Prairie County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 46.81, -105.50.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 10th pct · 2,756th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 0th pct · 56th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
- 57th pct · 1,290th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 45th pct · 31st of 56 Montana counties · median +4.1%
- US counties: not published this period
- Montana counties: not published this period
- 1st pct · 3,187th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 7th pct · 52nd of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 60th pct · 1,279th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 61st pct · 22nd of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 8th pct · 2,807th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 0th pct · 56th 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 $133,878 (Aug 2026), +3.7% over one year, +9.8% over five
- 10th pct · 2,756th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 0th pct · 56th of 56 Montana counties · median $296,564
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Prairie County, MT | $133,878 · +3.7% 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 $733 a month on $133,878 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,719 a month: 15.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $133,878 × 80% = $107,102, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $733/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,089 × 52 / 12 = $4,719) = 16% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $133,878 / ($1,089 × 52) = 2.4
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 #
315 jobs at 59 employers (2026 Q1); -34.8% jobs and +22.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 1st pct · 3,187th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 7th pct · 52nd of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Prairie County, MT | 315 jobs · $1,089/wk · -34.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other services | 11 | $289 | 1.17 | -35.3% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Retail trade | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | withheld | |||
| Real estate and rental | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | withheld | |||
| Administrative and waste services | withheld | |||
| Health care and social assistance | 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 #
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 #
8 gauges · 0 flooding · 1 with quality panels averaging 75 % · 3 stale
Sites found: 8, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cherry Creek near Terry MT | flow 1.00 ft³/s · STALE | 14 km |
| Powder River near Locate MT | flow 8.21 ft³/s | 45 km |
| Yellowstone River at Miles City, MT | flow 4,880 ft³/s | 51 km |
| Tongue River at Miles City, MT | flow 106.0 ft³/s · quality 75 % (2) | 54 km |
| Redwater River at Circle MT | flow 3.78 ft³/s | 67 km |
| Cains Coulee at Glendive MT | flow 4.60 ft³/s · STALE | 68 km |
| Yellowstone River at Glendive, MT | flow 4,580 ft³/s | 68 km |
| Tongue R ab T & Y Div Dam nr Miles City, MT | flow 214.0 ft³/s · STALE | 73 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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.25 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$65.6 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $24.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $12.3 m, contracts $9.4 m), $78,049 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $65.6 m · 100.0% share · 1 office | |
| Prairie, MT | $24.6 m FY2026 · $78,049/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $9.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $65,596,000 | 100.0% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000
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 | $12,241,302 |
| Social Security Administration | $7,922,685 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,724,391 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $1,214,192 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $385,515 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $54,402 |
| Department of the Interior | $28,970 |
| Department of Education | $13,853 |
That is $78,049 per covered job, against 315 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $24.6 m / 315 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $78,049
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 #
Prairie County, MT: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
alertPrairie County, MT's covered employment is -34.8% 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 = -34.8 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchPrairie County, MT's covered employment is -34.8% 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 = -34.8 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
notePrairie County, MT's covered employment was 34.8% 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
- -34.8 % = 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
notePrairie County, MT's average weekly wage was 22.2% 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
- +22.2 % = 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
notePrairie County, MT's typical home value of $133,878 ranks 56th of 56 Montana counties, against a median of $296,564.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 56 Montana counties that published home.latest
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.