Wabaunsee County, KS

Home values #

Typical home $256,484 (Aug 2026), +2.1% over one year, +38.5% over five

• 57th pct · 1,289th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 91st pct · 10th of 105 Kansas counties · median $153,214
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Topeka metro · median $256,484

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
• counties in the Topeka metro: 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 $1,404 a month on $256,484 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,614 a month: 38.8% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $256,484 × 80% = $205,187, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,404/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $834 × 52 / 12 = $3,614) = 39% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $256,484 / ($834 × 52) = 5.9

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 #

1,425 jobs at 190 employers (2026 Q1); +0.5% jobs and +3.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 10th pct · 2,887th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 29th pct · 74th of 105 Kansas counties · median 2,554
• 0th pct · 5th of 5 counties in the Topeka metro · median 3,757

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 #

7 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 7, 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 #

62 gauges · 0 flooding · 12 with quality panels averaging 83 % · 13 stale

Sites found: 62, 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 #

7 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 7, 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 (0.06)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.17 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$186.2 m in deposits at 7 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,941, highly concentrated. $57.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $54.0 m, grants $3.4 m), $40,323 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,941 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 46.8² + 17.6² + 14.2² + … (2 more) = 2,941

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 $40,323 per covered job, against 1,425 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $57.5 m / 1,425 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $40,323

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 #

Wabaunsee County, KS: 10 findings, 1 at a watch level and 9 noted

1. watchWabaunsee County, KS' typical home value of $256,484 scores 58 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 91 across Kansas counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |58 across US counties - 91 across Kansas counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

2. noteWabaunsee County, KS' average weekly wage was 3.7% 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

   • +3.7 % = 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

3. noteWabaunsee County, KS' covered employment was 0.5% 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

   • +0.5 % = 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. noteWabaunsee County, KS' typical home value fell 0.3% from $257,251 in July 2026 to $256,484 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.3% = (256484.10272777648 - 257251.07038304358) / 257251.07038304358 × 100
   • 256484.10272777648 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 257251.07038304358 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteWabaunsee County, KS' covered employment of 1,425 ranks 5th of 5 counties in the Topeka metro, against a median of 3,757.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 5 counties in the Topeka metro that published jobs.emp

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

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.