Menard County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 30.89, -99.86.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 38th pct · 1,872nd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 44th pct · 135th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
- 83rd pct · 493rd of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 86th pct · 34th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 1st pct · 3,171st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 3rd pct · 245th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 2nd pct · 3,148th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 0th pct · 254th of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 75th pct · 746th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 87th pct · 32nd of 243 Texas counties · median 3.5
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 $201,702 (Sep 2026), +6.3% over one year, n/a over five
- 38th pct · 1,872nd of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 44th pct · 135th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Menard County, TX | $201,702 · +6.3% 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 #
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
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 $1,117 a month on $201,702 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $2,968 a month: 37.6% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $201,702 × 80% = $161,362, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,117/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $685 × 52 / 12 = $2,968) = 38% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $201,702 / ($685 × 52) = 5.7
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 #
407 jobs at 80 employers (2026 Q1); -5.3% jobs and +4.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 1st pct · 3,171st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 3rd pct · 245th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Menard County, TX | 407 jobs · $685/wk · -5.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 90 | $461 | 2.27 | +9.8% |
| Construction | 13 | $1,224 | 0.61 | +0.0% |
| Other services | 3 | $837 | 0.25 | +0.0% |
| Unclassified | 1 | $554 | 1.15 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | withheld | |||
| Real estate and rental | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | 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 #
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 #
55 % of conservation capacity, weighted over 13 TWDB reservoirs
Sites found: 18, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brady Creek Reservoir | 84 % full · 29k ac-ft | 53 km |
| O. H. Ivie Reservoir | 41 % full · 554k ac-ft | 71 km |
| O. H. Ivie Res nr Voss, TX | 228,300 Acre-ft (USGS, no capacity on file) | 71 km |
| Lake Nasworthy | 85 % full · 10k ac-ft | 81 km |
| Twin Buttes Reservoir | 5 % full · 182k ac-ft | 85 km |
| O. C. Fisher Lake | 11 % full · 116k ac-ft | 89 km |
| Hords Creek Lake | 45 % full · 8k ac-ft | 109 km |
| E. V. Spence Reservoir | 9 % full · 517k ac-ft | 127 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 #
13 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 1 stale
Sites found: 13, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Noyes Canal at Diversion pt nr. Menard, TX | flow 0.00 ft³/s | 4 km |
| San Saba Rv at Menard, TX | flow 30.1 ft³/s · no flooding | 8 km |
| San Saba Rv at FM 864 nr Fort McKavett, TX | stage 2.22 ft | 23 km |
| N Llano Rv nr Junction, TX | flow 72.9 ft³/s · no flooding | 41 km |
| Llano Rv nr Junction, TX | flow 305.0 ft³/s · no flooding | 44 km |
| S Llano Rv at Flat Rock Ln at Junction, TX | flow 132.0 ft³/s | 46 km |
| West Central Texas Lakes at Brady Creek Reservoir | no flooding | 53 km |
| Brady Ck at Brady, TX | flow 0.00 ft³/s · no flooding | 57 km |
| San Saba Rv nr Brady, TX | flow 3.16 ft³/s · no flooding · STALE | 58 km |
| S Concho Rv at Christoval, TX | flow 3.86 ft³/s · no flooding | 70 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 = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.45 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$88.0 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 8,780, highly concentrated. $15.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $15.4 m, loans $415), $37,909 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Menard Bank | $82.2 m · 93.5% share · 1 office | |
| Avana Bank | $5.7 m · 6.5% share · 1 office | |
| Menard, TX | $15.4 m FY2026 · $37,909/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $15.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menard Bank | $82,244,000 | 93.5% | 1 |
| Avana Bank | $5,743,000 | 6.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 8,780 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 = 93.5² + 6.5² = 8,780
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 | $13,255,719 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $1,909,302 |
| Department of Agriculture | $274,967 |
| Department of the Interior | $0 |
| Department of Transportation | -$11,198 |
That is $37,909 per covered job, against 407 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $15.4 m / 407 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $37,909
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 #
Menard County, TX: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
alertMenard County, TX's covered employment is -5.3% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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 = -5.3 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchMenard County, TX's covered employment is -5.3% 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 = -5.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteMenard County, TX's covered employment was 5.3% 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
- -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
noteMenard County, TX's average weekly wage was 4.1% 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
- +4.1 % = 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
noteMenard County, TX's average weekly wage of $685 ranks 254th of 254 Texas counties, against a median of $1,115.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 254 Texas counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.