Mendocino County, CA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 39.43, -123.44.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 93rd pct · 212th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 49th pct · 30th of 58 California counties · median $500,264
- 17th pct · 2,539th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 29th pct · 41st of 58 California counties · median +0.3%
- 79th pct · 290th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 25th pct · 37th of 49 California counties · median $2,340
- 78th pct · 703rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 35th pct · 38th of 58 California counties · median 74,865
- 54th pct · 1,464th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 11th pct · 51st of 58 California counties · median $1,206
- 95th pct · 132nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 70th pct · 18th of 58 California counties · median 7.4
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 $493,925 (Aug 2026), -0.6% over one year, -19.0% over five
- 93rd pct · 212th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 49th pct · 30th of 58 California counties · median $500,264
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mendocino County, CA | $493,925 · -0.6% 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 #
Typical rent $1,913/mo (Aug 2026), +3.7% over one year; price-to-rent 21.5
- 79th pct · 290th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 25th pct · 37th of 49 California counties · median $2,340
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mendocino County, CA | $1,913/mo · +3.7% 1-yr |
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 $2,704 a month on $493,925 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,589 a month: 58.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $493,925 × 80% = $395,140, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,704/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,059 × 52 / 12 = $4,589) = 59% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $493,925 / ($1,059 × 52) = 9.0
- price-to-rent = $493,925 / ($1,913 × 12) = 21.5
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 #
31,819 jobs at 4,734 employers (2026 Q1); +1.3% jobs and +1.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 78th pct · 703rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 35th pct · 38th of 58 California counties · median 74,865
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mendocino County, CA | 31,819 jobs · $1,059/wk · +1.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 6,624 | $989 | 1.38 | +6.4% |
| Retail trade | 3,988 | $798 | 1.29 | +0.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 3,509 | $568 | 1.23 | +0.9% |
| Manufacturing | 1,812 | $1,369 | 0.71 | -3.3% |
| Construction | 1,471 | $1,436 | 0.88 | +3.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 940 | $1,454 | 0.52 | -3.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 649 | $1,041 | 0.48 | +12.7% |
| Wholesale trade | 632 | $1,176 | 0.52 | -6.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 612 | $977 | 0.28 | -9.1% |
| Real estate and rental | 468 | $745 | 0.96 | +4.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 436 | $1,625 | 0.34 | -2.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 314 | $419 | 0.60 | -2.5% |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
low (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$2.2 bn in deposits at 18 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,902, highly concentrated. $676.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $569.1 m, grants $100.4 m), $21,257 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Savings Bank of Mendocino County | $981.5 m · 45.0% share · 8 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $482.3 m · 22.1% share · 2 offices | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $385.9 m · 17.7% share · 3 offices | |
| Mendocino, CA | $676.4 m FY2026 · $21,257/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $537.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savings Bank of Mendocino County | $981,531,000 | 45.0% | 8 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $482,326,000 | 22.1% | 2 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $385,916,000 | 17.7% | 3 |
| Westamerica Bank | $118,328,000 | 5.4% | 2 |
| Tri Counties Bank | $114,098,000 | 5.2% | 2 |
| Columbia Bank | $99,989,000 | 4.6% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,902 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 45.0² + 22.1² + 17.7² + … (3 more) = 2,902
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 | $488,823,473 |
| Department of Transportation | $67,921,992 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $45,724,055 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $25,573,225 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $18,945,110 |
| Department of Education | $13,964,884 |
| Department of Agriculture | $6,097,130 |
| Department of the Interior | $4,522,589 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,592,828 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $1,049,889 |
| Department of Defense | $887,740 |
| Department of Commerce | $500,000 |
That is $21,257 per covered job, against 31,819 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $676.4 m / 31,819 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,257
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 | 12.69 | 2026-10-05 | +3.3% |
| 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 | 2026-10-06 | +0.0% |
| 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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| 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 #
Mendocino County, CA: 13 findings, 6 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchMendocino County, CA's years of wages of 9.0 ranks 132nd of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 95.7217504898759 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
watchMendocino County, CA's typical home value is -0.6% 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 = -0.5668915680982661 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchMendocino County, CA's typical asking rent of $1,913 scores 79 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 25 across California counties, a gap of 54 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 54 = |79 across US counties - 25 across California counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchMendocino County, CA's typical home value of $493,925 scores 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 49 across California counties, a gap of 44 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 44 = |93 across US counties - 49 across California counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchMendocino County, CA's covered employment of 31,819 scores 78 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 35 across California counties, a gap of 43 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 43 = |78 across US counties - 35 across California counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.