Benton County, IA: 14 findings, 3 at a watch level and 11 noted

14 findings fired for Benton County, IA this run, against a typical home value of $291,509 in August 2026 and covered employment of 5,838 in 2026 Q1. 2 further findings are not listed here.

This is the real estate lens: Agents, investors, appraisers, relocation It keeps the findings whose subject matches that interest and drops the rest, so it is a subset of the full brief and never a different set of numbers. The full brief is the canonical version of this page.

12 findings #

currentretrieved 2026-10-06

  1. watchBenton County, IA's price-to-rent ratio is 38.9, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; 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: priceToRent = 38.86781399007626 >= 25
    • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

    typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

  2. watchBenton County, IA's price-to-rent ratio of 38.9 ranks 3rd of 1,399 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; 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: priceToRent percentile = 99.85693848354794 >= 90
    • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

    position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

  3. watchBenton County, IA's covered employment is -0.1% 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 = -0.1 < 0

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

  4. noteBenton County, IA's typical home value rose 0.7% from $289,578 in July 2026 to $291,509 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • +0.7% = (291508.60492557194 - 289577.60591046955) / 289577.60591046955 × 100
    • 291508.60492557194 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
    • 289577.60591046955 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

  5. noteBenton County, IA's average weekly wage was 0.4% 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
    • +0.4 % = 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

  6. noteBenton County, IA's covered employment was 0.1% 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
    • -0.1 % = 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

  7. notetypical asking rent (rent.latest) and typical asking rent (rent.momPct) for Benton County, IA could not be lined up against the previous published period this run, so no change is printed for them.

    Show the arithmetic
    • not comparable this run: rent.latest, rent.momPct

    the two newest month columns in the published file are not the two this table carries

  8. noteBenton County, IA's typical asking rent of $625 ranks 1,398th of 1,399 US counties, against a median of $1,496.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 1399 US counties that published rent.latest

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

  9. noteBenton County, IA's typical asking rent of $625 ranks 28th of 29 Iowa counties, against a median of $1,006.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 4 on the 0-to-100 scale across 29 Iowa counties that published rent.latest

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

  10. noteBenton County, IA's typical home value of +9.8% ranks 140th of 3,063 US counties, against a median of +2.9%.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3063 US counties that published home.yoyPct

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

  11. noteBenton County, IA's typical home value of +9.8% ranks 8th of 99 Iowa counties, against a median of +4.6%.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across 99 Iowa counties that published home.yoyPct

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

  12. noteBenton County, IA's years of wages of 5.4 ranks 9th of 99 Iowa counties, against a median of 3.5.

    Period 2026-08.
    Show the arithmetic
    • 92 on the 0-to-100 scale across 99 Iowa 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

A lens narrows which numbers are shown, not which holes are admitted to: a withheld figure or a pending release survives every lens, because a gap is a fact about the place rather than about one reader's subject.

Subscribe to this lens #

currentretrieved 2026-10-06

The same narrowed findings as a feed.

Sources #

  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-06 · typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month
  • publishedQuarterly Census of Employment and WagesU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopen the source
    area 19011, all ownerships, all industries · period 2026-Q1 · retrieved 2026-10-06
  • publishedZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv · period 2026-08 · retrieved 2026-10-06
  • publishedZillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv · period 2026-08 · retrieved 2026-10-06
  • estimateQuarterly Census of Employment and WagesU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-06 · typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-06 · month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
  • estimateZillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)Zillow Researchopen the source
    · retrieved 2026-10-06 · 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%)

Citations

  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-06. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month.
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. series area 19011, all ownerships, all industries. period 2026-Q1. https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2026/1/area/19011.csv. accessed 2026-10-06.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). series County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv. period 2026-08. https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/County_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv. accessed 2026-10-06.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). series County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv. period 2026-08. https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zori/County_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv. accessed 2026-10-06.
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. https://www.bls.gov/cew/. accessed 2026-10-06. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-06. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns.
  • Zillow Research. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/. accessed 2026-10-06. estimate computed by Embedding Atlas: 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%).

What these numbers are not

  • The newest BLS QCEW file carries no year-earlier level, only the over-the-year percent change BLS publishes itself. Every employment and wage comparison here states that published change; none of them is a move from one level to another, because the two levels are not both in the file.
  • A percentile here is a min-max scaling of average rank across the entities that published the metric this period: the smallest published value scores 0 and the largest scores 100. It is not the share of entities below the value, and entities that did not publish the metric are counted in neither the rank nor its denominator.
  • The named indicators shown beside this brief are national or basin-level series, not measurements of Benton County, IA; 30-year fixed mortgage rate (watch) is at a watch or alert level. They are context.
  • The occupation mix is the 16300 metro area's, from the bundled BLS OEWS release: OEWS does not publish a county table.
  • Water rows are everything within 75 km of this place's internal point (150 km for reservoirs), not everything inside its boundary: lib/water searches discs, and every row prints its own distance.
  • Server report: satellite turbidity is only computed in a browser, so that term is absent here.
  • Stress uses 2 of 4 terms (drought, quality); missing terms are left out, not assumed.
  • Groundwater has no trend term: one latest level cannot say whether an aquifer is being drawn down.
  • Obligations are what agencies committed in FY2026 by place of performance: not outlays, and not the recipient's own location.
  • FY2026 closed 6 days ago; agencies report with up to a 45-day lag, so totals are still filling in.
  • The indicator block is the NATIONAL set, filtered only by lens. None of these series is keyed to this place: they are United States, gauge, single-state or port series and they are shown as context, not as this place's own readings.

Page assembled 2026-10-06T13:23:04.942Z. Place identity tables pulled 2026-10-01.