Cass County, MN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 46.95, -94.33.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 78th pct · 666th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 81st pct · 17th of 87 Minnesota counties · median $276,116
- 55th pct · 1,370th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 40th pct · 52nd of 87 Minnesota counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Minnesota counties: not published this period
- 54th pct · 1,473rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 56th pct · 38th of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739
- 23rd pct · 2,460th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 6th pct · 81st of 87 Minnesota counties · median $1,102
- 89th pct · 329th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 98th pct · 2nd of 87 Minnesota counties · median 4.6
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 $342,998 (Aug 2026), +3.4% over one year, +32.2% over five
- 78th pct · 666th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 81st pct · 17th of 87 Minnesota counties · median $276,116
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Cass County, MN | $342,998 · +3.4% 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
- Minnesota 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 $1,877 a month on $342,998 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,995 a month: 47.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $342,998 × 80% = $274,398, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,877/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $922 × 52 / 12 = $3,995) = 47% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $342,998 / ($922 × 52) = 7.2
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 #
9,637 jobs at 930 employers (2026 Q1); -0.2% jobs and +6.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 54th pct · 1,473rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 56th pct · 38th of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Cass County, MN | 9,637 jobs · $922/wk · -0.2% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 1,279 | $557 | 1.48 | -1.7% |
| Retail trade | 1,036 | $661 | 1.10 | -2.5% |
| Manufacturing | 618 | $953 | 0.80 | +5.8% |
| Construction | 316 | $1,033 | 0.63 | +6.8% |
| Real estate and rental | 268 | $824 | 1.81 | +1.9% |
| Other services | 212 | $572 | 0.74 | -6.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 208 | $1,186 | 0.31 | -9.2% |
| Administrative and waste services | 160 | $953 | 0.29 | -4.2% |
| Finance and insurance | 135 | $1,526 | 0.34 | -8.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 117 | $351 | 0.74 | -21.5% |
| Wholesale trade | 85 | $1,003 | 0.23 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 73 | $785 | 1.05 | +58.7% |
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 #
D2 severe 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: 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 #
high (0.50)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$656.2 m in deposits at 10 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,937, highly concentrated. $312.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $278.9 m, grants $17.7 m), $32,381 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First National Bank North | $444.4 m · 67.7% share · 5 offices | |
| Pine River State Bank | $97.7 m · 14.9% share · 2 offices | |
| Bank Forward | $64.3 m · 9.8% share · 1 office | |
| Cass, MN | $312.1 m FY2026 · $32,381/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $262.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First National Bank North | $444,415,000 | 67.7% | 5 |
| Pine River State Bank | $97,749,000 | 14.9% | 2 |
| Bank Forward | $64,308,000 | 9.8% | 1 |
| Western National Bank | $33,034,000 | 5.0% | 1 |
| American National Bank of Minnesota | $16,680,000 | 2.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,937 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 = 67.7² + 14.9² + 9.8² + … (2 more) = 4,937
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 | $237,077,241 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $22,529,934 |
| Department of the Interior | $10,758,338 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $10,094,043 |
| Department of Agriculture | $9,722,153 |
| Department of Education | $8,483,141 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,671,784 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $2,297,982 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $2,062,786 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $542,235 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $449,282 |
| Small Business Administration | $209,588 |
That is $32,381 per covered job, against 9,637 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $312.1 m / 9,637 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $32,381
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 #
Cass County, MN: 6 findings, 1 at a watch level and 5 noted
watchCass County, MN's covered employment is -0.2% 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 = -0.2 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteCass County, MN's average weekly wage was 6.6% 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
- +6.6 % = 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
noteCass County, MN's covered employment was 0.2% 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
- -0.2 % = 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
noteCass County, MN's years of wages of 7.2 ranks 2nd of 87 Minnesota counties, against a median of 4.6.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 99 on the 0-to-100 scale across 87 Minnesota 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
noteCass County, MN's average weekly wage of $922 ranks 81st of 87 Minnesota counties, against a median of $1,102.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 6 on the 0-to-100 scale across 87 Minnesota counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 6 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.