Starke County, IN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.28, -86.64.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 47th pct · 1,623rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 39th pct · 56th of 92 Indiana counties · median $234,055
- 82nd pct · 523rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 80th pct · 19th of 92 Indiana counties · median +4.2%
- US counties: not published this period
- Indiana counties: not published this period
- 32nd pct · 2,174th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 12th pct · 81st of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
- 13th pct · 2,770th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 3rd pct · 88th of 92 Indiana counties · median $1,045
- 65th pct · 1,067th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 79th pct · 20th of 92 Indiana counties · median 4.2
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 $227,015 (Aug 2026), +6.4% over one year, +44.7% over five
- 47th pct · 1,623rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 39th pct · 56th of 92 Indiana counties · median $234,055
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Starke County, IN | $227,015 · +6.4% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Indiana counties: not published this period
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 $1,243 a month on $227,015 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,757 a month: 33.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $227,015 × 80% = $181,612, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,243/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $867 × 52 / 12 = $3,757) = 33% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $227,015 / ($867 × 52) = 5.0
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 #
4,153 jobs at 349 employers (2026 Q1); +2.6% jobs and +1.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 32nd pct · 2,174th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 12th pct · 81st of 92 Indiana counties · median 12,958
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Starke County, IN | 4,153 jobs · $867/wk · +2.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 678 | $959 | 2.03 | +1.3% |
| Retail trade | 553 | $692 | 1.37 | -1.4% |
| Administrative and waste services | 392 | $1,173 | 1.66 | +4.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 345 | $286 | 0.92 | +23.7% |
| Construction | 200 | $1,257 | 0.92 | +46.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 134 | $1,265 | 0.79 | -5.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 102 | $1,203 | 0.64 | +3.0% |
| Other services | 92 | $714 | 0.74 | -9.8% |
| Professional and technical services | 41 | $1,247 | 0.14 | -26.8% |
| Information | 25 | $1,431 | 0.33 | +4.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 14 | $537 | 0.20 | +55.6% |
| Real estate and rental | 13 | $220 | 0.20 | -13.3% |
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 #
$438.9 m in deposits at 6 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,530, highly concentrated. $172.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $159.8 m, grants $12.9 m), $41,598 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Source Bank | $157.7 m · 35.9% share · 1 office | |
| First Farmers Bank & Trust Co. | $114.3 m · 26.0% share · 2 offices | |
| The First National Bank of Monterey | $73.0 m · 16.6% share · 1 office | |
| Starke, IN | $172.8 m FY2026 · $41,598/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $156.9 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Source Bank | $157,685,000 | 35.9% | 1 |
| First Farmers Bank & Trust Co. | $114,281,000 | 26.0% | 2 |
| The First National Bank of Monterey | $73,002,000 | 16.6% | 1 |
| KeyBank National Association | $70,206,000 | 16.0% | 1 |
| DeMotte State Bank | $23,738,000 | 5.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,530 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 35.9² + 26.0² + 16.6² + … (2 more) = 2,530
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 | $142,510,733 |
| Department of Transportation | $12,866,911 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $11,998,536 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,680,702 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $2,332,297 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $100,000 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $98,491 |
| Department of Education | $87,794 |
| Department of Defense | $63,080 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $18,788 |
| Department of the Interior | $0 |
That is $41,598 per covered job, against 4,153 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $172.8 m / 4,153 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $41,598
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 | 12.69 | 2026-10-05 | +3.3% |
| 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 | 2026-10-06 | +0.0% |
| 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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| 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 #
Starke County, IN: 5 findings, 5 noted
noteStarke County, IN's covered employment was 2.6% 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
- +2.6 % = 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
noteStarke County, IN's average weekly wage was 1.4% 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
- +1.4 % = 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
noteStarke County, IN's average weekly wage of $867 ranks 88th of 92 Indiana counties, against a median of $1,045.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 4 on the 0-to-100 scale across 92 Indiana counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteStarke County, IN's momentum index of 0.60 ranks 7th of 92 Indiana counties, against a median of 0.27.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across 92 Indiana counties that published momentum
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Starke County, IN is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.