Hartley County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 35.84, -102.61.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 59th pct · 1,235th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 69th pct · 75th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- 85th pct · 437th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 89th pct · 26th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 21st pct · 2,531st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 31st pct · 175th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 49th pct · 1,630th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 34th pct · 167th of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 62nd pct · 1,154th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 78th pct · 52nd of 243 Texas counties · median 3.6
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 $262,502 (Aug 2026), +6.9% over one year, +16.9% over five
- 59th pct · 1,235th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 69th pct · 75th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hartley County, TX | $262,502 · +6.9% 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
- Texas 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 $1,437 a month on $262,502 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,489 a month: 32.0% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $262,502 × 80% = $210,002, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,437/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,036 × 52 / 12 = $4,489) = 32% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $262,502 / ($1,036 × 52) = 4.9
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 #
2,638 jobs at 150 employers (2026 Q1); +2.5% jobs and +3.1% average weekly wage over the year
- 21st pct · 2,531st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 31st pct · 175th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hartley County, TX | 2,638 jobs · $1,036/wk · +2.5% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 175 | $1,091 | 1.27 | +54.9% |
| Retail trade | 171 | $628 | 0.67 | -2.8% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 108 | $1,292 | 0.97 | -6.9% |
| Other services | 53 | $780 | 0.67 | +12.8% |
| Wholesale trade | 32 | $1,070 | 0.32 | -20.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 29 | $1,137 | 0.16 | +26.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 29 | $3,077 | 0.19 | -23.7% |
| Manufacturing | 23 | $1,136 | 0.11 | +0.0% |
| Utilities | 15 | $1,137 | 1.44 | -6.2% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Information | 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 #
D3 extreme 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 #
39 % of conservation capacity, weighted over 2 TWDB reservoirs
Sites found: 4, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| USGS-07226800 | 184,000 Acre-ft (USGS, no capacity on file) | 94 km |
| Lake Meredith | 44 % full · 500k ac-ft | 97 km |
| USGS-07227900 | 258,600 Acre-ft (USGS, no capacity on file) | 97 km |
| Palo Duro Reservoir | 0 % full · 61k ac-ft | 142 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 #
1 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 1 stale
Sites found: 1, 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-07227420 | flow 0.00 ft³/s · observation not current · STALE | 27 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 #
3 wells in 0 named aquifers:
Sites found: 3, 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-361209102142601 | depth 314.0 ft · 1993-09-29 | 52 km |
| USGS-361750102140501 | depth 298.2 ft · 1993-09-29 | 61 km |
| USGS-362231103012001 | depth 216.0 ft · 1993-09-29 | 70 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 #
high (0.68)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 + 0.3×0.61 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$196.9 m in deposits at 1 offices of 1 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 10,000, highly concentrated. $-46.7 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $14.9 m), $-17,706 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First State Bank | $196.9 m · 100.0% share · 1 office | |
| Hartley, TX | $-46.7 m FY2026 · $-17,706/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $13.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First State Bank | $196,887,000 | 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 | $13,197,085 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,268,926 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $233,737 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $157,428 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $70,262 |
| Department of Education | $39,078 |
| Department of Transportation | -$61,674,347 |
That is -$17,706 per covered job, against 2,638 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $-46.7 m / 2,638 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $-17,706
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 #
Hartley County, TX: 6 findings, 6 noted
noteHartley County, TX's average weekly wage was 3.1% 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
- +3.1 % = 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
noteHartley County, TX's covered employment was 2.5% 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
- +2.5 % = 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
noteHartley County, TX's typical home value rose 0.6% from $260,881 in July 2026 to $262,502 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.6% = (262502.1697384341 - 260880.5562360635) / 260880.5562360635 × 100
- 262502.1697384341 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 260880.5562360635 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteHartley County, TX's momentum index of 0.69 ranks 17th of 254 Texas counties, against a median of 0.20.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 94 on the 0-to-100 scale across 254 Texas 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
noteHartley County, TX's momentum index of 0.69 ranks 211th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 0.23.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 93 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US 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 6 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.