Stephens County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 32.74, -98.84.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 18th pct · 2,497th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 179th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
- 26th pct · 2,239th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 56th pct · 106th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 25th pct · 2,386th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 35th pct · 164th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 17th pct · 2,644th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 8th pct · 232nd of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 29th pct · 2,164th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 45th pct · 132nd 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 $154,661 (Sep 2026), +0.7% over one year, -13.0% over five
- 18th pct · 2,497th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 26th pct · 179th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Stephens County, TX | $154,661 · +0.7% 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 $857 a month on $154,661 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,870 a month: 22.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $154,661 × 80% = $123,728, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $857/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $893 × 52 / 12 = $3,870) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $154,661 / ($893 × 52) = 3.3
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 #
3,178 jobs at 303 employers (2026 Q1); -3.4% jobs and +0.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 25th pct · 2,386th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 35th pct · 164th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Stephens County, TX | 3,178 jobs · $893/wk · -3.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 749 | $739 | 2.93 | -4.0% |
| Retail trade | 431 | $628 | 1.39 | -4.6% |
| Construction | 252 | $1,065 | 1.51 | -8.0% |
| Mining, oil and gas | 237 | $1,304 | 20.94 | -5.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 185 | $348 | 0.65 | -11.5% |
| Health care and social assistance | 169 | $913 | 0.35 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 126 | $1,273 | 0.97 | -0.8% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 60 | $1,148 | 2.61 | -13.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 52 | $895 | 0.24 | +26.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 50 | $1,058 | 0.28 | +4.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 35 | $1,308 | 0.29 | +0.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 16 | $904 | 0.31 | +0.0% |
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 #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 30, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hubbard Creek Reservoir | 36 % full · 313k ac-ft | 16 km |
| Lake Cisco | 43 % full · 29k ac-ft | 36 km |
| Possum Kingdom Lake | 89 % full · 538k ac-ft | 41 km |
| Leon Reservoir | 75 % full · 28k ac-ft | 44 km |
| Lake Graham | 67 % full · 45k ac-ft | 49 km |
| Lake Palo Pinto | 79 % full · 27k ac-ft | 54 km |
| Lake Mineral Wells | 85 % full · 5k ac-ft | 75 km |
| Lake Stamford | 74 % full · 52k ac-ft | 78 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 #
Surface water layer not loaded
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 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 (0.39)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.3×0.27 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$377.5 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,028, highly concentrated. $56.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $54.5 m, grants $1.5 m), $17,613 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Fork Bank, National Association | $239.8 m · 63.5% share · 1 office | |
| InterBank | $117.2 m · 31.0% share · 1 office | |
| Graham Savings and Loan, SSB | $20.5 m · 5.4% share · 1 office | |
| Stephens, TX | $56.0 m FY2026 · $17,613/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Fork Bank, National Association | $239,832,000 | 63.5% | 1 |
| InterBank | $117,151,000 | 31.0% | 1 |
| Graham Savings and Loan, SSB | $20,538,000 | 5.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,028 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 63.5² + 31.0² + 5.4² = 5,028
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 #
That is $17,613 per covered job, against 3,178 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $56.0 m / 3,178 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,613
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 #
Stephens County, TX: 11 findings, 1 at an alert level, 2 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertStephens County, TX's covered employment is -3.4% 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 = -3.4 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchStephens County, TX's covered employment is -3.4% 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 = -3.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchStephens County, TX's momentum index is -0.30, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; 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 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- test: momentum = -0.2950540678022242 <= -0.25
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteStephens County, TX's covered employment was 3.4% 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
- -3.4 % = 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
noteStephens County, TX's typical home value rose 0.8% from $153,488 in August 2026 to $154,661 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.8% = (154660.61031496408 - 153488.39734315724) / 153488.39734315724 × 100
- 154660.61031496408 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 153488.39734315724 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
Read all 11 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.