Ottawa County, OH
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.55, -83.01.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 63rd pct · 1,118th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 78th pct · 20th of 88 Ohio counties · median $219,740
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 29th pct · 2,158th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 4th pct · 84th of 88 Ohio counties · median +4.2%
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 73rd pct · 371st of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 88th pct · 7th of 51 Ohio counties · median $1,327
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 61st pct · 1,232nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 31st pct · 61st of 88 Ohio counties · median 20,657
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 71st pct · 934th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 67th pct · 29th of 88 Ohio counties · median $1,081
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 56th pct · 1,323rd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 77th pct · 21st of 88 Ohio counties · median 3.7
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $276,568 (Aug 2026), +1.1% over one year, +20.0% over five
- 63rd pct · 1,118th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 78th pct · 20th of 88 Ohio counties · median $219,740
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa County, OH | $276,568 · +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 $1,800/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 12.8
- 73rd pct · 371st of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 88th pct · 7th of 51 Ohio counties · median $1,327
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa County, OH | $1,800/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 $1,514 a month on $276,568 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,009 a month: 30.2% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $276,568 × 80% = $221,254, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,514/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,156 × 52 / 12 = $5,009) = 30% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $276,568 / ($1,156 × 52) = 4.6
- price-to-rent = $276,568 / ($1,800 × 12) = 12.8
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 #
13,175 jobs at 1,211 employers (2026 Q1); +3.1% jobs and +0.4% average weekly wage over the year
- 61st pct · 1,232nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 31st pct · 61st of 88 Ohio counties · median 20,657
- counties in the Sandusky metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Sandusky metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa County, OH | 13,175 jobs · $1,156/wk · +3.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 2,288 | $1,385 | 2.16 | +15.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,665 | $431 | 1.41 | +2.8% |
| Retail trade | 1,375 | $671 | 1.07 | +1.0% |
| Construction | 876 | $1,468 | 1.27 | +8.8% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 453 | $737 | 2.09 | -0.4% |
| Other services | 388 | $646 | 0.99 | -1.3% |
| Finance and insurance | 306 | $1,742 | 0.57 | +8.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 299 | $764 | 0.40 | +3.8% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 244 | $1,042 | 0.44 | +6.6% |
| Professional and technical services | 208 | $1,461 | 0.23 | -3.3% |
| Real estate and rental | 144 | $876 | 0.71 | +12.5% |
| Mining, oil and gas | 99 | $1,511 | 2.11 | +0.0% |
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 #
44 gauges · 0 flooding · 17 with quality panels averaging 98 % · 23 stale
Sites found: 44, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Bayou Ditch near Oak Harbor OH | flow 0.08 ft³/s · STALE | 15 km |
| Lacarpe Creek near Oak Harbor OH | flow 0.13 ft³/s · STALE | 16 km |
| Portage River near Elmore OH | flow 25.5 ft³/s | 19 km |
| USGS-412122083061400 | flow 777.0 ft³/s · quality 88 % (4) · STALE | 22 km |
| Sandusky River near Fremont OH | flow 111.0 ft³/s · quality 100 % (1) | 29 km |
| Portage River at Woodville OH | flow 17.3 ft³/s · quality 90 % (5) | 31 km |
| Wolf Ditch at Oregon OH | flow 0.66 ft³/s · STALE | 33 km |
| Berger Ditch near Oregon OH | flow 5.38 ft³/s · STALE | 33 km |
| Otter Creek at Mouth at Oregon OH | flow 33.5 ft³/s · STALE | 40 km |
| USGS-414135083281900 | temp 13.4 °C · quality 100 % (2) · STALE | 42 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 #
26 wells in 2 named aquifers: Silurian-Devonian aquifers, Sand and gravel aquifers (glaciated regions)
Sites found: 26, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silurian-Devonian aquifers | depth 11.4 ft · 2026-07-12 | 16 km |
| Silurian-Devonian aquifers | depth 17.5 ft · 2026-07-12 | 26 km |
| USGS-413644083201900 | depth 16.6 ft · 1980-01-31 | 28 km |
| Silurian-Devonian aquifers | depth 19.7 ft · 2026-07-12 | 31 km |
| USGS-412703083213600 | depth 24.5 ft · 2007-06-12 | 31 km |
| USGS-411819082493900 | depth 53.2 ft · 2026-10-05 | 31 km |
| USGS-413629083304400 | depth 57.7 ft · 1988-06-08 | 42 km |
| Silurian-Devonian aquifers | depth 20.3 ft · 2026-07-12 | 47 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 (0.01)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.02 / 0.55
Banks & federal dollars #
$1.2 bn in deposits at 20 offices of 11 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,787, moderately concentrated. $357.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $332.4 m, grants $20.3 m), $27,099 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The Genoa Banking Company | $351.2 m · 29.0% share · 3 offices | |
| The Huntington National Bank | $274.3 m · 22.7% share · 2 offices | |
| The Croghan Colonial Bank | $189.0 m · 15.6% share · 3 offices | |
| Ottawa, OH | $357.0 m FY2026 · $27,099/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $325.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Genoa Banking Company | $351,183,000 | 29.0% | 3 |
| The Huntington National Bank | $274,307,000 | 22.7% | 2 |
| The Croghan Colonial Bank | $189,015,000 | 15.6% | 3 |
| The First National Bank of Bellevue | $93,975,000 | 7.8% | 3 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $92,281,000 | 7.6% | 1 |
| WesBanco Bank, Inc. | $63,495,000 | 5.3% | 1 |
| The State Bank and Trust Company | $47,468,000 | 3.9% | 3 |
| KeyBank National Association | $43,050,000 | 3.6% | 1 |
| First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Lorain | $32,872,000 | 2.7% | 1 |
| Civista Bank | $18,244,000 | 1.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 1,787 across 11 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 11 banks with deposits in the county = 29.0² + 22.7² + 15.6² + … (8 more) = 1,787
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 | $293,276,981 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $25,745,481 |
| Department of Transportation | $19,195,029 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $6,612,315 |
| Department of Agriculture | $6,316,464 |
| Department of the Interior | $2,385,638 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $967,685 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $887,169 |
| Department of Education | $644,395 |
| Department of Defense | $429,142 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $393,701 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $325,155 |
That is $27,099 per covered job, against 13,175 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $357.0 m / 13,175 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,099
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 | -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 #
Ottawa County, OH: 11 findings, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
watchOttawa County, OH's covered employment of 13,175 scores 62 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 31 across Ohio counties, a gap of 31 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 31 = |62 across US counties - 31 across Ohio counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteOttawa County, OH's covered employment was 3.1% 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
- +3.1 % = 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
noteOttawa County, OH's average weekly wage was 0.4% 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
- +0.4 % = 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
noteOttawa County, OH's typical home value rose 0.4% from $275,590 in July 2026 to $276,568 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.4% = (276567.6016383313 - 275590.32880555704) / 275590.32880555704 × 100
- 276567.6016383313 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 275590.32880555704 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
notetypical asking rent (rent.latest) and typical asking rent (rent.momPct) for Ottawa County, OH could not be lined up against the previous published period this run, so no change is printed for them.
Show the arithmetic
- not comparable this run: rent.latest, rent.momPct
the two newest month columns in the published file are not the two this table carries
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.