Thomas County, KS
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 39.36, -101.08.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 28th pct · 2,194th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 67th pct · 35th of 105 Kansas counties · median $153,214
- 44th pct · 1,715th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 28th pct · 75th of 105 Kansas counties · median +4.4%
- US counties: not published this period
- Kansas counties: not published this period
- 32nd pct · 2,183rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 39th of 105 Kansas counties · median 2,554
- 26th pct · 2,350th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 45th pct · 58th of 105 Kansas counties · median $943
- 36th pct · 1,948th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 68th pct · 34th 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 $180,264 (Aug 2026), +2.4% over one year, +24.6% over five
- 28th pct · 2,194th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 67th pct · 35th of 105 Kansas counties · median $153,214
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas County, KS | $180,264 · +2.4% 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 $987 a month on $180,264 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,069 a month: 24.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $180,264 × 80% = $144,211, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $987/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $939 × 52 / 12 = $4,069) = 24% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $180,264 / ($939 × 52) = 3.7
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 #
4,095 jobs at 404 employers (2026 Q1); -0.3% jobs and +2.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 32nd pct · 2,183rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 39th of 105 Kansas counties · median 2,554
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas County, KS | 4,095 jobs · $939/wk · -0.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 619 | $567 | 1.55 | -4.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 330 | $1,326 | 2.10 | +0.9% |
| Construction | 210 | $1,154 | 0.98 | -1.4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 143 | $1,190 | 0.83 | +8.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 128 | $1,756 | 0.77 | +0.0% |
| Manufacturing | 120 | $986 | 0.36 | +3.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 97 | $880 | 0.34 | +4.3% |
| Other services | 85 | $1,234 | 0.69 | +11.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 68 | $830 | 0.29 | -2.9% |
| Utilities | 49 | $3,230 | 3.03 | -3.9% |
| Information | 34 | $1,230 | 0.45 | +3.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 32 | $597 | 0.51 | +45.5% |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight
Sites found: 1, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| CEDAR BLUFF RE NR ELLIS, KS | 54,710 Acre-ft (USGS, no capacity on file) | 134 km |
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 #
5 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 3 stale
Sites found: 5, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| SF SAPPA C NR ACHILLES, KS | flow 0.05 ft³/s · STALE | 47 km |
| BEAVER C AT LUDELL, KS | flow 0.00 ft³/s · observation not current · STALE | 56 km |
| SMOKY HILL R AT ELKADER, KS | flow 2.43 ft³/s · no flooding | 66 km |
| Hackberry Creek at Gove | observation not current | 68 km |
| SAPPA C NR OBERLIN, KS | flow 0.00 ft³/s · observation not current · STALE | 69 km |
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 #
$666.8 m in deposits at 9 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,993, highly concentrated. $69.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $68.3 m, grants $1.3 m), $16,997 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Farmers & Merchants Bank of Colby | $405.2 m · 60.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Sunflower Bank, National Association | $64.5 m · 9.7% share · 1 office | |
| The Bank | $55.6 m · 8.3% share · 1 office | |
| Thomas, KS | $69.6 m FY2026 · $16,997/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $38.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers & Merchants Bank of Colby | $405,249,000 | 60.8% | 2 |
| Sunflower Bank, National Association | $64,507,000 | 9.7% | 1 |
| The Bank | $55,581,000 | 8.3% | 1 |
| The Western State Bank | $55,028,000 | 8.3% | 1 |
| Outdoor Bank | $46,842,000 | 7.0% | 1 |
| Adams Bank & Trust | $24,365,000 | 3.7% | 1 |
| Farmers Bank & Trust | $15,193,000 | 2.3% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 3,993 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 60.8² + 9.7² + 8.3² + … (4 more) = 3,993
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 | $36,270,399 |
| Department of Agriculture | $27,324,509 |
| Department of Education | $2,580,733 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $2,218,987 |
| Department of Transportation | $1,033,389 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $166,935 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $7,456 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $16,997 per covered job, against 4,095 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $69.6 m / 4,095 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $16,997
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 #
Thomas County, KS: 7 findings, 4 at a watch level and 3 noted
watchThomas County, KS' covered employment is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchThomas County, KS' typical home value of $180,264 scores 28 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 67 across Kansas counties, a gap of 39 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 39 = |28 across US counties - 67 across Kansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchThomas County, KS' years of wages of 3.7 scores 36 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 68 across Kansas counties, a gap of 32 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 32 = |36 across US counties - 68 across Kansas counties|
- 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
watchThomas County, KS' covered employment of 4,095 scores 32 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 63 across Kansas counties, a gap of 31 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 31 = |32 across US counties - 63 across Kansas counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteThomas County, KS' average weekly wage was 2.0% 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
- +2 % = 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 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.