McLean County, KY
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 37.53, -87.27.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 19th pct · 2,459th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 41st pct · 71st of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 1st pct · 3,022nd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 20th pct · 96th of 120 Kentucky counties · median -2.1%
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- US counties: not published this period
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 13th pct · 2,772nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 10th pct · 107th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 12th pct · 2,799th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 21st pct · 94th of 120 Kentucky counties · median $953
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 33rd pct · 2,023rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 52nd pct · 58th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 3.6
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $160,743 (Aug 2026), -10.2% over one year, +13.9% over five
- 19th pct · 2,459th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 41st pct · 71st of 120 Kentucky counties · median $181,373
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| McLean County, KY | $160,743 · -10.2% 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
- Kentucky counties: not published this period
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $880 a month on $160,743 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,727 a month: 23.6% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $160,743 × 80% = $128,595, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $880/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $860 × 52 / 12 = $3,727) = 24% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $160,743 / ($860 × 52) = 3.6
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 #
1,752 jobs at 250 employers (2026 Q1); +1.4% jobs and +5.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 13th pct · 2,772nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 10th pct · 107th of 120 Kentucky counties · median 5,237
- counties in the Owensboro metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Owensboro metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| McLean County, KY | 1,752 jobs · $860/wk · +1.4% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 175 | $600 | 1.02 | -6.9% |
| Health care and social assistance | 145 | $851 | 0.55 | +5.8% |
| Manufacturing | 135 | $1,414 | 0.96 | +6.3% |
| Construction | 94 | $973 | 1.02 | -5.1% |
| Wholesale trade | 72 | $1,454 | 1.07 | -4.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 43 | $851 | 0.36 | +0.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 39 | $772 | 0.39 | +8.3% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 26 | $878 | 0.35 | +0.0% |
| Utilities | 8 | $1,403 | 1.16 | -11.1% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Information | 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 #
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 #
No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)
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 #
28 gauges · 0 flooding · 2 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 4 stale
Sites found: 28, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| GREEN RIVER AT LOCK 2 AT CALHOUN, KY | flow 727.0 ft³/s | 1 km |
| CYPRESS CREEK NEAR CALHOUN, KY | flow 14.0 ft³/s · STALE | 5 km |
| GREEN RIVER AT LIVERMORE, KY | stage 3.56 ft | 12 km |
| GREEN RIVER AT ROCKPORT, KY | stage 0.56 ft | 31 km |
| OHIO RIVER AT RIVERPORT AT OWENSBORO, KY | stage 19.3 ft | 32 km |
| ROUGH RIVER AT HARTFORD, KY | flow 254.0 ft³/s | 32 km |
| SOUTH FORK PANTHER CREEK NEAR WHITESVILLE, KY | stage 6.46 ft | 35 km |
| GREEN RIVER AT PARADISE, KY | flow 571.0 ft³/s | 39 km |
| GREEN RIVER AT LOCK 1 AT SPOTTSVILLE, KY | flow 784.0 ft³/s · quality 100 % (5) | 39 km |
| BEAVERDAM CREEK NEAR CORYDON, KY | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 43 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 #
3 wells in 0 named aquifers:
Sites found: 3, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-375406087105401 | depth 2.35 ft · 2025-02-23 | 42 km |
| USGS-370733087291201 | depth 7.02 ft · 1983-09-08 | 49 km |
| USGS-380626087344401 | depth 23.9 ft · 2026-10-05 | 70 km |
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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$248.1 m in deposits at 5 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,726, highly concentrated. $62.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $61.5 m, grants $566,471), $35,504 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Sacramento Deposit Bank | $88.4 m · 35.6% share · 1 office | |
| Independence Bank of Kentucky | $67.3 m · 27.1% share · 1 office | |
| Farmers Bank and Trust Company | $55.5 m · 22.4% share · 2 offices | |
| McLean, KY | $62.2 m FY2026 · $35,504/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $57.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sacramento Deposit Bank | $88,407,000 | 35.6% | 1 |
| Independence Bank of Kentucky | $67,276,000 | 27.1% | 1 |
| Farmers Bank and Trust Company | $55,492,000 | 22.4% | 2 |
| Truist Bank | $36,969,000 | 14.9% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,726 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 = 35.6² + 27.1² + 22.4² + … (1 more) = 2,726
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 | $52,629,593 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $4,548,335 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,157,058 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $779,494 |
| Department of Transportation | $566,471 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $393,470 |
| Department of Justice | $100,072 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $45,029 |
| Small Business Administration | -$16,087 |
That is $35,504 per covered job, against 1,752 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $62.2 m / 1,752 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $35,504
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 | 12.69 | 2026-10-05 | +3.3% |
| 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 | 2026-10-06 | +0.0% |
| 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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| 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 #
McLean County, KY: 7 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 5 noted
alertMcLean County, KY's typical home value is -10.2% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -10.214914479496299 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchMcLean County, KY's typical home value is -10.2% 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 = -10.214914479496299 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
noteMcLean County, KY's average weekly wage was 5.0% 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
- +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
noteMcLean County, KY's covered employment was 1.4% 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
- +1.4 % = 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
noteMcLean County, KY's typical home value rose 0.8% from $159,422 in July 2026 to $160,743 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.8% = (160743.31419958753 - 159422.02796102632) / 159422.02796102632 × 100
- 160743.31419958753 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 159422.02796102632 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
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.