Stephens County, OK

Home values #

Typical home $142,914 (Aug 2026), +3.6% over one year, +34.2% over five

• 13th pct · 2,657th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 34th pct · 51st of 77 Oklahoma counties · median $169,041

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 $903/mo (Aug 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 13.2

• 4th pct · 1,340th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 3rd pct · 26th of 27 Oklahoma counties · median $1,304

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 $782 a month on $142,914 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,589 a month: 17.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $142,914 × 80% = $114,331, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $782/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,059 × 52 / 12 = $4,589) = 17% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $142,914 / ($1,059 × 52) = 2.6
• price-to-rent = $142,914 / ($903 × 12) = 13.2

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 #

14,809 jobs at 1,204 employers (2026 Q1); -0.3% jobs and +0.9% average weekly wage over the year

• 64th pct · 1,151st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 77th pct · 18th of 77 Oklahoma counties · median 7,282

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 #

D4 exceptional 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 #

Surface water layer not loaded

Sites found: 11, 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 #

high (0.60)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×1.00 + 0.3×0.13 / 0.65

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.4 bn in deposits at 21 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,832, highly concentrated. $369.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $320.7 m, contracts $26.9 m), $24,968 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,832 across 10 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 10 banks with deposits in the county = 26.1² + 25.1² + 16.1² + … (7 more) = 1,832

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.

That is $24,968 per covered job, against 14,809 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $369.7 m / 14,809 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $24,968

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.

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 #

Stephens County, OK: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchStephens County, OK's covered employment is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. noteStephens County, OK's average weekly wage was 0.9% 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

   • +0.9 % = 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

3. noteStephens County, OK's typical asking rent fell 0.9% from $911 in July 2026 to $903 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • -0.9% = (902.7777777777778 - 910.6567513821745) / 910.6567513821745 × 100
   • 902.7777777777778 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 910.6567513821745 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

4. noteStephens County, OK's typical home value rose 0.3% from $142,430 in July 2026 to $142,914 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.3% = (142914.07372257946 - 142430.30292733145) / 142430.30292733145 × 100
   • 142914.07372257946 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
   • 142430.30292733145 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07

5. noteStephens County, OK's covered employment was 0.3% 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

   • -0.3 % = 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

Read all 9 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.