Brazos County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 30.66, -96.30.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 71st pct · 862nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 82nd pct · 44th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 21st pct · 2,416th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 49th pct · 123rd of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 43rd pct · 794th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 40th pct · 63rd of 106 Texas counties · median $1,483
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 92nd pct · 245th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 93rd pct · 17th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 63rd pct · 1,176th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 47th pct · 133rd of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
- 71st pct · 881st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 82nd pct · 44th of 243 Texas counties · median 3.6
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
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 $312,318 (Aug 2026), +0.0% over one year, +20.9% over five
- 71st pct · 862nd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 82nd pct · 44th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brazos County, TX | $312,318 · +0.0% 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 #
Typical rent $1,422/mo (Aug 2026), -0.0% over one year; price-to-rent 18.3
- 43rd pct · 794th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 40th pct · 63rd of 106 Texas counties · median $1,483
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brazos County, TX | $1,422/mo · -0.0% 1-yr |
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 $1,710 a month on $312,318 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,793 a month: 35.7% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $312,318 × 80% = $249,855, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,710/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,106 × 52 / 12 = $4,793) = 36% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $312,318 / ($1,106 × 52) = 5.4
- price-to-rent = $312,318 / ($1,422 × 12) = 18.3
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 #
127,757 jobs at 5,268 employers (2026 Q1); +0.2% jobs and +3.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 92nd pct · 245th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 93rd pct · 17th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- counties in the College Station-Bryan metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the College Station-Bryan metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Brazos County, TX | 127,757 jobs · $1,106/wk · +0.2% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 17,739 | $456 | 1.55 | +0.4% |
| Health care and social assistance | 14,234 | $1,174 | 0.74 | +1.5% |
| Retail trade | 11,341 | $727 | 0.91 | -0.4% |
| Professional and technical services | 7,328 | $1,664 | 0.83 | +1.2% |
| Manufacturing | 5,675 | $1,185 | 0.55 | +0.4% |
| Administrative and waste services | 4,295 | $1,837 | 0.59 | +0.6% |
| Other services | 2,765 | $996 | 0.72 | -0.3% |
| Real estate and rental | 2,342 | $1,147 | 1.20 | -4.6% |
| Wholesale trade | 2,187 | $1,457 | 0.45 | -0.4% |
| Finance and insurance | 2,015 | $2,187 | 0.39 | +2.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,559 | $530 | 0.74 | +7.6% |
| Educational services | 1,324 | $863 | 0.48 | -0.4% |
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 #
D2 severe 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: 14, 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.
| Site | Reading | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gibbons Creek Reservoir | 88 % full · 26k ac-ft | 23 km |
| Somerville Lake | 91 % full · 150k ac-ft | 43 km |
| Lake Limestone | 85 % full · 204k ac-ft | 74 km |
| Lake Conroe | 95 % full · 418k ac-ft | 78 km |
| Granger Lake | 100 % full · 52k ac-ft | 98 km |
| Houston County Lake | 95 % full · 17k ac-ft | 107 km |
| Belton Lake | 98 % full · 433k ac-ft | 123 km |
| Livingston Reservoir | 91 % full · 1,604k ac-ft | 124 km |
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 (0.30)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.3×0.08 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$7.9 bn in deposits at 62 offices of 24 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 988, unconcentrated. $1.8 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $958.2 m, contracts $522.3 m), $14,209 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $1.3 bn · 16.3% share · 4 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1.2 bn · 14.9% share · 5 offices | |
| Prosperity Bank | $1.0 bn · 13.1% share · 10 offices | |
| Brazos, TX | $1.8 bn FY2026 · $14,209/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $836.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truist Bank | $1,282,299,000 | 16.3% | 4 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $1,177,464,000 | 14.9% | 5 |
| Prosperity Bank | $1,034,018,000 | 13.1% | 10 |
| First Financial Bank | $798,579,000 | 10.1% | 5 |
| American Momentum Bank | $662,049,000 | 8.4% | 3 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | $661,795,000 | 8.4% | 3 |
| Bank of America, National Association | $421,693,000 | 5.4% | 2 |
| Amarillo National Bank | $281,538,000 | 3.6% | 3 |
| Glacier Bank | $252,969,000 | 3.2% | 3 |
| Extraco Banks, National Association | $244,750,000 | 3.1% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 988 across 24 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls unconcentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 24 banks with deposits in the county = 16.3² + 14.9² + 13.1² + … (21 more) = 988
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 | $691,868,534 |
| Department of Defense | $526,751,114 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $142,141,811 |
| Department of Education | $125,585,117 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $84,248,393 |
| Department of Agriculture | $84,033,987 |
| National Science Foundation | $45,876,493 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $26,805,027 |
| Department of Transportation | $24,669,062 |
| Department of Commerce | $24,133,126 |
| Department of Energy | $23,872,221 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $5,815,682 |
That is $14,209 per covered job, against 127,757 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $1.8 bn / 127,757 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,209
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 #
Brazos County, TX: 7 findings, 7 noted
noteBrazos County, TX'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
noteBrazos County, TX's typical asking rent rose 0.4% from $1,416 in July 2026 to $1,422 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.4% = (1421.8449110117824 - 1416.4082340381808) / 1416.4082340381808 × 100
- 1421.8449110117824 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1416.4082340381808 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
noteBrazos County, TX's covered employment was 0.2% 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
- +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
noteBrazos County, TX's covered employment of 127,757 ranks 17th of 254 Texas counties, against a median of 6,022.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 94 on the 0-to-100 scale across 254 Texas counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteBrazos County, TX's covered employment of 127,757 ranks 245th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 8,232.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 92 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US counties that published jobs.emp
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 7 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.