Butte County, SD
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 44.90, -103.50.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 80th pct · 610th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 87th pct · 7th of 50 South Dakota counties · median $262,610
- 55th pct · 1,350th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 46th pct · 27th of 50 South Dakota counties · median +3.6%
- US counties: not published this period
- South Dakota counties: not published this period
- 23rd pct · 2,451st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 70th pct · 20th of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825
- 25th pct · 2,391st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 30th pct · 46th of 66 South Dakota counties · median $978
- 90th pct · 294th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 95th pct · 3rd of 50 South Dakota counties · median 5.1
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 $356,023 (Aug 2026), +3.5% over one year, +11.9% over five
- 80th pct · 610th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 87th pct · 7th of 50 South Dakota counties · median $262,610
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Butte County, SD | $356,023 · +3.5% 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 #
Zillow publishes no rent index for this area (ZORI covers about 1,400 counties)
- 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 #
Principal and interest of $1,949 a month on $356,023 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,039 a month: 48.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $356,023 × 80% = $284,818, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,949/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $932 × 52 / 12 = $4,039) = 48% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $356,023 / ($932 × 52) = 7.3
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 #
2,942 jobs at 480 employers (2026 Q1); +2.8% jobs and +4.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 23rd pct · 2,451st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 70th pct · 20th of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Butte County, SD | 2,942 jobs · $932/wk · +2.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 483 | $745 | 1.68 | +1.9% |
| Health care and social assistance | 312 | $836 | 0.70 | +0.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 275 | $400 | 1.04 | -5.5% |
| Construction | 240 | $1,005 | 1.56 | +6.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 184 | $1,206 | 1.63 | +4.0% |
| Manufacturing | 175 | $910 | 0.74 | +6.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 140 | $725 | 0.84 | +4.5% |
| Other services | 109 | $1,016 | 1.24 | +2.8% |
| Finance and insurance | 74 | $1,800 | 0.62 | +7.2% |
| Real estate and rental | 20 | $646 | 0.44 | +11.1% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 18 | $498 | 0.37 | -10.0% |
| Information | 13 | $1,842 | 0.24 | +160.0% |
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 #
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 #
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$340.6 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,634, highly concentrated. $79.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $68.9 m, grants $10.2 m), $26,992 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Bank & Trust | $209.5 m · 61.5% share · 1 office | |
| First Interstate Bank | $91.0 m · 26.7% share · 1 office | |
| First National Bank | $40.2 m · 11.8% share · 1 office | |
| Butte, SD | $79.4 m FY2026 · $26,992/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $65.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer Bank & Trust | $209,481,000 | 61.5% | 1 |
| First Interstate Bank | $90,974,000 | 26.7% | 1 |
| First National Bank | $40,190,000 | 11.8% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,634 across 3 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 3 banks with deposits in the county = 61.5² + 26.7² + 11.8² = 4,634
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 | $54,200,121 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $10,357,731 |
| Department of Transportation | $8,063,543 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,416,708 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $2,153,831 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $427,001 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $403,770 |
| Department of the Interior | $221,840 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $164,690 |
That is $26,992 per covered job, against 2,942 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $79.4 m / 2,942 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $26,992
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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| 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 #
Butte County, SD: 8 findings, 2 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchButte County, SD's years of wages of 7.3 ranks 294th 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 = 90.43109079033312 >= 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
watchButte County, SD's covered employment of 2,942 scores 24 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 71 across South Dakota counties, a gap of 47 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 47 = |24 across US counties - 71 across South Dakota counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteButte County, SD's average weekly wage was 4.7% 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
- +4.7 % = 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
noteButte County, SD's covered employment was 2.8% 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
- +2.8 % = 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
noteButte County, SD's momentum index of 0.68 ranks 4th of 66 South Dakota counties, against a median of 0.15.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 66 South Dakota counties that published momentum
- 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%)
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 8 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.