Phillips County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 48.25, -107.93.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 45th pct · 1,674th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 25th pct · 42nd of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
- 72nd pct · 853rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 54th pct · 26th of 56 Montana counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Montana counties: not published this period
- 8th pct · 2,942nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 37th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 7th pct · 2,966th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 9th pct · 51st of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 68th pct · 960th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 43rd pct · 32nd 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 $223,077 (Aug 2026), +5.0% over one year, +27.0% over five
- 45th pct · 1,674th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 25th pct · 42nd of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Phillips County, MT | $223,077 · +5.0% 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 $1,221 a month on $223,077 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,527 a month: 34.6% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $223,077 × 80% = $178,461, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,221/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $814 × 52 / 12 = $3,527) = 35% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $223,077 / ($814 × 52) = 5.3
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 #
1,228 jobs at 184 employers (2026 Q1); -5.0% jobs and +8.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 8th pct · 2,942nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 34th pct · 37th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Phillips County, MT | 1,228 jobs · $814/wk · -5.0% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 203 | $553 | 1.70 | +4.1% |
| Accommodation and food services | 131 | $281 | 1.19 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 57 | $987 | 1.14 | +7.5% |
| Other services | 46 | $784 | 1.25 | +4.5% |
| Utilities | 16 | $1,903 | 3.30 | -5.9% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 15 | $450 | 0.74 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 5 | $599 | 0.27 | -16.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | 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 #
No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)
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 #
21 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 6 stale
Sites found: 21, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Milk River at Malta MT | flow 110.0 ft³/s | 13 km |
| Milk River at Malta | no flooding | 13 km |
| Beaver Cr bl Guston Coulee nr Saco MT | stage 1.11 ft · no flooding | 28 km |
| Milk River near Dodson MT | flow 88.7 ft³/s · no flooding | 32 km |
| Peoples Cr bl Kuhr Coulee nr Dodson MT | flow 2.40 ft³/s · STALE | 34 km |
| Kuhr Coulee Tributary near Dodson MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 35 km |
| Little Warm Cr Tributary nr Lodge Pole MT | flow 0.00 ft³/s · STALE | 41 km |
| Milk River at Nelson Reservoir | no readings | 43 km |
| Milk River at Cree Crossing nr Saco MT | flow 28.0 ft³/s · STALE | 44 km |
| Little Warm C at Reservation Bndry nr Zortman MT | flow 0.36 ft³/s · STALE | 45 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 #
1 wells in 1 named aquifer: Other aquifers
Sites found: 1, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Other aquifers | depth 23.7 ft · 2017-08-23 | 69 km |
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 #
$258.0 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,738, highly concentrated. $57.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $37.3 m, grants $20.2 m), $47,127 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The First State Bank of Malta | $164.9 m · 63.9% share · 1 office | |
| Bank of Bridger, National Association | $49.0 m · 19.0% share · 1 office | |
| Independence Bank | $44.2 m · 17.1% share · 1 office | |
| Phillips, MT | $57.9 m FY2026 · $47,127/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $24.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The First State Bank of Malta | $164,910,000 | 63.9% | 1 |
| Bank of Bridger, National Association | $48,964,000 | 19.0% | 1 |
| Independence Bank | $44,153,000 | 17.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,738 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 63.9² + 19.0² + 17.1² = 4,738
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 | $20,555,911 |
| Department of Transportation | $20,221,455 |
| Department of Agriculture | $7,947,015 |
| Department of the Interior | $5,281,075 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $3,226,459 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $472,399 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $139,798 |
| Department of Education | $28,224 |
That is $47,127 per covered job, against 1,228 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $57.9 m / 1,228 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $47,127
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 | 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 #
Phillips County, MT: 10 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertPhillips County, MT's covered employment is -5.0% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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.emp = -5 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchPhillips County, MT's covered employment is -5.0% 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 = -5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
notePhillips County, MT's average weekly wage was 8.1% 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
- +8.1 % = 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
notePhillips County, MT's covered employment was 5.0% 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
- -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
notePhillips County, MT's covered employment of -5.0% ranks 3,029th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of -0.2%.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 6 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published jobs.yoy.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.