Norman County, MN

Home values #

Typical home $181,333 (Aug 2026), +6.9% over one year, +27.6% over five

• 28th pct · 2,182nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 9th pct · 79th of 87 Minnesota counties · median $276,116

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 $993 a month on $181,333 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,810 a month: 20.6% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $181,333 × 80% = $145,066, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $993/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,110 × 52 / 12 = $4,810) = 21% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $181,333 / ($1,110 × 52) = 3.1

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 #

1,796 jobs at 266 employers (2026 Q1); -1.4% jobs and +2.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 14th pct · 2,758th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 8th pct · 80th of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739

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 #

D1 moderate 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 #

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 #

57 gauges · 0 flooding · 12 with quality panels averaging 93 % · 25 stale

Sites found: 57, 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 #

6 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 6, 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 (0.19)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.07 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$230.0 m in deposits at 7 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,939, highly concentrated. $53.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $49.3 m, grants $4.4 m), $29,924 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,939 across 7 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 7 banks with deposits in the county = 31.1² + 22.0² + 13.6² + … (4 more) = 1,939

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 $29,924 per covered job, against 1,796 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $53.7 m / 1,796 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $29,924

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 #

Norman County, MN: 8 findings, 1 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchNorman County, MN's covered employment is -1.4% 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 = -1.4 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. noteNorman County, MN's average weekly wage was 2.3% 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

   • +2.3 % = 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

3. noteNorman County, MN's covered employment was 1.4% 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

   • -1.4 % = 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

4. noteNorman County, MN's typical home value fell 0.3% from $181,866 in July 2026 to $181,333 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.3% = (181332.79812123347 - 181866.34273920953) / 181866.34273920953 × 100
   • 181332.79812123347 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 181866.34273920953 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteNorman County, MN's years of wages of 3.1 ranks 81st of 87 Minnesota counties, against a median of 4.6.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 7 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

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.