McLean County, IL

Home values #

Typical home $261,119 (Aug 2026), +1.7% over one year, +35.5% over five

• 59th pct · 1,250th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 89th pct · 12th of 102 Illinois counties · median $158,585
• counties in the Bloomington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Bloomington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,342/mo (Aug 2026), +3.7% over one year; price-to-rent 16.2

• 34th pct · 911th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 66th pct · 12th of 34 Illinois counties · median $1,181
• counties in the Bloomington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Bloomington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,429 a month on $261,119 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,491 a month: 22.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $261,119 × 80% = $208,895, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,429/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,498 × 52 / 12 = $6,491) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $261,119 / ($1,498 × 52) = 3.4
• price-to-rent = $261,119 / ($1,342 × 12) = 16.2

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 #

87,253 jobs at 3,433 employers (2026 Q1); +0.8% jobs and +6.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 89th pct · 341st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 88th pct · 13th of 102 Illinois counties · median 7,611
• counties in the Bloomington metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Bloomington metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

45 gauges · 0 flooding · 27 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 21 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.

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 #

low (0.00)

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

Banks & federal dollars #

$4.6 bn in deposits at 46 offices of 26 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,217, moderately concentrated. $114.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (grants $112.0 m, contracts $2.1 m), $1,310 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,217 across 26 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 26 banks with deposits in the county = 20.6² + 16.5² + 14.0² + … (23 more) = 1,217

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 $1,310 per covered job, against 87,253 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $114.3 m / 87,253 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $1,310

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 #

McLean County, IL: 11 findings, 3 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchMcLean County, IL's price-to-rent ratio of 16.2 scores 41 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 85 across Illinois counties, a gap of 44 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 44 = |41 across US counties - 85 across Illinois 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

2. watchMcLean County, IL's years of wages of 3.4 scores 29 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 72 across Illinois counties, a gap of 44 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 44 = |29 across US counties - 72 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

3. watchMcLean County, IL's typical asking rent of $1,342 scores 35 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 67 across Illinois counties, a gap of 32 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 32 = |35 across US counties - 67 across Illinois counties|

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

4. noteMcLean County, IL's average weekly wage was 6.2% higher 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

   • +6.2 % = 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

5. noteMcLean County, IL's covered employment was 0.8% higher 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

   • +0.8 % = 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

Read all 11 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.