Calhoun County, MI

Home values #

Typical home $190,938 (Aug 2026), +3.6% over one year, +25.3% over five

• 33rd pct · 2,050th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 25th pct · 62nd of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891
• counties in the Battle Creek metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Battle Creek metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,142/mo (Aug 2026), +5.3% over one year; price-to-rent 13.9

• 18th pct · 1,147th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 17th pct · 33rd of 40 Michigan counties · median $1,338
• counties in the Battle Creek metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Battle Creek 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 $1,045 a month on $190,938 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,478 a month: 16.1% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $190,938 × 80% = $152,750, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,045/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,495 × 52 / 12 = $6,478) = 16% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $190,938 / ($1,495 × 52) = 2.5
• price-to-rent = $190,938 / ($1,142 × 12) = 13.9

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 #

56,518 jobs at 2,736 employers (2026 Q1); +4.0% jobs and +8.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 85th pct · 468th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 84th pct · 14th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
• counties in the Battle Creek metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Battle Creek metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

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 #

58 gauges · 0 flooding · 6 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 13 stale

Sites found: 58, 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 #

68 wells in 1 named aquifer: Sand and gravel aquifers (glaciated regions)

Sites found: 68, 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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.3 bn in deposits at 17 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,890, highly concentrated. $1.1 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $914.7 m, contracts $104.1 m), $19,267 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,890 across 10 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 10 banks with deposits in the county = 28.4² + 22.7² + 20.8² + … (7 more) = 1,890

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 $19,267 per covered job, against 56,518 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.1 bn / 56,518 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $19,267

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 #

Calhoun County, MI: 12 findings, 1 at a watch level and 11 noted

1. watchCalhoun County, MI's typical home value of +3.6% scores 58 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 21 across Michigan counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |58 across US counties - 21 across Michigan counties|

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

2. noteCalhoun County, MI's average weekly wage was 8.8% 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

   • +8.8 % = 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. noteCalhoun County, MI's covered employment was 4.0% 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

   • +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

4. noteCalhoun County, MI's years of wages of 2.5 ranks 82nd of 83 Michigan counties, against a median of 4.1.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 1 on the 0-to-100 scale across 83 Michigan counties that published yearsOfWages
   • 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

5. noteCalhoun County, MI's momentum index of 0.74 ranks 147th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 0.23.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published momentum
   • momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)

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

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.