Fayette County, IA

Home values #

Typical home $158,082 (Aug 2026), +4.9% over one year, +32.1% over five

• 18th pct · 2,493rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 14th pct · 85th of 99 Iowa counties · median $194,976

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 $866/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 15.2

• 2nd pct · 1,362nd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 32nd pct · 20th of 29 Iowa counties · median $1,006

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 $865 a month on $158,082 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,134 a month: 20.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $158,082 × 80% = $126,466, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $865/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $954 × 52 / 12 = $4,134) = 21% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $158,082 / ($954 × 52) = 3.2
• price-to-rent = $158,082 / ($866 × 12) = 15.2

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 #

6,950 jobs at 667 employers (2026 Q1); +0.4% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 45th pct · 1,748th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 63rd pct · 37th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685

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 #

78 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 11 stale

Sites found: 78, 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 #

16 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 16, 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 #

$571.1 m in deposits at 14 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,458, moderately concentrated. $150.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $148.0 m, grants $2.8 m), $21,707 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,458 across 8 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 8 banks with deposits in the county = 22.5² + 16.4² + 14.2² + … (5 more) = 1,458

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 $21,707 per covered job, against 6,950 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $150.9 m / 6,950 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,707

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 #

Fayette County, IA: 7 findings, 7 noted

1. noteFayette County, IA's average weekly wage was 3.8% 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

   • +3.8 % = 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

2. noteFayette County, IA's typical asking rent rose 1.7% from $851 in July 2026 to $866 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.7% = (865.8333333333334 - 851.3010390854528) / 851.3010390854528 × 100
   • 865.8333333333334 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 851.3010390854528 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

3. noteFayette County, IA's covered employment 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

4. noteFayette County, IA's typical asking rent of $866 ranks 1,362nd of 1,399 US counties, against a median of $1,496.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 3 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

5. noteFayette County, IA's average weekly wage of $954 ranks 92nd of 99 Iowa counties, against a median of $1,057.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 7 on the 0-to-100 scale across 99 Iowa counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage

   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.