Osceola County, IA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 43.38, -95.63.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 28th pct · 2,189th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 36th pct · 63rd of 99 Iowa counties · median $194,976
- 93rd pct · 193rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 90th pct · 10th of 99 Iowa counties · median +4.6%
- US counties: not published this period
- Iowa counties: not published this period
- 20th pct · 2,554th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 13th pct · 86th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
- 45th pct · 1,734th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 34th pct · 65th of 99 Iowa counties · median $1,057
- 29th pct · 2,158th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 44th pct · 55th 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 $180,686 (Aug 2026), +9.0% over one year, +36.3% over five
- 28th pct · 2,189th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 36th pct · 63rd of 99 Iowa counties · median $194,976
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Osceola County, IA | $180,686 · +9.0% 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
- Iowa 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 $989 a month on $180,686 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,429 a month: 22.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $180,686 × 80% = $144,549, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $989/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,022 × 52 / 12 = $4,429) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $180,686 / ($1,022 × 52) = 3.4
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 #
2,536 jobs at 265 employers (2026 Q1); -3.9% jobs and +3.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 20th pct · 2,554th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 13th pct · 86th of 99 Iowa counties · median 5,685
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Osceola County, IA | 2,536 jobs · $1,022/wk · -3.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 734 | $1,020 | 40.07 | -9.2% |
| Health care and social assistance | 349 | $967 | 0.91 | +4.2% |
| Manufacturing | 321 | $1,275 | 1.57 | -5.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 144 | $1,456 | 1.48 | +17.1% |
| Retail trade | 137 | $527 | 0.55 | +0.7% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 115 | $1,022 | 1.08 | +9.5% |
| Construction | 98 | $943 | 0.74 | +1.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 69 | $246 | 0.30 | -34.9% |
| Utilities | 35 | $2,513 | 3.49 | +9.4% |
| Other services | 32 | $748 | 0.42 | -11.1% |
| Professional and technical services | 30 | $1,004 | 0.17 | +0.0% |
| Information | 11 | $774 | 0.24 | -8.3% |
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 #
$237.1 m in deposits at 5 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,026, highly concentrated. $51.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $45.5 m, contracts $6.0 m), $20,484 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sibley State Bank | $91.5 m · 38.6% share · 1 office | |
| Iowa State Bank | $78.4 m · 33.1% share · 2 offices | |
| Ashton State Bank | $44.5 m · 18.8% share · 1 office | |
| Osceola, IA | $51.9 m FY2026 · $20,484/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sibley State Bank | $91,500,000 | 38.6% | 1 |
| Iowa State Bank | $78,400,000 | 33.1% | 2 |
| Ashton State Bank | $44,549,000 | 18.8% | 1 |
| United Community Bank | $22,690,000 | 9.6% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,026 across 4 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 4 banks with deposits in the county = 38.6² + 33.1² + 18.8² + … (1 more) = 3,026
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 $20,484 per covered job, against 2,536 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $51.9 m / 2,536 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,484
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 #
Osceola County, IA: 10 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertOsceola County, IA's covered employment is -3.9% 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 = -3.9 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchOsceola County, IA's covered employment is -3.9% 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 = -3.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteOsceola County, IA's covered employment was 3.9% 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
- -3.9 % = 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
noteOsceola County, IA's average weekly wage was 3.1% 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
- +3.1 % = 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
noteOsceola County, IA's typical home value rose 0.3% from $180,067 in July 2026 to $180,686 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.3% = (180685.97170761274 - 180067.35433718175) / 180067.35433718175 × 100
- 180685.97170761274 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 180067.35433718175 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
Read all 10 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.