Van Buren County, TN
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 35.70, -85.46.
Assembled 2026-10-07. Read the brief.
- 51st pct · 1,479th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 31st pct · 65th of 95 Tennessee counties · median $259,021
- 35th pct · 1,974th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 25th pct · 71st of 95 Tennessee counties · median +3.2%
- US counties: not published this period
- Tennessee counties: not published this period
- 5th pct · 3,045th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 95th of 95 Tennessee counties · median 8,576
- 10th pct · 2,872nd of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 7th pct · 88th of 95 Tennessee counties · median $1,030
- 71st pct · 871st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 62nd pct · 36th of 95 Tennessee counties · median 5.0
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 $239,182 (Aug 2026), +1.6% over one year, +31.5% over five
- 51st pct · 1,479th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 31st pct · 65th of 95 Tennessee counties · median $259,021
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Van Buren County, TN | $239,182 · +1.6% 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
- Tennessee 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 $1,309 a month on $239,182 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,657 a month: 35.8% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $239,182 × 80% = $191,346, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,309/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $844 × 52 / 12 = $3,657) = 36% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $239,182 / ($844 × 52) = 5.4
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 #
854 jobs at 86 employers (2026 Q1); -2.6% jobs and +11.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 5th pct · 3,045th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 0th pct · 95th of 95 Tennessee counties · median 8,576
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Van Buren County, TN | 854 jobs · $844/wk · -2.6% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 120 | $1,041 | 1.75 | +0.8% |
| Retail trade | 48 | $422 | 0.58 | +17.1% |
| Information | 5 | $3,037 | 0.32 | -28.6% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | withheld | |||
| Real estate and rental | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | withheld | |||
| Administrative and waste services | 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 #
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 #
$75.6 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $45.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $45.5 m, contracts $46,340), $53,236 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Citizens Tri-County Bank | $75.6 m · 100.0% share · 1 office | |
| Van Buren, TN | $45.5 m FY2026 · $53,236/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $45.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens Tri-County Bank | $75,635,000 | 100.0% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 10,000 across 1 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 1 banks with deposits in the county = 100.0² = 10,000
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 | $40,321,407 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $4,610,481 |
| Department of Agriculture | $487,660 |
| Department of Defense | $46,340 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $44,135 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $19,400 |
| Small Business Administration | $0 |
| Department of Transportation | -$65,504 |
That is $53,236 per covered job, against 854 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $45.5 m / 854 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $53,236
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 | 3.00 | 2026-10-06 | -50.0% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| 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 #
Van Buren County, TN: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted
watchVan Buren County, TN's covered employment is -2.6% 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 = -2.6 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteVan Buren County, TN's average weekly wage was 11.2% 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
- +11.2 % = 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
noteVan Buren County, TN's covered employment was 2.6% 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
- -2.6 % = 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
noteVan Buren County, TN's typical home value fell 0.4% from $240,232 in July 2026 to $239,182 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -0.4% = (239182.1017565079 - 240232.45729384557) / 240232.45729384557 × 100
- 239182.1017565079 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 240232.45729384557 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteVan Buren County, TN's covered employment of 854 ranks 95th of 95 Tennessee counties, against a median of 8,576.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 0 on the 0-to-100 scale across 95 Tennessee counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
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.