Isabella County, MI

Home values #

Typical home $230,382 (Aug 2026), +7.7% over one year, +20.2% over five

• 48th pct · 1,573rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 53rd pct · 39th of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891

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 $1,048/mo (Aug 2026), +12.7% over one year; price-to-rent 18.3

• 11th pct · 1,241st of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 2nd pct · 39th of 40 Michigan counties · median $1,338

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 $1,261 a month on $230,382 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,338 a month: 29.1% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $230,382 × 80% = $184,306, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,261/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,001 × 52 / 12 = $4,338) = 29% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $230,382 / ($1,001 × 52) = 4.4
• price-to-rent = $230,382 / ($1,048 × 12) = 18.3

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 #

26,485 jobs at 1,435 employers (2026 Q1); +2.1% jobs and -0.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 75th pct · 775th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 71st pct · 24th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414

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 #

30 gauges · 0 flooding · 6 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 2 stale

Sites found: 30, 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 #

14 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 14, 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 #

$1.4 bn in deposits at 17 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,812, highly concentrated. $393.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $367.5 m, grants $25.5 m), $14,841 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,812 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 = 55.3² + 24.7² + 9.5² + … (2 more) = 3,812

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 $14,841 per covered job, against 26,485 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $393.1 m / 26,485 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,841

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 #

Isabella County, MI: 9 findings, 2 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchIsabella County, MI's typical asking rent is +12.7% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 8 percent above a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; 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: rent.yoyPct = 12.734313352202772 >= 8

   arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchIsabella County, MI's average weekly wage is -0.4% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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.avgWeeklyWage = -0.4 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

3. noteIsabella County, MI's covered employment was 2.1% 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

   • +2.1 % = 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. noteIsabella County, MI's typical asking rent fell 0.6% from $1,054 in July 2026 to $1,048 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.6% = (1048.3333333333333 - 1054.2474095086861) / 1054.2474095086861 × 100
   • 1048.3333333333333 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1054.2474095086861 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

5. noteIsabella County, MI's average weekly wage was 0.4% 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

   • -0.4 % = 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

Read all 9 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.