Howard County, IN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 40.48, -86.11.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 35th pct · 1,985th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 24th pct · 70th of 92 Indiana counties · median $234,055
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 69th pct · 920th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 58th pct · 39th of 92 Indiana counties · median +4.2%
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 13th pct · 1,204th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 27th pct · 27th of 37 Indiana counties · median $1,174
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 79th pct · 673rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 21st of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 82nd pct · 559th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 83rd pct · 16th of 92 Indiana counties · median $1,045
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 18th pct · 2,495th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 9th pct · 83rd of 92 Indiana counties · median 4.2
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
Typical home value divided by the average annual wage of one covered job.
A percentile here is a min-max scaling of average rank: the smallest published value in the cohort is 0 and the largest is 100, and tied values share the average of the ranks they span. It is not the share of entities below the value, so 0 means smallest, not none below. Entities that did not publish the metric are outside the cohort entirely and are counted in neither the rank nor its denominator.
Home values #
Typical home $194,994 (Aug 2026), +4.8% over one year, +38.4% over five
- 35th pct · 1,985th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 24th pct · 70th of 92 Indiana counties · median $234,055
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Howard County, IN | $194,994 · +4.8% 1-yr |
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 $1,085/mo (Aug 2026), +6.0% over one year; price-to-rent 15.0
- 13th pct · 1,204th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 27th pct · 27th of 37 Indiana counties · median $1,174
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Howard County, IN | $1,085/mo · +6.0% 1-yr |
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 $1,067 a month on $194,994 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,516 a month: 19.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $194,994 × 80% = $155,995, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,067/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,273 × 52 / 12 = $5,516) = 19% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $194,994 / ($1,273 × 52) = 2.9
- price-to-rent = $194,994 / ($1,085 × 12) = 15.0
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 #
34,455 jobs at 1,960 employers (2026 Q1); -0.9% jobs and +0.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 79th pct · 673rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 78th pct · 21st of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
- counties in the Kokomo metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Kokomo metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Howard County, IN | 34,455 jobs · $1,273/wk · -0.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 8,386 | $2,288 | 3.03 | -4.6% |
| Health care and social assistance | 5,551 | $1,140 | 1.07 | +0.5% |
| Retail trade | 4,303 | $642 | 1.28 | -1.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 4,073 | $383 | 1.32 | +4.4% |
| Construction | 1,468 | $1,615 | 0.81 | -15.0% |
| Other services | 1,283 | $631 | 1.25 | -0.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 892 | $1,583 | 0.64 | +7.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 848 | $1,263 | 0.36 | -2.3% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 754 | $1,205 | 0.52 | +10.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 752 | $1,651 | 0.57 | +1.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 330 | $851 | 0.62 | +8.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 178 | $431 | 0.31 | +26.2% |
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 #
Surface water layer not loaded
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 #
Surface water layer not loaded
Sites found: 0, 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 #
No USGS monitoring wells within 75 km (or above 1,500 km)
Sites found: 0, 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 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$2.0 bn in deposits at 20 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,373, highly concentrated. $599.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $576.9 m, grants $12.7 m), $17,393 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Community First Bank of Indiana | $660.1 m · 33.0% share · 3 offices | |
| First Farmers Bank & Trust Co. | $622.1 m · 31.1% share · 6 offices | |
| BMO Bank National Association | $254.3 m · 12.7% share · 4 offices | |
| Howard, IN | $599.3 m FY2026 · $17,393/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $556.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community First Bank of Indiana | $660,147,000 | 33.0% | 3 |
| First Farmers Bank & Trust Co. | $622,123,000 | 31.1% | 6 |
| BMO Bank National Association | $254,289,000 | 12.7% | 4 |
| KeyBank National Association | $178,476,000 | 8.9% | 1 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $146,517,000 | 7.3% | 1 |
| Horizon Bank | $55,288,000 | 2.8% | 1 |
| STAR Financial Bank | $51,910,000 | 2.6% | 2 |
| Security Federal Savings Bank | $29,424,000 | 1.5% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 2,373 across 8 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 8 banks with deposits in the county = 33.0² + 31.1² + 12.7² + … (5 more) = 2,373
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.
| Awarding agency | Obligations |
|---|---|
| Social Security Administration | $498,915,443 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $55,709,695 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $12,239,768 |
| Department of Transportation | $11,497,595 |
| Department of Energy | $8,908,171 |
| Department of Education | $7,287,096 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,231,523 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,624,063 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $717,627 |
| Department of Defense | $378,840 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $23,312 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $17,393 per covered job, against 34,455 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $599.3 m / 34,455 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,393
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.
| Series | Latest | As of | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi River at Memphis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Mississippi River at St. Louis, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Ohio River at Louisville, stage · ft | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| Missouri River at St. Joseph, stage · ft | not published | not published | |
| Colorado River below Hoover Dam, flow (Hoover releases) · ft³/s | 5,170.00 | 2026-02-05 | -25.3% |
| Texas reservoirs, statewide percent full · % | 72.60 | 2026-10-05 | +0.1% |
| Laredo truck crossings, monthly · trucks | 258,700.00 | 2026-08-01 | -0.4% |
| Los Angeles + Long Beach container volume, annual · TEU | 10,513,167.00 | 2023-01-01 | -13.5% |
| Containerships waiting for a berth, all US ports · ships | 6.00 | 2026-09-22 | -14.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 6,830.00 | 2026-08-01 | +7.4% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 96.16 | 2026-09-29 | -3.2% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.28 | 2026-10-01 | +3.6% |
| Housing starts, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,275.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.6% |
| Building permits, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,403.00 | 2026-08-01 | -2.1% |
| Case-Shiller US home price index · index, Jan 2000 = 100 | 337.31 | 2026-07-01 | +0.1% |
| Unemployment rate · % | 4.20 | 2026-09-01 | +2.4% |
| US goods and services trade balance, monthly · $ millions | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 646,347.00 | 2026-08-01 | +1.1% |
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 #
Howard County, IN: 7 findings, 1 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchHoward County, IN's covered employment is -0.9% 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 = -0.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteHoward County, IN's typical asking rent rose 1.4% from $1,070 in July 2026 to $1,085 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +1.4% = (1084.9884446693657 - 1069.9786790017934) / 1069.9786790017934 × 100
- 1084.9884446693657 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1069.9786790017934 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteHoward County, IN's covered employment was 0.9% lower 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
- -0.9 % = 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
noteHoward County, IN's average weekly wage was 0.6% 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
- +0.6 % = 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
noteHoward County, IN's years of wages of 2.9 ranks 83rd of 92 Indiana counties, against a median of 4.2.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 10 on the 0-to-100 scale across 92 Indiana counties that published yearsOfWages
- 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
Read all 7 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.