Van Buren County, AR
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 35.58, -92.52.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 24th pct · 2,316th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 52nd pct · 36th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
- 49th pct · 1,539th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 46th pct · 40th of 74 Arkansas counties · median +3.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Arkansas counties: not published this period
- 29th pct · 2,266th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 33rd pct · 50th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
- 25th pct · 2,401st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 58th pct · 31st of 75 Arkansas counties · median $912
- 33rd pct · 2,050th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 47th pct · 39th 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 $172,016 (Aug 2026), +2.9% over one year, +18.9% over five
- 24th pct · 2,316th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 52nd pct · 36th of 74 Arkansas counties · median $169,663
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Van Buren County, AR | $172,016 · +2.9% 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 $942 a month on $172,016 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,030 a month: 23.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $172,016 × 80% = $137,613, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $942/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $930 × 52 / 12 = $4,030) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $172,016 / ($930 × 52) = 3.6
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 #
3,705 jobs at 340 employers (2026 Q1); -1.9% jobs and 0.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 29th pct · 2,266th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 33rd pct · 50th of 75 Arkansas counties · median 5,609
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Van Buren County, AR | 3,705 jobs · $930/wk · -1.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 763 | $932 | 1.37 | +0.0% |
| Retail trade | 632 | $610 | 1.75 | -0.8% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 387 | $2,209 | 2.48 | +7.8% |
| Other services | 173 | $677 | 1.56 | +16.9% |
| Manufacturing | 171 | $759 | 0.57 | +25.7% |
| Construction | 120 | $731 | 0.62 | -21.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 100 | $1,333 | 0.66 | -3.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 94 | $852 | 0.45 | -28.8% |
| Professional and technical services | 82 | $813 | 0.32 | -7.9% |
| Information | 52 | $902 | 0.76 | -3.7% |
| Educational services | 19 | $431 | 0.24 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 11 | $1,320 | 0.19 | -71.8% |
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 #
45 gauges · 0 flooding · 9 with quality panels averaging 97 % · 20 stale
Sites found: 45, 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-07075250 | flow 28.2 ft³/s · quality 80 % (5) · STALE | 18 km |
| USGS-07075280 | flow 65.2 ft³/s · STALE | 4 km |
| USGS-07075300 | flow 0.69 ft³/s | 6 km |
| USGS-07075270 | flow 0.30 ft³/s · quality 100 % (5) | 10 km |
| USGS-07260672 | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 15 km |
| USGS-07075000 | flow 1.08 ft³/s · quality 100 % (1) | 22 km |
| USGS-07260671 | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 28 km |
| USGS-07260990 | flow 23.2 ft³/s · STALE | 29 km |
| USGS-07261000 | flow 0.51 ft³/s | 33 km |
| USGS-07261090 | flow 0.00 ft³/s | 36 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 #
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 (0.33)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.03 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$454.0 m in deposits at 7 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,137, highly concentrated. $142.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $141.6 m, grants $1.2 m), $38,546 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Service Bank | $170.0 m · 37.4% share · 1 office | |
| Regions Bank | $72.7 m · 16.0% share · 1 office | |
| Bank OZK | $58.5 m · 12.9% share · 1 office | |
| Van Buren, AR | $142.8 m FY2026 · $38,546/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $141.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Service Bank | $170,028,000 | 37.4% | 1 |
| Regions Bank | $72,666,000 | 16.0% | 1 |
| Bank OZK | $58,457,000 | 12.9% | 1 |
| First Security Bank | $55,489,000 | 12.2% | 1 |
| Simmons Bank | $44,052,000 | 9.7% | 1 |
| First Arkansas Bank and Trust | $28,842,000 | 6.4% | 1 |
| Eagle Bank and Trust Company | $24,513,000 | 5.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,137 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 37.4² + 16.0² + 12.9² + … (4 more) = 2,137
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 | $119,927,832 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $20,397,200 |
| Department of Transportation | $969,484 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $896,392 |
| Department of Agriculture | $329,297 |
| Department of Justice | $145,656 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $68,474 |
| Department of Education | $38,302 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $20,000 |
| Department of the Interior | $18,582 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $38,546 per covered job, against 3,705 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $142.8 m / 3,705 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $38,546
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 #
Van Buren County, AR: 4 findings, 2 at a watch level and 2 noted
watchVan Buren County, AR's covered employment is -1.9% 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 = -1.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchVan Buren County, AR's average weekly wage of $930 scores 25 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 59 across Arkansas counties, a gap of 33 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 33 = |25 across US counties - 59 across Arkansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteVan Buren County, AR's covered employment was 1.9% 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
- -1.9 % = 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
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Van Buren County, AR is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.