Vernon Parish, LA
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 31.10, -93.19.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 25th pct · 2,296th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 47th pct · 34th of 64 Louisiana counties · median $176,099
- 47th pct · 1,614th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 61st pct · 25th of 64 Louisiana counties · median +2.1%
- 21st pct · 1,105th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 14th pct · 24th of 28 Louisiana counties · median $1,363
- 59th pct · 1,316th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 55th pct · 29th of 64 Louisiana counties · median 10,187
- 33rd pct · 2,145th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 34th pct · 42nd of 64 Louisiana counties · median $1,033
- 30th pct · 2,125th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 68th pct · 21st of 64 Louisiana counties · median 3.1
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 $173,066 (Aug 2026), +2.7% over one year, +2.6% over five
- 25th pct · 2,296th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 47th pct · 34th of 64 Louisiana counties · median $176,099
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vernon Parish, LA | $173,066 · +2.7% 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 #
Typical rent $1,184/mo (Aug 2026), +6.2% over one year; price-to-rent 12.2
- 21st pct · 1,105th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 14th pct · 24th of 28 Louisiana counties · median $1,363
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vernon Parish, LA | $1,184/mo · +6.2% 1-yr |
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 $947 a month on $173,066 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,182 a month: 22.7% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $173,066 × 80% = $138,453, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $947/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $965 × 52 / 12 = $4,182) = 23% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $173,066 / ($965 × 52) = 3.4
- price-to-rent = $173,066 / ($1,184 × 12) = 12.2
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 #
12,082 jobs at 1,066 employers (2026 Q1); -4.7% jobs and +4.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 59th pct · 1,316th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 55th pct · 29th of 64 Louisiana counties · median 10,187
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vernon Parish, LA | 12,082 jobs · $965/wk · -4.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 1,516 | $1,065 | 0.83 | +2.0% |
| Retail trade | 1,402 | $640 | 1.19 | +2.3% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,161 | $376 | 1.07 | +0.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 923 | $1,447 | 1.11 | +0.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 607 | $1,205 | 0.88 | -40.4% |
| Construction | 551 | $1,116 | 0.87 | -7.6% |
| Manufacturing | 421 | $895 | 0.43 | +2.7% |
| Other services | 235 | $990 | 0.65 | -12.0% |
| Educational services | 196 | $1,239 | 0.75 | +8.3% |
| Real estate and rental | 191 | $1,105 | 1.03 | -11.2% |
| Finance and insurance | 154 | $1,210 | 0.31 | -1.9% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 131 | $861 | 0.26 | -13.8% |
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 #
D1 moderate drought
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: 3, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Toledo Bend Reservoir | 86 % full · 2,236k ac-ft | 38 km |
| Sam Rayburn Reservoir | 64 % full · 2,857k ac-ft | 88 km |
| B. A. Steinhagen Lake | 96 % full · 69k ac-ft | 101 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 #
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 #
moderate (0.26)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.26 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$456.7 m in deposits at 8 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 7,282, highly concentrated. $563.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $294.9 m, contracts $242.0 m), $46,660 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Merchants & Farmers Bank & Trust Company | $382.6 m · 83.8% share · 6 offices | |
| Sabine State Bank and Trust Company | $74.1 m · 16.2% share · 2 offices | |
| Vernon, LA | $563.7 m FY2026 · $46,660/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $292.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchants & Farmers Bank & Trust Company | $382,611,000 | 83.8% | 6 |
| Sabine State Bank and Trust Company | $74,070,000 | 16.2% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 7,282 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 83.8² + 16.2² = 7,282
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 |
|---|---|
| Department of Defense | $246,798,463 |
| Social Security Administration | $167,071,436 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $123,491,459 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $7,302,675 |
| Department of Transportation | $6,935,294 |
| Department of Education | $5,100,940 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,325,231 |
| General Services Administration | $2,021,369 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,912,771 |
| Department of Agriculture | $939,137 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $221,500 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $46,660 per covered job, against 12,082 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $563.7 m / 12,082 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $46,660
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 #
Vernon Parish, LA: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 3 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertVernon Parish, LA's covered employment is -4.7% 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 = -4.7 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchVernon Parish, LA's covered employment is -4.7% 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 = -4.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchVernon Parish, LA's typical asking rent rose 3.1% from $1,147 in July 2026 to $1,184 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +3.1% = (1183.5714285714287 - 1147.4779668504648) / 1147.4779668504648 × 100
- 1183.5714285714287 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1147.4779668504648 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
watchVernon Parish, LA's years of wages of 3.4 scores 31 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 68 across Louisiana counties, a gap of 38 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 38 = |31 across US counties - 68 across Louisiana 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
noteVernon Parish, LA's covered employment was 4.7% 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
- -4.7 % = 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
Read all 12 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.