Ashley County, AR
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 33.19, -91.77.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 1st pct · 3,017th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 5th pct · 70th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
- 48th pct · 1,563rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 43rd pct · 42nd of 74 Arkansas counties · median +3.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Arkansas counties: not published this period
- 41st pct · 1,881st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 52nd pct · 36th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
- 38th pct · 1,977th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 75th pct · 19th of 75 Arkansas counties · median $912
- 1st pct · 3,005th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 6th pct · 69th of 74 Arkansas counties · median 3.6
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 $89,495 (Aug 2026), +2.8% over one year, -10.4% over five
- 1st pct · 3,017th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 5th pct · 70th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ashley County, AR | $89,495 · +2.8% 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
- Arkansas 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 $490 a month on $89,495 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,281 a month: 11.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $89,495 × 80% = $71,596, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $490/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $988 × 52 / 12 = $4,281) = 11% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $89,495 / ($988 × 52) = 1.7
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 #
5,891 jobs at 496 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +2.9% average weekly wage over the year
- 41st pct · 1,881st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 52nd pct · 36th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ashley County, AR | 5,891 jobs · $988/wk · +0.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,061 | $1,472 | 2.24 | +2.5% |
| Retail trade | 731 | $543 | 1.27 | -9.8% |
| Health care and social assistance | 724 | $879 | 0.82 | -3.3% |
| Construction | 581 | $1,351 | 1.88 | +10.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 322 | $1,216 | 1.43 | +25.3% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 270 | $1,056 | 1.09 | -0.7% |
| Finance and insurance | 261 | $1,076 | 1.09 | -0.4% |
| Administrative and waste services | 152 | $838 | 0.45 | +20.6% |
| Other services | 116 | $655 | 0.66 | -11.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 39 | $746 | 0.10 | +5.4% |
| Utilities | 29 | $2,011 | 1.25 | +0.0% |
| Information | 21 | $917 | 0.19 | -4.5% |
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: 0, 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 #
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 #
high (0.50)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$355.5 m in deposits at 9 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,796, highly concentrated. $152.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $137.5 m, grants $14.4 m), $25,857 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Century Next Bank | $152.1 m · 42.8% share · 3 offices | |
| Commercial Capital Bank | $88.0 m · 24.8% share · 3 offices | |
| Simmons Bank | $41.6 m · 11.7% share · 1 office | |
| Ashley, AR | $152.3 m FY2026 · $25,857/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $135.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Century Next Bank | $152,053,000 | 42.8% | 3 |
| Commercial Capital Bank | $88,047,000 | 24.8% | 3 |
| Simmons Bank | $41,585,000 | 11.7% | 1 |
| Southern Bancorp Bank | $39,565,000 | 11.1% | 1 |
| The Citizens Bank | $34,299,000 | 9.6% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,796 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 42.8² + 24.8² + 11.7² + … (2 more) = 2,796
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 | $120,827,219 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $12,939,151 |
| Department of Transportation | $8,713,375 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $5,089,595 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,495,271 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,279,371 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,239,367 |
| Department of the Interior | $342,032 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $275,410 |
| Delta Regional Authority | $124,396 |
| Institute of Museum and Library Services | $0 |
| Department of Homeland Security | -$61 |
That is $25,857 per covered job, against 5,891 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $152.3 m / 5,891 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,857
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 | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| 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 · % | 72.60 | 2026-10-05 | +0.1% |
| 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 | 6.00 | 2026-09-22 | -14.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 6,830.00 | 2026-08-01 | +7.4% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 96.16 | 2026-09-29 | -3.2% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.28 | 2026-10-01 | +3.6% |
| 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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 646,347.00 | 2026-08-01 | +1.1% |
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 #
Ashley County, AR: 8 findings, 1 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchAshley County, AR's average weekly wage of $988 scores 39 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 75 across Arkansas counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |39 across US counties - 75 across Arkansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteAshley County, AR's average weekly wage was 2.9% 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
- +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
noteAshley County, AR's covered employment was 0.4% 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
- +0.4 % = 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
noteAshley County, AR's typical home value of $89,495 ranks 3,017th of 3,063 US counties, against a median of $234,566.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 2 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3063 US counties that published home.latest
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteAshley County, AR's years of wages of 1.7 ranks 3,005th of 3,063 US counties, against a median of 4.3.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 2 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3063 US counties that published yearsOfWages
- 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
Read all 8 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.