Lee County, IL

Home values #

Typical home $189,202 (Aug 2026), +7.0% over one year, +29.6% over five

• 32nd pct · 2,071st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 70th pct · 31st of 102 Illinois counties · median $158,585

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 $1,031/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 15.3

• 10th pct · 1,258th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 30th pct · 24th of 34 Illinois counties · median $1,181

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 $1,036 a month on $189,202 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,135 a month: 20.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $189,202 × 80% = $151,361, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,036/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,185 × 52 / 12 = $5,135) = 20% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $189,202 / ($1,185 × 52) = 3.1
• price-to-rent = $189,202 / ($1,031 × 12) = 15.3

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 #

12,373 jobs at 691 employers (2026 Q1); -0.7% jobs and -2.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 59th pct · 1,293rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 63rd pct · 38th of 102 Illinois counties · median 7,611

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 #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

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 #

29 gauges · 0 flooding · 9 with quality panels averaging 89 % · 4 stale

Sites found: 29, 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 #

4 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 4, 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 (0.04)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.11 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$842.9 m in deposits at 15 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,930, highly concentrated. $241.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $231.9 m, grants $9.2 m), $19,507 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,930 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 28.6² + 23.8² + 15.0² + … (6 more) = 1,930

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 $19,507 per covered job, against 12,373 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $241.4 m / 12,373 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $19,507

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 #

Lee County, IL: 12 findings, 6 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchLee County, IL's average weekly wage is -2.3% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -2.3 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchLee County, IL's covered employment is -0.7% 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 = -0.7 < 0

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

3. watchLee County, IL's typical asking rent is -1.4% 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 = -1.3710850030766586 <= -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

4. watchLee County, IL's years of wages of 3.1 scores 22 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 61 across Illinois counties, a gap of 40 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 40 = |22 across US counties - 61 across Illinois counties|
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

5. watchLee County, IL's typical home value of $189,202 scores 32 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 70 across Illinois counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |32 across US counties - 70 across Illinois 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.