Portage County, WI: 11 findings, 3 at a watch level and 8 noted

11 findings fired for Portage County, WI this run, against a typical home value of $320,281 in September 2026 and covered employment of 32,861 in 2026 Q1.

This is the civic & planning lens: Planners, local government, journalists, civic technologists, students It keeps the findings whose subject matches that interest and drops the rest, so it is a subset of the full brief and never a different set of numbers. The full brief is the canonical version of this page.

11 findings #

currentretrieved 2026-10-19

  1. watchPortage County, WI's covered employment is -0.2% 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 = -0.2 < 0

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

  2. watchPortage County, WI's price-to-rent ratio of 18.9 scores 67 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 19 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 48 points.

    Period 2026-09.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 48 = |67 across US counties - 19 across Wisconsin 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. watchPortage County, WI's typical asking rent of $1,409 scores 41 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 76 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 34 points.

    Period 2026-09.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 34 = |41 across US counties - 76 across Wisconsin counties|

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

  4. notePortage County, WI's average weekly wage was 4.5% 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
    • +4.5 % = 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. notePortage County, WI's typical asking rent rose 0.6% from $1,401 in August 2026 to $1,409 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

    Period 2026-09.
    Show the arithmetic
    • +0.6% = (1409.2142857142856 - 1401.392535884274) / 1401.392535884274 × 100
    • 1409.2142857142856 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
    • 1401.392535884274 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

  6. notePortage County, WI's covered employment was 0.2% 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
    • -0.2 % = 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

  7. notePortage County, WI's typical home value of +9.5% ranks 142nd of 3,062 US counties, against a median of +2.9%.

    Period 2026-09.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3062 US counties that published home.yoyPct

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

  8. notePortage County, WI's typical home value of +9.5% ranks 6th of 72 Wisconsin counties, against a median of +6.0%.

    Period 2026-09.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across 72 Wisconsin counties that published home.yoyPct

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

  9. noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Portage County, WI 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

  10. noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Portage County, WI is due between 2026-11-14 and 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

    Show the arithmetic
    • window = 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

    estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

  11. noteThe next Zillow ZORI typical rent (monthly) covering Portage County, WI is due between 2026-11-14 and 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

    Show the arithmetic
    • window = 2026-11-14 to 2026-11-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

    estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

A lens narrows which numbers are shown, not which holes are admitted to: a withheld figure or a pending release survives every lens, because a gap is a fact about the place rather than about one reader's subject.

Subscribe to this lens #

currentretrieved 2026-10-19

The same narrowed findings as a feed.

Sources #

  • publishedQuarterly Census of Employment and WagesU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopen the source
    area 55097, all ownerships, all industries · period 2026-Q1 · retrieved 2026-10-19
  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-19 · typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
  • publishedZillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv · period 2026-09 · retrieved 2026-10-19
  • publishedZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv · period 2026-09 · retrieved 2026-10-19
  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-19 · month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-19 · 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%)
  • estimateZillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-19 · month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
  • estimateQuarterly Census of Employment and WagesU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-19 · typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

Citations

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. series area 55097, all ownerships, all industries. period 2026-Q1. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2026/1/area/55097.csv. accessed 2026-10-19.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-19. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). series County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv. period 2026-09. https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zori/County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv. accessed 2026-10-19.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). series County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv. period 2026-09. https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv. accessed 2026-10-19.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-19. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-19. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: 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%).
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-19. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns.
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. https://www.bls.gov/cew/. accessed 2026-10-19. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household.

What these numbers are not

  • The newest BLS QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, only the over-the-year percent change BLS publishes itself. Every employment and wage comparison here states that published change; none of them is a move from one level to another, because the two levels are not both in the file.
  • A percentile here is a min-max scaling of average rank across the entities that published the metric this period: the smallest published value scores 0 and the largest scores 100. It is not the share of entities below the value, and entities that did not publish the metric are counted in neither the rank nor its denominator.
  • The named indicators shown beside this brief are national or basin-level series, not measurements of Portage County, WI; 30-year fixed mortgage rate (watch), Los Angeles + Long Beach container volume, annual (watch), Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate (watch) and WTI crude oil, spot (watch) are at a watch or alert level. They are context.
  • Water rows are everything within 75 km of this place's internal point (150 km for reservoirs), not everything inside its boundary: lib/water searches discs, and every row prints its own distance.
  • Server report: satellite turbidity is only computed in a browser, so that term is absent here.
  • USGS gauges did not answer.
  • USGS wells did not answer.
  • Stress uses 1 of 4 terms (drought); missing terms are left out, not assumed.
  • Groundwater has no trend term: one latest level cannot say whether an aquifer is being drawn down.
  • USAspending did not answer for recipients, awarding agencies and NAICS.
  • Obligations are what agencies committed in FY2026 by place of performance: not outlays, and not the recipient's own location.
  • FY2026 closed 19 days ago; agencies report with up to a 45-day lag, so totals are still filling in.
  • The indicator block is the NATIONAL set, filtered only by lens. None of these series is keyed to this place: they are United States, gauge, single-state or port series and they are shown as context, not as this place's own readings.

Page assembled 2026-10-19T22:54:36.706Z. Place identity tables pulled 2026-10-01.