Lee County, AR
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 34.78, -90.78.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 2nd pct · 2,972nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 13th pct · 64th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
- 1st pct · 3,027th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 0th pct · 74th of 74 Arkansas counties · median +3.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Arkansas counties: not published this period
- 11th pct · 2,849th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 9th pct · 68th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
- 9th pct · 2,919th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 28th pct · 54th of 75 Arkansas counties · median $912
- 8th pct · 2,816th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 20th pct · 59th 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 $101,900 (Aug 2026), -10.5% over one year, -20.9% over five
- 2nd pct · 2,972nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 13th pct · 64th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lee County, AR | $101,900 · -10.5% 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 $558 a month on $101,900 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,614 a month: 15.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $101,900 × 80% = $81,520, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $558/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $834 × 52 / 12 = $3,614) = 15% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $101,900 / ($834 × 52) = 2.3
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 #
1,513 jobs at 209 employers (2026 Q1); -2.4% jobs and +3.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 11th pct · 2,849th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 9th pct · 68th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lee County, AR | 1,513 jobs · $834/wk · -2.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 166 | $467 | 1.13 | -4.6% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 140 | $769 | 12.81 | -6.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 67 | $1,127 | 1.16 | -8.2% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 33 | $1,037 | 0.52 | -5.7% |
| Professional and technical services | 27 | $897 | 0.26 | +3.8% |
| Utilities | 24 | $1,720 | 4.02 | +4.3% |
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | withheld | |||
| Real estate and rental | withheld | |||
| Management of companies | withheld | |||
| Administrative and waste 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 #
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 #
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 #
40 gauges · 0 flooding · 4 with quality panels averaging 95 % · 9 stale
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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-07288048 | flow 0.47 ft³/s · quality 80 % (5) | 64 km |
| L'Anguille River at Marianna 1 NE | no readings | 3 km |
| St. Francis River at Marianna 2 NE | no readings | 5 km |
| St. Francis River at Huxtable | no readings | 13 km |
| St. Francis River at Cody | no readings | 15 km |
| USGS-07047950 | flow 55.5 ft³/s · no flooding | 24 km |
| USGS-07077950 | flow 29.0 ft³/s · STALE | 26 km |
| St. Francis River at Madison | no flooding | 27 km |
| St. Francis River near Hughes | no readings | 27 km |
| Mississippi River at Tunica Mhoon Landing | no flooding | 31 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 #
8 wells in 0 named aquifers:
Sites found: 8, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-344540090230801 | depth 15.7 ft · 1982-02-12 | 36 km |
| USGS-350344090130000 | depth 28.1 ft · 2011-10-05 | 60 km |
| USGS-341311090371801 | depth 28.0 ft · 1987-01-14 | 64 km |
| USGS-350124090072200 | depth 122.6 ft · 1995-09-30 | 66 km |
| USGS-350124090072202 | depth 44.2 ft · 1994-03-29 | 66 km |
| USGS-350002090054400 | depth 60.5 ft · 2010-02-17 | 67 km |
| USGS-341059090334501 | depth 33.9 ft · 1993-02-09 | 69 km |
| USGS-350848090092800 | depth 33.8 ft · 1987-08-11 | 70 km |
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 = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.05 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$140.9 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,182, highly concentrated. $68.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $54.0 m, grants $13.6 m), $45,060 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Armor Bank | $83.9 m · 59.5% share · 1 office | |
| First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas | $57.0 m · 40.5% share · 1 office | |
| Lee, AR | $68.2 m FY2026 · $45,060/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $43.5 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor Bank | $83,903,000 | 59.5% | 1 |
| First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas | $57,025,000 | 40.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,182 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 = 59.5² + 40.5² = 5,182
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.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $40,128,238 |
| Department of Transportation | $8,471,955 |
| Department of Agriculture | $8,273,967 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $4,584,578 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $3,224,716 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,816,971 |
| Department of Defense | $517,413 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $149,521 |
| Small Business Administration | $6,438 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $2,664 |
That is $45,060 per covered job, against 1,513 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $68.2 m / 1,513 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $45,060
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 #
Lee County, AR: 16 findings, 1 at an alert level, 3 at a watch level and 12 noted
alertLee County, AR's typical home value is -10.5% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: home.yoyPct = -10.489832564367232 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchLee County, AR's typical home value is -10.5% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: home.yoyPct = -10.489832564367232 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchLee County, AR's covered employment is -2.4% 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 = -2.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchLee County, AR's momentum index is -0.48, 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 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- test: momentum = -0.4833333333333333 <= -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
noteLee County, AR's average weekly wage was 3.1% 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
- +3.1 % = 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 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.