Deer Lodge County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 46.09, -113.14.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 68th pct · 951st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 50th pct · 28th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
- 55th pct · 1,372nd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 41st pct · 33rd of 56 Montana counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Montana counties: not published this period
- 27th pct · 2,347th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 21st of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 63rd pct · 1,182nd of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 69th pct · 18th of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 67th pct · 1,001st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 41st pct · 33rd of 56 Montana counties · median 5.8
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 $297,753 (Aug 2026), +3.4% over one year, +51.0% over five
- 68th pct · 951st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 50th pct · 28th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Deer Lodge County, MT | $297,753 · +3.4% 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
- Montana 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 $1,630 a month on $297,753 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,784 a month: 34.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $297,753 × 80% = $238,202, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,630/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,104 × 52 / 12 = $4,784) = 34% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $297,753 / ($1,104 × 52) = 5.2
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 #
3,332 jobs at 350 employers (2026 Q1); -0.9% jobs and +5.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 27th pct · 2,347th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 63rd pct · 21st of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Deer Lodge County, MT | 3,332 jobs · $1,104/wk · -0.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 826 | $1,608 | 1.65 | -1.9% |
| Retail trade | 401 | $685 | 1.23 | +13.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 321 | $383 | 1.07 | -5.9% |
| Administrative and waste services | 202 | $1,349 | 1.07 | -1.9% |
| Construction | 114 | $1,369 | 0.65 | -10.9% |
| Finance and insurance | 62 | $1,086 | 0.46 | -3.1% |
| Other services | 62 | $739 | 0.62 | -4.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 56 | $391 | 1.02 | +0.0% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 15 | $714 | 0.11 | -21.1% |
| Educational services | 12 | $1,363 | 0.17 | -7.7% |
| Real estate and rental | 9 | $673 | 0.18 | +28.6% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 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 #
$155.5 m in deposits at 3 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,103, highly concentrated. $96.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $68.5 m, grants $22.1 m), $28,836 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Glacier Bank | $88.9 m · 57.2% share · 1 office | |
| First Montana Bank, Inc. | $66.6 m · 42.8% share · 2 offices | |
| Deer Lodge, MT | $96.1 m FY2026 · $28,836/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $67.9 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glacier Bank | $88,877,000 | 57.2% | 1 |
| First Montana Bank, Inc. | $66,601,000 | 42.8% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 5,103 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 = 57.2² + 42.8² = 5,103
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 | $59,637,232 |
| Department of Transportation | $18,833,890 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $7,007,137 |
| Department of Agriculture | $5,512,877 |
| Department of Defense | $1,589,500 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $1,128,304 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $1,074,483 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $857,900 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $352,223 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $70,477 |
| Department of Education | $17,398 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
That is $28,836 per covered job, against 3,332 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $96.1 m / 3,332 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $28,836
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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 #
Deer Lodge County, MT: 5 findings, 2 at a watch level and 3 noted
watchDeer Lodge County, MT's covered employment is -0.9% 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 = -0.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchDeer Lodge County, MT's covered employment of 3,332 scores 27 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 64 across Montana counties, a gap of 37 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 37 = |27 across US counties - 64 across Montana counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteDeer Lodge County, MT's average weekly wage was 5.1% 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
- +5.1 % = 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
noteDeer Lodge County, MT's covered employment was 0.9% 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
- -0.9 % = 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
noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Deer Lodge County, MT is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.