Crittenden County, AR

Home values #

Typical home $168,186 (Aug 2026), +6.2% over one year, +15.0% over five

• 22nd pct · 2,362nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 46th pct · 40th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
• 25th pct · 7th of 9 counties in the Memphis metro · median $222,493

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 #

Typical rent $1,091/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 12.9

• 14th pct · 1,196th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 47th pct · 12th of 22 Arkansas counties · median $1,127
• 0th pct · 6th of 6 counties in the Memphis metro · median $1,560

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 $921 a month on $168,186 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,056 a month: 22.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $168,186 × 80% = $134,549, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $921/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $936 × 52 / 12 = $4,056) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $168,186 / ($936 × 52) = 3.5
• price-to-rent = $168,186 / ($1,091 × 12) = 12.9

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 #

17,439 jobs at 1,113 employers (2026 Q1); -2.7% jobs and +1.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 68th pct · 1,020th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 81st pct · 15th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
• 75th pct · 3rd of 9 counties in the Memphis metro · median 11,668

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 #

D3 extreme 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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

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 #

29 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 83 % · 15 stale

Sites found: 29, 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 #

40 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 40, 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 (0.54)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 + 0.2×0.17 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.8 bn in deposits at 15 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,182, highly concentrated. $359.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $282.2 m, grants $75.2 m), $20,584 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,182 across 8 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 8 banks with deposits in the county = 48.1² + 26.8² + 7.9² + … (5 more) = 3,182

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.

That is $20,584 per covered job, against 17,439 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $359.0 m / 17,439 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,584

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.

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 #

Crittenden County, AR: 11 findings, 3 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchCrittenden County, AR's covered employment is -2.7% 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 = -2.7 < 0

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

2. watchCrittenden County, AR's average weekly wage of $936 scores 26 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 63 across Arkansas counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |26 across US counties - 63 across Arkansas counties|

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

3. watchCrittenden County, AR's typical asking rent of $1,091 scores 15 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 48 across Arkansas counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |15 across US counties - 48 across Arkansas counties|

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

4. noteCrittenden County, AR's covered employment was 2.7% 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

   • -2.7 % = 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. noteCrittenden County, AR's average weekly wage was 1.1% 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

   • +1.1 % = 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

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.