Brown County, KS
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 39.83, -95.57.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 20th pct · 2,438th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 56th pct · 46th of 105 Kansas counties · median $153,214
- 87th pct · 394th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 73rd pct · 29th of 105 Kansas counties · median +4.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kansas counties: not published this period
- 33rd pct · 2,152nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 65th pct · 37th of 105 Kansas counties · median 2,554
- 33rd pct · 2,145th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 59th pct · 43rd of 105 Kansas counties · median $943
- 25th pct · 2,268th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 53rd pct · 49th of 105 Kansas counties · median 3.2
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 $162,419 (Aug 2026), +7.3% over one year, +48.6% over five
- 20th pct · 2,438th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 56th pct · 46th of 105 Kansas counties · median $153,214
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brown County, KS | $162,419 · +7.3% 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
- Kansas 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 $889 a month on $162,419 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,182 a month: 21.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $162,419 × 80% = $129,935, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $889/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $965 × 52 / 12 = $4,182) = 21% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $162,419 / ($965 × 52) = 3.2
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 #
4,255 jobs at 352 employers (2026 Q1); -1.6% jobs and -4.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 33rd pct · 2,152nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 65th pct · 37th of 105 Kansas counties · median 2,554
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brown County, KS | 4,255 jobs · $965/wk · -1.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 795 | $1,401 | 2.32 | -12.3% |
| Retail trade | 339 | $567 | 0.82 | -7.4% |
| Construction | 153 | $745 | 0.69 | +62.8% |
| Professional and technical services | 146 | $1,442 | 0.50 | +10.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 143 | $1,268 | 0.82 | -3.4% |
| Wholesale trade | 137 | $1,506 | 0.84 | -9.3% |
| Information | 68 | $1,244 | 0.87 | +0.0% |
| Other services | 57 | $607 | 0.45 | +18.8% |
| Real estate and rental | 20 | $554 | 0.31 | +5.3% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Utilities | 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 #
$389.5 m in deposits at 10 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,132, highly concentrated. $76.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $72.9 m, grants $4.1 m), $18,049 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| GNBank, National Association | $120.2 m · 30.9% share · 2 offices | |
| UMB Bank, National Association | $81.0 m · 20.8% share · 1 office | |
| Citizens State Bank and Trust Company | $79.6 m · 20.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Brown, KS | $76.8 m FY2026 · $18,049/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $59.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNBank, National Association | $120,249,000 | 30.9% | 2 |
| UMB Bank, National Association | $81,009,000 | 20.8% | 1 |
| Citizens State Bank and Trust Company | $79,602,000 | 20.4% | 2 |
| The Union State Bank of Everest | $62,611,000 | 16.1% | 3 |
| First Option Bank | $24,840,000 | 6.4% | 1 |
| The Farmers State Bank | $21,166,000 | 5.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,132 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 30.9² + 20.8² + 20.4² + … (3 more) = 2,132
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 | $53,186,663 |
| Department of the Interior | $6,664,408 |
| Department of Agriculture | $5,813,521 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $5,329,521 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,582,574 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,112,850 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $615,929 |
| Department of Education | $244,075 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $201,786 |
| Department of Transportation | $46,598 |
| Department of Commerce | $0 |
| Department of Justice | $0 |
That is $18,049 per covered job, against 4,255 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $76.8 m / 4,255 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,049
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 #
Brown County, KS: 8 findings, 4 at a watch level and 4 noted
watchBrown County, KS' average weekly wage is -4.4% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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.avgWeeklyWage = -4.4 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchBrown County, KS' covered employment is -1.6% 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 = -1.6 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchBrown County, KS' typical home value of $162,419 scores 20 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 57 across Kansas counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |20 across US counties - 57 across Kansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchBrown County, KS' covered employment of 4,255 scores 33 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 65 across Kansas counties, a gap of 32 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 32 = |33 across US counties - 65 across Kansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteBrown County, KS' average weekly wage was 4.4% 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
- -4.4 % = 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
Read all 8 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.