Grand Traverse County, MI
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 44.72, -85.55.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 88th pct · 368th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 97th pct · 3rd of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 43rd pct · 1,743rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 4th pct · 79th of 83 Michigan counties · median +5.7%
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 76th pct · 323rd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 92nd pct · 4th of 40 Michigan counties · median $1,338
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 84th pct · 500th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 81st pct · 16th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 76th pct · 761st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 81st pct · 16th of 83 Michigan counties · median $1,045
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 85th pct · 437th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 92nd pct · 7th of 83 Michigan counties · median 4.1
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City 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 $418,758 (Aug 2026), +2.4% over one year, +30.5% over five
- 88th pct · 368th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 97th pct · 3rd of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Traverse County, MI | $418,758 · +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 #
Typical rent $1,859/mo (Aug 2026), +3.6% over one year; price-to-rent 18.8
- 76th pct · 323rd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 92nd pct · 4th of 40 Michigan counties · median $1,338
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Traverse County, MI | $1,859/mo · +3.6% 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 $2,292 a month on $418,758 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,213 a month: 44.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $418,758 × 80% = $335,007, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,292/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,203 × 52 / 12 = $5,213) = 44% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $418,758 / ($1,203 × 52) = 6.7
- price-to-rent = $418,758 / ($1,859 × 12) = 18.8
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 #
50,569 jobs at 3,894 employers (2026 Q1); +0.8% jobs and +5.9% average weekly wage over the year
- 84th pct · 500th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 81st pct · 16th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
- counties in the Traverse City metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 4 counties in the Traverse City metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Traverse County, MI | 50,569 jobs · $1,203/wk · +0.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 11,196 | $1,337 | 1.47 | +0.5% |
| Retail trade | 7,034 | $791 | 1.43 | +0.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 5,899 | $570 | 1.30 | +3.5% |
| Manufacturing | 4,716 | $1,361 | 1.16 | +2.8% |
| Construction | 3,081 | $1,206 | 1.16 | +4.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 2,427 | $2,732 | 1.18 | +6.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 1,933 | $1,488 | 0.55 | -4.1% |
| Other services | 1,764 | $971 | 1.17 | -1.1% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,421 | $1,452 | 0.73 | +1.6% |
| Administrative and waste services | 1,418 | $925 | 0.49 | +14.4% |
| Educational services | 1,198 | $790 | 1.10 | +3.4% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 869 | $1,420 | 0.41 | -2.1% |
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 #
Surface water layer not loaded
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 #
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 #
low (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$3.8 bn in deposits at 28 offices of 13 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,220, highly concentrated. $120.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (grants $84.7 m, contracts $35.9 m), $2,387 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | $1.5 bn · 40.2% share · 7 offices | |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $594.0 m · 15.5% share · 3 offices | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $533.9 m · 13.9% share · 3 offices | |
| Grand Traverse, MI | $120.7 m FY2026 · $2,387/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $692.9 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | $1,545,120,000 | 40.2% | 7 |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $593,995,000 | 15.5% | 3 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $533,925,000 | 13.9% | 3 |
| Independent Bank | $392,713,000 | 10.2% | 3 |
| First National Bank of America | $220,264,000 | 5.7% | 1 |
| Honor Bank | $124,213,000 | 3.2% | 2 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $117,280,000 | 3.1% | 1 |
| State Savings Bank | $95,359,000 | 2.5% | 2 |
| West Shore Bank | $82,108,000 | 2.1% | 1 |
| First Community Bank | $62,860,000 | 1.6% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,220 across 13 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 13 banks with deposits in the county = 40.2² + 15.5² + 13.9² + … (10 more) = 2,220
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 | $625,220,705 |
| Department of Transportation | $71,785,663 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $56,367,345 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $28,524,711 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $15,172,414 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $9,166,669 |
| Department of Education | $6,050,299 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $4,243,013 |
| Department of Commerce | $4,057,187 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,493,029 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,040,867 |
| Department of Defense | $1,020,224 |
That is $2,387 per covered job, against 50,569 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $120.7 m / 50,569 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $2,387
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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 #
Grand Traverse County, MI: 13 findings, 2 at a watch level and 11 noted
watchGrand Traverse County, MI's typical home value of +2.4% scores 43 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 5 across Michigan counties, a gap of 38 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 38 = |43 across US counties - 5 across Michigan counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchGrand Traverse County, MI's momentum index of 0.45 scores 78 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 46 across Michigan counties, a gap of 31 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 31 = |78 across US counties - 46 across Michigan counties|
- 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
noteGrand Traverse County, MI's average weekly wage was 5.9% 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
- +5.9 % = 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
noteGrand Traverse County, MI's typical asking rent rose 0.9% from $1,843 in July 2026 to $1,859 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.9% = (1859.3352941176472 - 1842.645294538603) / 1842.645294538603 × 100
- 1859.3352941176472 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1842.645294538603 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteGrand Traverse County, MI's covered employment was 0.8% 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
- +0.8 % = 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
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.