Aurora County, SD
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 43.72, -98.58.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
- 4th pct · 3,070th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 24th pct · 50th of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825
- 9th pct · 2,931st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 10th pct · 59th of 66 South Dakota counties · median $978
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
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 #
No Zillow home value index for this area
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
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 #
No rent index for this area
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota 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 #
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 #
750 jobs at 100 employers (2026 Q1); -6.9% jobs and +3.8% average weekly wage over the year
- 4th pct · 3,070th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 24th pct · 50th of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Aurora County, SD | 750 jobs · $830/wk · -6.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 166 | $861 | 1.47 | +0.0% |
| Retail trade | 138 | $566 | 1.89 | -15.9% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 72 | $924 | 13.29 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 38 | $1,069 | 1.32 | -2.6% |
| Construction | 32 | $715 | 0.81 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 26 | $1,432 | 0.85 | +0.0% |
| Administrative and waste services | 12 | $443 | 0.28 | +0.0% |
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Information | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | withheld | |||
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
6 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels
Sites found: 6, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| FIRESTEEL CREEK NEAR MOUNT VERNON, SD | flow 0.06 ft³/s · no flooding | 27 km |
| JAMES RIVER NEAR FORESTBURG, SD | flow 105.0 ft³/s · no flooding | 49 km |
| JAMES RIVER NEAR MITCHELL, SD | flow 394.0 ft³/s · no flooding | 53 km |
| PLATTE CREEK NEAR PLATTE, SD | flow 0.36 ft³/s · no flooding | 54 km |
| ELM CREEK NEAR GANN VALLEY, SD | flow 20.5 ft³/s · no flooding | 60 km |
| Missouri River at Fort Randall Dam | no flooding | 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 #
2 wells in 0 named aquifers:
Sites found: 2, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-435039098263403 | depth 55.0 ft · 2002-09-29 | 17 km |
| USGS-442112098174001 | depth 39.1 ft · 2002-09-29 | 73 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 (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$207.0 m in deposits at 3 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,533, highly concentrated. $35.9 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $34.0 m, grants $1.7 m), $47,830 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Farmers and Merchants State Bank | $137.3 m · 66.3% share · 2 offices | |
| American Bank & Trust | $69.7 m · 33.7% share · 1 office | |
| Aurora, SD | $35.9 m FY2026 · $47,830/job | |
| REDACTED DUE TO PII | $19.3 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farmers and Merchants State Bank | $137,272,000 | 66.3% | 2 |
| American Bank & Trust | $69,693,000 | 33.7% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,533 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 66.3² + 33.7² = 5,533
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 Agriculture | $19,487,880 |
| Social Security Administration | $12,416,354 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $1,965,826 |
| Department of Transportation | $1,623,416 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $117,802 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $107,650 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $84,053 |
| Department of Education | $71,871 |
| Small Business Administration | -$2,639 |
That is $47,830 per covered job, against 750 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $35.9 m / 750 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $47,830
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 #
Aurora County, SD: 11 findings, 1 at an alert level, 2 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertAurora County, SD's covered employment is -6.9% 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 = -6.9 <= -3
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchAurora County, SD's covered employment is -6.9% 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 = -6.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchAurora County, SD's momentum index is -0.26, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; 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.
Show the arithmetic
- test: momentum = -0.25757575757575757 <= -0.25
- momentum = Σ wᵢ · clip(changeᵢ / scaleᵢ, −1, 1) / Σ wᵢ over the terms present; weights and scales: home value 1-yr change 0.3 (±10%), rent 1-yr change 0.15 (±10%), jobs over-the-year change 0.3 (±3%), avg weekly wage over-the-year change 0.25 (±6%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
noteAurora County, SD's covered employment was 6.9% 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
- -6.9 % = 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
noteAurora County, SD's average weekly wage was 3.8% 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
- +3.8 % = 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
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.