Leake County, MS
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 32.76, -89.52.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 22nd pct · 2,377th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 62nd pct · 31st of 80 Mississippi counties · median $151,974
- 90th pct · 285th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 88th pct · 10th of 80 Mississippi counties · median +1.3%
- US counties: not published this period
- Mississippi counties: not published this period
- 39th pct · 1,945th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 43rd pct · 47th of 82 Mississippi counties · median 6,322
- 6th pct · 3,012th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 13th pct · 71st of 82 Mississippi counties · median $903
- 44th pct · 1,697th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 78th pct · 18th of 80 Mississippi counties · median 3.3
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 $167,104 (Aug 2026), +7.9% over one year, +6.4% over five
- 22nd pct · 2,377th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 62nd pct · 31st of 80 Mississippi counties · median $151,974
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Leake County, MS | $167,104 · +7.9% 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
- Mississippi 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 $915 a month on $167,104 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,462 a month: 26.4% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $167,104 × 80% = $133,683, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $915/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $799 × 52 / 12 = $3,462) = 26% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $167,104 / ($799 × 52) = 4.0
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 #
5,467 jobs at 356 employers (2026 Q1); -0.7% jobs and +1.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 39th pct · 1,945th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 43rd pct · 47th of 82 Mississippi counties · median 6,322
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Leake County, MS | 5,467 jobs · $799/wk · -0.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 645 | $618 | 1.21 | -1.2% |
| Construction | 126 | $812 | 0.44 | +11.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 109 | $1,149 | 0.49 | +4.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 97 | $966 | 0.46 | +3.2% |
| Utilities | 85 | $1,748 | 3.94 | -7.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 74 | $882 | 0.20 | -2.6% |
| Real estate and rental | 36 | $716 | 0.43 | +5.9% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 35 | $783 | 0.15 | -16.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | 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 #
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 #
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$521.1 m in deposits at 7 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,509, highly concentrated. $19.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (grants $13.5 m, contracts $5.7 m), $3,544 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Financial Bank | $200.4 m · 38.5% share · 1 office | |
| Trustmark Bank | $113.3 m · 21.7% share · 3 offices | |
| The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia, Mississippi | $86.0 m · 16.5% share · 1 office | |
| Leake, MS | $19.4 m FY2026 · $3,544/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $117.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Financial Bank | $200,448,000 | 38.5% | 1 |
| Trustmark Bank | $113,300,000 | 21.7% | 3 |
| The Citizens Bank of Philadelphia, Mississippi | $86,022,000 | 16.5% | 1 |
| The Citizens National Bank of Meridian | $73,635,000 | 14.1% | 1 |
| The Bank of Forest | $47,664,000 | 9.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,509 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 = 38.5² + 21.7² + 16.5² + … (2 more) = 2,509
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 | $101,732,961 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $15,431,464 |
| Department of Transportation | $10,678,999 |
| Department of Agriculture | $7,959,449 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,843,524 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $547,047 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $450,335 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $66,996 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
| Department of Defense | $0 |
That is $3,544 per covered job, against 5,467 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $19.4 m / 5,467 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $3,544
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 | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| 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 | 2026-10-05 | +0.1% |
| 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 #
Leake County, MS: 10 findings, 4 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchLeake County, MS' covered employment is -0.7% 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 = -0.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchLeake County, MS' typical home value is -1.4% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical home value at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI month columns; 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: home.momPct = -1.425444241421966 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZHVI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchLeake County, MS' typical home value of $167,104 scores 22 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 62 across Mississippi counties, a gap of 40 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 40 = |22 across US counties - 62 across Mississippi counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
watchLeake County, MS' years of wages of 4.0 scores 45 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 78 across Mississippi counties, a gap of 34 points.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 34 = |45 across US counties - 78 across Mississippi counties|
- 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
noteLeake County, MS' average weekly wage was 1.5% 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
- +1.5 % = 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
Read all 10 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.