Lake of the Woods County, MN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 48.77, -94.90.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 44th pct · 1,701st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 29th pct · 62nd of 87 Minnesota counties · median $276,116
- 54th pct · 1,403rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 39th pct · 53rd of 87 Minnesota counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Minnesota counties: not published this period
- 11th pct · 2,838th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 4th pct · 83rd of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739
- 90th pct · 298th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 93rd pct · 7th of 87 Minnesota counties · median $1,102
- 18th pct · 2,482nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 3rd pct · 84th 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 $220,918 (Aug 2026), +3.3% over one year, +18.3% over five
- 44th pct · 1,701st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 29th pct · 62nd of 87 Minnesota counties · median $276,116
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Woods County, MN | $220,918 · +3.3% 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 $1,209 a month on $220,918 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,227 a month: 19.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $220,918 × 80% = $176,735, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,209/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,437 × 52 / 12 = $6,227) = 19% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $220,918 / ($1,437 × 52) = 3.0
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 #
1,540 jobs at 177 employers (2026 Q1); +0.1% jobs and +7.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 11th pct · 2,838th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 4th pct · 83rd of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Woods County, MN | 1,540 jobs · $1,437/wk · +0.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 451 | $598 | 3.26 | +3.7% |
| Health care and social assistance | 153 | $1,238 | 0.66 | +10.1% |
| Retail trade | 133 | $601 | 0.89 | -5.7% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 67 | $478 | 2.64 | +4.7% |
| Other services | 50 | $298 | 1.09 | +4.2% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 42 | $1,202 | 3.78 | -17.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 24 | $1,524 | 0.41 | -14.3% |
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld |
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 #
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 #
$128.8 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 6,027, highly concentrated. $29.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $28.8 m, grants $214,914), $19,035 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Border Bank | $93.6 m · 72.7% share · 1 office | |
| National Bank of Commerce | $35.2 m · 27.3% share · 1 office | |
| Lake of the Woods, MN | $29.3 m FY2026 · $19,035/job |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Border Bank | $93,559,000 | 72.7% | 1 |
| National Bank of Commerce | $35,195,000 | 27.3% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 6,027 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 72.7² + 27.3² = 6,027
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 #
That is $19,035 per covered job, against 1,540 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $29.3 m / 1,540 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $19,035
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 | -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 #
Lake of the Woods County, MN: 8 findings, 8 noted
noteLake of the Woods County, MN's average weekly wage was 7.5% 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
- +7.5 % = 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
noteLake of the Woods County, MN's typical home value fell 0.7% from $222,379 in July 2026 to $220,918 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -0.7% = (220918.128981629 - 222378.93238106903) / 222378.93238106903 × 100
- 220918.128981629 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 222378.93238106903 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteLake of the Woods County, MN's covered employment was 0.1% 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
- +0.1 % = 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
noteLake of the Woods County, MN's years of wages of 3.0 ranks 84th of 87 Minnesota counties, against a median of 4.6.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 3 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
noteLake of the Woods County, MN's covered employment of 1,540 ranks 83rd of 87 Minnesota counties, against a median of 7,739.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 5 on the 0-to-100 scale across 87 Minnesota counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 8 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.