Moody County, SD

Home values #

Typical home $311,430 (Aug 2026), +7.6% over one year, +37.2% over five

• 71st pct · 871st of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 73rd pct · 14th of 50 South Dakota counties · median $262,610

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 $1,705 a month on $311,430 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,524 a month: 37.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $311,430 × 80% = $249,144, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,705/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,044 × 52 / 12 = $4,524) = 38% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $311,430 / ($1,044 × 52) = 5.7

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 #

2,449 jobs at 215 employers (2026 Q1); -0.2% jobs and +3.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 20th pct · 2,575th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 64th pct · 24th of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825

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 #

18 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 4 stale

Sites found: 18, 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 #

9 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 9, 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 #

$151.8 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,687, highly concentrated. $55.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $42.8 m, grants $10.8 m), $22,465 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 4,687 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 = 62.1² + 26.3² + 11.5² = 4,687

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 $22,465 per covered job, against 2,449 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $55.0 m / 2,449 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $22,465

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 #

Moody County, SD: 5 findings, 2 at a watch level and 3 noted

1. watchMoody County, SD's covered employment is -0.2% 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 = -0.2 < 0

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

2. watchMoody County, SD's covered employment of 2,449 scores 20 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 65 across South Dakota counties, a gap of 45 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 45 = |20 across US counties - 65 across South Dakota counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

3. noteMoody County, SD's average weekly wage was 3.7% 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

   • +3.7 % = 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

4. noteMoody County, SD's covered employment was 0.2% 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

   • -0.2 % = 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

5. noteThe next Zillow ZHVI typical home value (monthly) covering Moody County, SD is due between 2026-10-14 and 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.

   Show the arithmetic

   • window = 2026-10-14 to 2026-10-21, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern

   estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date

Read the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.