Carroll County, IN

Home values #

Typical home $242,959 (Aug 2026), +5.7% over one year, +35.2% over five

• 52nd pct · 1,442nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 56th pct · 41st of 92 Indiana counties · median $234,055
• counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette 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 $1,199/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 16.9

• 22nd pct · 1,089th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 52nd pct · 18th of 37 Indiana counties · median $1,174
• counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette 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 $1,330 a month on $242,959 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,160 a month: 32.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $242,959 × 80% = $194,367, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,330/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $960 × 52 / 12 = $4,160) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $242,959 / ($960 × 52) = 4.9
• price-to-rent = $242,959 / ($1,199 × 12) = 16.9

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 #

5,552 jobs at 448 employers (2026 Q1); -0.6% jobs and -1.5% average weekly wage over the year

• 40th pct · 1,932nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 21st pct · 72nd of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
• counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Lafayette-West Lafayette 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 #

2 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 2, 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 #

56 gauges · 0 flooding · 2 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 20 stale

Sites found: 56, 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 #

20 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 20, 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 #

$360.6 m in deposits at 7 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,805, highly concentrated. $137.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $133.0 m, grants $4.7 m), $24,831 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,805 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 = 26.7² + 17.3² + 16.4² + … (3 more) = 1,805

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 $24,831 per covered job, against 5,552 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $137.9 m / 5,552 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $24,831

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 #

Carroll County, IN: 10 findings, 4 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchCarroll County, IN's average weekly wage is -1.5% 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 = -1.5 < 0

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

2. watchCarroll County, IN's typical asking rent is -1.8% 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 = -1.8270605967952276 <= -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. watchCarroll County, IN's covered employment is -0.6% 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 = -0.6 < 0

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

4. watchCarroll County, IN's typical asking rent of $1,199 scores 22 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 53 across Indiana counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |22 across US counties - 53 across Indiana counties|

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

5. noteCarroll County, IN's typical asking rent fell 1.8% from $1,221 in July 2026 to $1,199 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -1.8% = (1198.5 - 1220.8048442734882) / 1220.8048442734882 × 100
   • 1198.5 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1220.8048442734882 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

Read all 10 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.