Polk County, MO

Home values #

Typical home $275,796 (Aug 2026), +2.2% over one year, +33.4% over five

• 63rd pct · 1,128th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 83rd pct · 20th of 113 Missouri counties · median $224,499
• 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Springfield metro · median $269,934

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 $1,180/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 19.5

• 20th pct · 1,111th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 41st pct · 21st of 35 Missouri counties · median $1,231
• counties in the Springfield metro: only 3 of counties in the Springfield metro published this metric; fewer than 5 is too few to rank

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 $1,510 a month on $275,796 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,177 a month: 36.1% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $275,796 × 80% = $220,637, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,510/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $964 × 52 / 12 = $4,177) = 36% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $275,796 / ($964 × 52) = 5.5
• price-to-rent = $275,796 / ($1,180 × 12) = 19.5

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 856 employers (2026 Q1); +5.4% jobs and +7.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 54th pct · 1,473rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 71st pct · 34th of 115 Missouri counties · median 4,996
• 50th pct · 3rd of 5 counties in the Springfield metro · median 9,637

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 #

$837.3 m in deposits at 10 offices of 7 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,879, highly concentrated. $189.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $184.0 m, grants $5.3 m), $19,686 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,879 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 24.7² + 24.6² + 16.3² + … (3 more) = 1,879

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 $19,686 per covered job, against 9,637 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $189.7 m / 9,637 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $19,686

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 #

Polk County, MO: 14 findings, 1 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. watchPolk County, MO's average weekly wage of $964 scores 33 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 69 across Missouri counties, a gap of 36 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 36 = |33 across US counties - 69 across Missouri counties|

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

2. notePolk County, MO's average weekly wage was 7.2% 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

   • +7.2 % = 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

3. notePolk County, MO's covered employment was 5.4% 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

   • +5.4 % = 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. notePolk County, MO's typical asking rent fell 0.9% from $1,191 in July 2026 to $1,180 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.9% = (1180 - 1191.2864407579707) / 1191.2864407579707 × 100
   • 1180 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1191.2864407579707 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

5. notePolk County, MO's typical home value rose 0.3% from $274,920 in July 2026 to $275,796 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (275796.13834927906 - 274919.7140915498) / 274919.7140915498 × 100
   • 275796.13834927906 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 274919.7140915498 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

Read all 12 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.