Tate County, MS

Home values #

Typical home $249,442 (Aug 2026), +4.7% over one year, +24.9% over five

• 55th pct · 1,364th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 92nd pct · 7th of 80 Mississippi counties · median $151,974
• 62nd pct · 4th of 9 counties in the Memphis metro · median $222,493

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 #

Typical rent $1,500/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 13.9

• 50th pct · 693rd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 70th pct · 6th of 18 Mississippi counties · median $1,402
• 40th pct · 4th of 6 counties in the Memphis metro · median $1,560

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 $1,365 a month on $249,442 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,913 a month: 34.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $249,442 × 80% = $199,553, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,365/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $903 × 52 / 12 = $3,913) = 35% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $249,442 / ($903 × 52) = 5.3
• price-to-rent = $249,442 / ($1,500 × 12) = 13.9

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 #

6,575 jobs at 460 employers (2026 Q1); +0.5% jobs and +3.9% average weekly wage over the year

• 44th pct · 1,786th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 54th pct · 38th of 82 Mississippi counties · median 6,322
• 25th pct · 7th of 9 counties in the Memphis metro · median 11,668

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 #

48 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 83 % · 17 stale

Sites found: 48, 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 #

35 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 35, 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 (0.22)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.17 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$678.2 m in deposits at 10 offices of 8 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,351, highly concentrated. $205.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $194.9 m, grants $8.6 m), $31,246 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 2,351 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 = 40.2² + 16.3² + 16.0² + … (5 more) = 2,351

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 $31,246 per covered job, against 6,575 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $205.4 m / 6,575 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $31,246

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 #

Tate County, MS: 10 findings, 3 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchTate County, MS' price-to-rent ratio of 13.9 scores 17 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 59 across Mississippi counties, a gap of 42 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 42 = |17 across US counties - 59 across Mississippi counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

2. watchTate County, MS' typical home value of $249,442 scores 55 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 92 across Mississippi counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |55 across US counties - 92 across Mississippi counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

3. watchTate County, MS' average weekly wage of $903 scores 20 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 51 across Mississippi counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |20 across US counties - 51 across Mississippi counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

4. noteTate County, MS' average weekly wage was 3.9% 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

   • +3.9 % = 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

5. noteTate County, MS' covered employment was 0.5% 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

   • +0.5 % = 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.