-ft (USGS, no capacity on file) | 72 km |
| Bridgeport Reservoir | 73 % full · 372k ac-ft | 72 km |
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 #
24 gauges · 0 flooding · 2 with quality panels averaging 75 % · 7 stale
Sites found: 24, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wichita Rv nr Charlie, TX | temp 26.1 °C · quality 50 % (2) · STALE | 31 km |
| Little Wichita Rv abv Henrietta, TX | flow 0.00 ft³/s | 5 km |
| E Fk Little Wichita Rv nr Henrietta, TX | flow 0.13 ft³/s | 12 km |
| Beaver Ck nr Ringgold, TX | flow 86.4 ft³/s · STALE | 26 km |
| Red River near Terral, OK | flow 8,880 ft³/s | 28 km |
| Holliday Ck at Wichita Falls, TX | flow 0.45 ft³/s | 29 km |
| Belknap Ck nr Ringgold, TX | flow 112.0 ft³/s · STALE | 30 km |
| Wichita Rv at Wichita Falls, TX | flow 225.0 ft³/s · quality 100 % (2) | 33 km |
| Wichita Rv bl FM 1634 at Wichita Falls, TX | flow 50.0 ft³/s · STALE | 36 km |
| Little Wichita Rv nr Archer City, TX | flow 1.50 ft³/s | 39 km |
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 #
moderate (0.34)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.3×0.21 + 0.2×0.25 / 0.85
Banks & federal dollars #
$122.4 m in deposits at 3 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,125, highly concentrated. $73.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $71.6 m, grants $2.1 m), $44,809 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Legend Bank, N.A. | $70.9 m · 57.9% share · 1 office | |
| Prosperity Bank | $51.6 m · 42.1% share · 2 offices | |
| Clay, TX | $73.7 m FY2026 · $44,809/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $69.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legend Bank, N.A. | $70,889,000 | 57.9% | 1 |
| Prosperity Bank | $51,559,000 | 42.1% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 5,125 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 57.9² + 42.1² = 5,125
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.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $60,976,519 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $7,811,839 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,969,285 |
| Department of Transportation | $1,839,774 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $537,399 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $281,843 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $221,992 |
| Department of Education | $71,768 |
| Department of Defense | $0 |
That is $44,809 per covered job, against 1,645 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $73.7 m / 1,645 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $44,809
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 #
Clay County, TX: 6 findings, 1 at a watch level and 5 noted
watchClay County, TX's covered employment is -2.9% 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 = -2.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteClay County, TX's average weekly wage was 5.3% 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
- +5.3 % = 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
noteClay County, TX's covered employment was 2.9% 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
- -2.9 % = 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
noteClay County, TX's typical home value rose 0.3% from $200,117 in August 2026 to $200,720 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.3% = (200720.0107007113 - 200117.4086257382) / 200117.4086257382 × 100
- 200720.0107007113 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 200117.4086257382 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Clay County, TX 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 6 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.