Hood River County, OR

Home values #

Typical home $689,205 (Aug 2026), +2.3% over one year, +12.2% over five

• 97th pct · 73rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 100th pct · 1st of 36 Oregon counties · median $432,775

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 $2,654/mo (Aug 2026), +39.0% over one year; price-to-rent 21.6

• 95th pct · 58th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 100th pct · 1st of 25 Oregon counties · median $1,753

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 $3,772 a month on $689,205 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,585 a month: 82.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $689,205 × 80% = $551,364, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $3,772/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,058 × 52 / 12 = $4,585) = 82% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $689,205 / ($1,058 × 52) = 12.5
• price-to-rent = $689,205 / ($2,654 × 12) = 21.6

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 #

13,510 jobs at 1,373 employers (2026 Q1); -0.9% jobs and +4.4% average weekly wage over the year

• 62nd pct · 1,218th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 45th pct · 20th of 36 Oregon counties · median 15,683

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 #

76 gauges · 0 flooding · 41 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 32 stale

Sites found: 76, 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 #

13 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 13, 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 (0.16)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$686.0 m in deposits at 6 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,875, highly concentrated. $224.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $140.9 m, grants $46.2 m), $16,599 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,875 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 26.7² + 22.7² + 14.2² + … (3 more) = 1,875

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 $16,599 per covered job, against 13,510 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $224.3 m / 13,510 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $16,599

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 #

Hood River County, OR: 16 findings, 6 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchHood River County, OR's typical asking rent is +39.0% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 8 percent above a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; 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 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: rent.yoyPct = 38.97025311981763 >= 8

   arithmetic on Zillow ZORI; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchHood River County, OR's years of wages of 12.5 ranks 34th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages percentile = 98.92227302416721 >= 90
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level

3. watchHood River County, OR's years of wages is 12.5, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; 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 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages = 12.527353343073509 >= 10
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchHood River County, OR's covered employment is -0.9% 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 = -0.9 < 0

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

5. watchHood River County, OR's price-to-rent ratio of 21.6 scores 82 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 50 across Oregon counties, a gap of 32 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 32 = |82 across US counties - 50 across Oregon counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   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.