St. Joseph County, MI
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.91, -85.52.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 44th pct · 1,690th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 45th pct · 46th of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891
- 66th pct · 1,041st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 29th pct · 59th of 83 Michigan counties · median +5.7%
- US counties: not published this period
- Michigan counties: not published this period
- 72nd pct · 894th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 27th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
- 62nd pct · 1,201st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 62nd pct · 32nd of 83 Michigan counties · median $1,045
- 41st pct · 1,806th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 41st pct · 49th of 83 Michigan counties · median 4.1
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 $221,314 (Aug 2026), +4.4% over one year, +21.2% over five
- 44th pct · 1,690th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 45th pct · 46th of 83 Michigan counties · median $226,891
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph County, MI | $221,314 · +4.4% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- US counties: not published this period
- Michigan counties: not published this period
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 $1,211 a month on $221,314 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,771 a month: 25.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $221,314 × 80% = $177,051, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,211/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,101 × 52 / 12 = $4,771) = 25% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $221,314 / ($1,101 × 52) = 3.9
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 #
20,813 jobs at 2,273 employers (2026 Q1); +1.3% jobs and +5.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 72nd pct · 894th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 68th pct · 27th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph County, MI | 20,813 jobs · $1,101/wk · +1.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 7,116 | $1,477 | 4.25 | -2.3% |
| Retail trade | 2,399 | $725 | 1.18 | -1.1% |
| Health care and social assistance | 2,184 | $753 | 0.70 | -2.4% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,574 | $378 | 0.84 | +2.5% |
| Construction | 760 | $1,230 | 0.70 | +20.3% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 704 | $1,076 | 4.68 | -2.5% |
| Other services | 685 | $632 | 1.10 | +8.2% |
| Professional and technical services | 668 | $1,425 | 0.47 | +4.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 538 | $1,431 | 0.67 | +49.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 381 | $1,616 | 0.45 | -12.8% |
| Administrative and waste services | 312 | $966 | 0.26 | -1.9% |
| Management of companies | 256 | $1,584 | 0.73 | +187.6% |
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 #
$1.0 bn in deposits at 22 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,162, highly concentrated. $389.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $371.0 m, grants $18.1 m), $18,698 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sturgis Bank & Trust Company | $359.5 m · 34.6% share · 6 offices | |
| Southern Michigan Bank & Trust | $268.0 m · 25.8% share · 6 offices | |
| Century Bank and Trust | $107.1 m · 10.3% share · 4 offices | |
| St. Joseph, MI | $389.2 m FY2026 · $18,698/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $361.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sturgis Bank & Trust Company | $359,488,000 | 34.6% | 6 |
| Southern Michigan Bank & Trust | $268,010,000 | 25.8% | 6 |
| Century Bank and Trust | $107,136,000 | 10.3% | 4 |
| Fifth Third Bank, National Association | $85,289,000 | 8.2% | 1 |
| Flagstar Bank, National Association | $70,112,000 | 6.8% | 2 |
| The Huntington National Bank | $70,012,000 | 6.7% | 1 |
| Horizon Bank | $48,542,000 | 4.7% | 1 |
| Farmers State Bank | $29,193,000 | 2.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,162 across 8 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 8 banks with deposits in the county = 34.6² + 25.8² + 10.3² + … (5 more) = 2,162
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 | $332,689,146 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $27,111,179 |
| Department of Transportation | $12,824,243 |
| Department of Agriculture | $4,534,040 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $3,831,587 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,233,511 |
| Department of Education | $3,010,550 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,110,772 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $924,142 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
| Department of Energy | $0 |
| Department of Justice | -$105,080 |
That is $18,698 per covered job, against 20,813 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $389.2 m / 20,813 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,698
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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| 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 #
St. Joseph County, MI: 4 findings, 1 at a watch level and 3 noted
watchSt. Joseph County, MI's typical home value of +4.4% scores 66 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 29 across Michigan counties, a gap of 37 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 37 = |66 across US counties - 29 across Michigan counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteSt. Joseph County, MI's average weekly wage was 5.1% 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
- +5.1 % = 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
noteSt. Joseph County, MI's covered employment was 1.3% 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
- +1.3 % = 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
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering St. Joseph County, MI is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.