Petroleum County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 47.14, -108.23.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 40th pct · 1,813th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 20th pct · 45th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
- 33rd pct · 2,034th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 18th pct · 46th of 56 Montana counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Montana counties: not published this period
- 0th pct · 3,218th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 56th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 1st pct · 3,157th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 0th pct · 56th of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 80th pct · 609th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 58th pct · 24th 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 $210,872 (Aug 2026), +1.5% over one year, +35.0% over five
- 40th pct · 1,813th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 20th pct · 45th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Petroleum County, MT | $210,872 · +1.5% 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 $1,154 a month on $210,872 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $2,873 a month: 40.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $210,872 × 80% = $168,697, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,154/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $663 × 52 / 12 = $2,873) = 40% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $210,872 / ($663 × 52) = 6.1
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 #
113 jobs at 26 employers (2026 Q1); +10.8% jobs and -3.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 0th pct · 3,218th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 56th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Petroleum County, MT | 113 jobs · $663/wk · +10.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Retail trade | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | withheld | |||
| Health care and social assistance | withheld | |||
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | withheld | |||
| Accommodation and food services | withheld | |||
| Other services | 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 #
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 #
9 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 4 stale
Sites found: 9, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Box Elder Creek near Winnett MT | flow 61.6 ft³/s | 15 km |
| Musselshell River at Mosby MT | flow 51.3 ft³/s | 30 km |
| Flatwillow Creek near Mosby MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s | 33 km |
| Armells Creek nr Landusky MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 63 km |
| Missouri River near Landusky MT | flow 5,040 ft³/s · quality 100 % (1) | 65 km |
| Rock Creek near Landusky MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 67 km |
| Musselshell River at Musselshell MT | flow 52.7 ft³/s | 69 km |
| Willow Cr ab LMGA Reservoir nr Roundup MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 70 km |
| Willow Cr at U.S. canal nr Roundup MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 74 km |
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 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
FDIC publishes no Summary of Deposits rows for this county. $7.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (grants $4.6 m, direct payments $2.6 m), $64,509 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| county 30069, MT | $7.3 m FY2026 · $64,509/job | |
| MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION | $4.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | $4,664,549 |
| Social Security Administration | $2,077,804 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $310,392 |
| Department of Agriculture | $226,325 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $28,948 |
| Department of Education | $9,592 |
| Department of the Interior | $0 |
| Department of Energy | -$28,088 |
That is $64,509 per covered job, against 113 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $7.3 m / 113 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $64,509
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 | 2026-10-06 | +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 | 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 #
Petroleum County, MT: 11 findings, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
watchPetroleum County, MT's average weekly wage is -3.2% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -3.2 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
notePetroleum County, MT's covered employment was 10.8% 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
- +10.8 % = 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
notePetroleum County, MT's average weekly wage was 3.2% 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
- -3.2 % = 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
notePetroleum County, MT's typical home value rose 0.9% from $208,903 in July 2026 to $210,872 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.9% = (210871.59210519664 - 208903.4500155603) / 208903.4500155603 × 100
- 210871.59210519664 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 208903.4500155603 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
notePetroleum County, MT's average weekly wage of $663 ranks 56th of 56 Montana counties, against a median of $996.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 56 Montana counties that published jobs.avgWeeklyWage
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 11 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.