Park County, CO

Home values #

Typical home $517,127 (Aug 2026), -1.3% over one year, +11.9% over five

• 94th pct · 175th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 63rd pct · 23rd of 62 Colorado counties · median $450,011
• 22nd pct · 8th 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 $2,479/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 17.4

• 93rd pct · 86th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 76th pct · 9th of 35 Colorado counties · median $1,975
• 87th pct · 2nd 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 $2,831 a month on $517,127 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,875 a month: 58.1% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $517,127 × 80% = $413,701, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,831/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,125 × 52 / 12 = $4,875) = 58% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $517,127 / ($1,125 × 52) = 8.8
• price-to-rent = $517,127 / ($2,479 × 12) = 17.4

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 #

2,883 jobs at 711 employers (2026 Q1); -2.0% jobs and +4.9% average weekly wage over the year

• 23rd pct · 2,466th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 33rd pct · 43rd of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853
• 0th pct · 10th 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 #

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 #

3 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 3, 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 #

134 gauges · 0 flooding · 26 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 73 stale

Sites found: 134, 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 #

13 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 13, 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 (0.48)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$40.1 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $130.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $120.7 m, grants $8.6 m), $45,274 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000

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 $45,274 per covered job, against 2,883 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $130.5 m / 2,883 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $45,274

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 #

Park County, CO: 15 findings, 5 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchPark County, CO's years of wages of 8.8 ranks 142nd 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 = 95.39516655780535 >= 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. watchPark County, CO's covered employment is -2.0% 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 < 0

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

3. watchPark County, CO's typical home value is -1.3% 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 = -1.3346065077473344 < 0

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

4. watchPark County, CO's price-to-rent ratio of 17.4 scores 52 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 9 across Colorado counties, a gap of 43 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 43 = |52 across US counties - 9 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

5. watchPark County, CO's typical home value of $517,127 scores 94 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 64 across Colorado counties, a gap of 30 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 30 = |94 across US counties - 64 across Colorado 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.