Gage County, NE
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 40.26, -96.68.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 37th pct · 1,902nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 43rd pct · 51st of 89 Nebraska counties · median $218,486
- 29th pct · 2,147th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 22nd pct · 69th of 89 Nebraska counties · median +4.0%
- 14th pct · 1,198th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 13th of 14 Nebraska counties · median $1,300
- 51st pct · 1,560th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 86th pct · 13th of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151
- 38th pct · 1,967th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 54th pct · 43rd of 93 Nebraska counties · median $970
- 43rd pct · 1,742nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 40th pct · 53rd of 89 Nebraska counties · median 4.1
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 $203,152 (Aug 2026), +1.1% over one year, +32.4% over five
- 37th pct · 1,902nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 43rd pct · 51st of 89 Nebraska counties · median $218,486
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gage County, NE | $203,152 · +1.1% 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 #
Typical rent $1,089/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 15.5
- 14th pct · 1,198th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 7th pct · 13th of 14 Nebraska counties · median $1,300
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gage County, NE | $1,089/mo · n/a 1-yr |
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 $1,112 a month on $203,152 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,290 a month: 25.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $203,152 × 80% = $162,521, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,112/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $990 × 52 / 12 = $4,290) = 26% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $203,152 / ($990 × 52) = 3.9
- price-to-rent = $203,152 / ($1,089 × 12) = 15.5
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 #
8,649 jobs at 730 employers (2026 Q1); -0.5% jobs and +5.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 51st pct · 1,560th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 86th pct · 13th of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gage County, NE | 8,649 jobs · $990/wk · -0.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 1,551 | $1,238 | 2.23 | +2.4% |
| Retail trade | 1,172 | $654 | 1.39 | -5.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 540 | $381 | 0.69 | -6.7% |
| Construction | 416 | $948 | 0.92 | +10.9% |
| Wholesale trade | 381 | $1,300 | 1.15 | +6.4% |
| Other services | 304 | $514 | 1.18 | +26.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 218 | $1,447 | 0.62 | +7.9% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 211 | $1,112 | 0.58 | -17.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 131 | $1,358 | 0.22 | -2.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 92 | $266 | 0.65 | -31.3% |
| Administrative and waste services | 80 | $717 | 0.16 | +0.0% |
| Information | 65 | $1,148 | 0.41 | -7.1% |
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 #
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 #
$894.7 m in deposits at 18 offices of 9 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,022, highly concentrated. $177.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $175.0 m, grants $2.4 m), $20,521 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Security First Bank | $305.1 m · 34.1% share · 6 offices | |
| Pinnacle Bank | $160.0 m · 17.9% share · 2 offices | |
| First State Bank Nebraska | $150.2 m · 16.8% share · 3 offices | |
| Gage, NE | $177.5 m FY2026 · $20,521/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $146.5 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security First Bank | $305,118,000 | 34.1% | 6 |
| Pinnacle Bank | $160,025,000 | 17.9% | 2 |
| First State Bank Nebraska | $150,219,000 | 16.8% | 3 |
| First National Bank of Omaha | $121,433,000 | 13.6% | 2 |
| Adams State Bank | $54,249,000 | 6.1% | 1 |
| Heartland Bank | $32,878,000 | 3.7% | 1 |
| Western National Bank | $32,156,000 | 3.6% | 1 |
| First Interstate Bank | $19,899,000 | 2.2% | 1 |
| BMO Bank National Association | $18,709,000 | 2.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,022 across 9 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 9 banks with deposits in the county = 34.1² + 17.9² + 16.8² + … (6 more) = 2,022
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 | $124,900,023 |
| Department of Agriculture | $26,424,259 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $16,463,445 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $5,162,225 |
| Department of Transportation | $1,990,862 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,889,222 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $472,339 |
| Department of Education | $138,620 |
| Department of Defense | $21,673 |
| Department of the Interior | $20,585 |
That is $20,521 per covered job, against 8,649 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $177.5 m / 8,649 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $20,521
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 #
Gage County, NE: 10 findings, 2 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchGage County, NE's covered employment is -0.5% 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 = -0.5 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchGage County, NE's covered employment of 8,649 scores 52 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 87 across Nebraska counties, a gap of 35 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 35 = |52 across US counties - 87 across Nebraska counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteGage County, NE's average weekly wage 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
noteGage County, NE's covered employment was 0.5% 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
- -0.5 % = 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
noteGage County, NE's typical home value fell 0.3% from $203,679 in July 2026 to $203,152 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -0.3% = (203151.53145186088 - 203679.15101746793) / 203679.15101746793 × 100
- 203151.53145186088 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 203679.15101746793 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
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.