Montgomery County, IA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.02, -95.16.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 13th pct · 2,658th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 6th pct · 93rd of 99 Iowa counties · median $194,976
- 6th pct · 2,879th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 1st pct · 98th of 99 Iowa counties · median +4.6%
- 0th pct · 1,396th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 27th of 29 Iowa counties · median $1,006
- 30th pct · 2,247th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 30th pct · 69th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
- 49th pct · 1,630th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 41st pct · 58th of 99 Iowa counties · median $1,057
- 13th pct · 2,659th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 9th pct · 90th of 99 Iowa counties · median 3.5
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 $142,833 (Aug 2026), -3.8% over one year, +24.8% over five
- 13th pct · 2,658th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 6th pct · 93rd of 99 Iowa counties · median $194,976
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County, IA | $142,833 · -3.8% 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 $650/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 18.3
- 0th pct · 1,396th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 27th of 29 Iowa counties · median $1,006
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County, IA | $650/mo · n/a 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 $782 a month on $142,833 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,489 a month: 17.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $142,833 × 80% = $114,266, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $782/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,036 × 52 / 12 = $4,489) = 17% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $142,833 / ($1,036 × 52) = 2.7
- price-to-rent = $142,833 / ($650 × 12) = 18.3
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 #
3,803 jobs at 365 employers (2026 Q1); -5.9% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 30th pct · 2,247th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 30th pct · 69th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery County, IA | 3,803 jobs · $1,036/wk · -5.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 534 | $1,333 | 1.75 | -9.6% |
| Retail trade | 460 | $513 | 1.24 | +1.5% |
| Accommodation and food services | 255 | $311 | 0.75 | +4.5% |
| Construction | 215 | $1,113 | 1.08 | -11.5% |
| Information | 134 | $1,370 | 1.91 | -25.1% |
| Wholesale trade | 132 | $1,380 | 0.91 | -6.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 119 | $1,899 | 0.77 | +0.0% |
| Other services | 70 | $878 | 0.62 | -30.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 69 | $781 | 0.32 | -43.0% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 30 | $369 | 0.48 | -31.8% |
| Real estate and rental | 19 | $1,347 | 0.33 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld |
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 #
$375.4 m in deposits at 6 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,733, highly concentrated. $77.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $74.8 m, grants $1.9 m), $20,422 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Bank Iowa | $176.0 m · 46.9% share · 2 offices | |
| Houghton State Bank | $129.4 m · 34.5% share · 2 offices | |
| First Interstate Bank | $70.0 m · 18.7% share · 2 offices | |
| Montgomery, IA | $77.7 m FY2026 · $20,422/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $69.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Iowa | $175,969,000 | 46.9% | 2 |
| Houghton State Bank | $129,429,000 | 34.5% | 2 |
| First Interstate Bank | $70,050,000 | 18.7% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 3,733 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 46.9² + 34.5² + 18.7² = 3,733
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 | $61,860,705 |
| Department of Agriculture | $6,741,528 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $6,591,205 |
| Department of Transportation | $953,396 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $666,921 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $646,742 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $145,250 |
| Department of Education | $60,683 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $20,422 per covered job, against 3,803 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $77.7 m / 3,803 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,422
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 #
Montgomery County, IA: 20 findings, 1 at an alert level, 3 at a watch level and 16 noted
alertMontgomery County, IA's covered employment is -5.9% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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.emp = -5.9 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchMontgomery County, IA's covered employment is -5.9% 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 = -5.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchMontgomery County, IA's typical home value is -3.8% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -3.7572852903209415 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchMontgomery County, IA's momentum index is -0.36, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; 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: momentum = -0.363002225932896 <= -0.25
- 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%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteMontgomery County, IA's covered employment was 5.9% 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
- -5.9 % = 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
Read all 12 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.