Elbert County, CO

Home values #

Typical home $671,967 (Aug 2026), -2.0% over one year, +5.8% over five

• 97th pct · 79th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 78th pct · 14th of 62 Colorado counties · median $450,011
• 88th pct · 2nd of 10 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median $544,485

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 $3,250/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 17.2

• 98th pct · 21st of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 88th pct · 5th of 35 Colorado counties · median $1,975
• 100th pct · 1st of 9 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median $2,038

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 $3,678 a month on $671,967 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,629 a month: 65.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $671,967 × 80% = $537,573, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,678/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,299 × 52 / 12 = $5,629) = 65% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $671,967 / ($1,299 × 52) = 9.9
• price-to-rent = $671,967 / ($3,250 × 12) = 17.2

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 #

5,012 jobs at 938 employers (2026 Q1); +2.0% jobs and +8.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 37th pct · 2,021st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 50th pct · 32nd of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853
• 33rd pct · 7th of 10 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median 94,239

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 #

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 #

30 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 10 stale

Sites found: 30, 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 #

45 wells in 0 named aquifers:

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.

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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$177.7 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,582, highly concentrated. $183.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $180.9 m, grants $1.8 m), $36,657 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,582 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 45.9² + 29.3² + 24.7² = 3,582

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 $36,657 per covered job, against 5,012 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $183.7 m / 5,012 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $36,657

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 #

Elbert County, CO: 16 findings, 5 at a watch level and 11 noted

1. watchElbert County, CO's years of wages of 9.9 ranks 86th 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 = 97.2240365774004 >= 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

2. watchElbert County, CO's typical asking rent is -5.9% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; 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: rent.momPct = -5.937207021187876 <= -1
   • month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns

   arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

3. watchElbert County, CO's typical home value is -2.0% 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 = -2.008571628606239 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

4. watchElbert County, CO's typical asking rent fell 5.9% from $3,455 in July 2026 to $3,250 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -5.9% = (3250 - 3455.138739854419) / 3455.138739854419 × 100
   • 3250 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 3455.138739854419 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

5. watchElbert County, CO's price-to-rent ratio of 17.2 scores 50 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 6 across Colorado counties, a gap of 45 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 45 = |50 across US counties - 6 across Colorado counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   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.