Mason County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 30.70, -99.24.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 81st pct · 557th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 90th pct · 24th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- 16th pct · 2,561st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 42nd pct · 141st of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 7th pct · 2,975th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 14th pct · 218th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 43rd pct · 1,825th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 28th pct · 182nd of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 88th pct · 361st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 94th pct · 14th 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 $368,229 (Aug 2026), -0.7% over one year, +16.2% over five
- 81st pct · 557th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 90th pct · 24th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mason County, TX | $368,229 · -0.7% 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 $2,016 a month on $368,229 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,377 a month: 46.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $368,229 × 80% = $294,583, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $2,016/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,010 × 52 / 12 = $4,377) = 46% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $368,229 / ($1,010 × 52) = 7.0
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 #
1,099 jobs at 175 employers (2026 Q1); -2.7% jobs and +8.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 7th pct · 2,975th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 14th pct · 218th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mason County, TX | 1,099 jobs · $1,010/wk · -2.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 144 | $994 | 1.34 | -4.6% |
| Accommodation and food services | 107 | $426 | 1.08 | +4.9% |
| Construction | 83 | $1,331 | 1.44 | +0.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 76 | $961 | 1.81 | +4.1% |
| Health care and social assistance | 66 | $1,367 | 0.40 | -16.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 58 | $1,603 | 0.77 | +0.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 48 | $1,666 | 1.07 | +9.1% |
| Manufacturing | 34 | $767 | 0.38 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 17 | $929 | 1.01 | +6.2% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 16 | $348 | 0.88 | +45.5% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | 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: 17, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brady Creek Reservoir | 84 % full · 29k ac-ft | 50 km |
| Lake Buchanan | 96 % full · 867k ac-ft | 78 km |
| Inks Lake | 94 % full · 14k ac-ft | 82 km |
| Lake L. B. Johnson | 99 % full · 113k ac-ft | 88 km |
| Lake Marble Falls | 99 % full · 8k ac-ft | 95 km |
| O. H. Ivie Reservoir | 42 % full · 554k ac-ft | 98 km |
| Lake Brownwood | 89 % full · 131k ac-ft | 128 km |
| Hords Creek Lake | 45 % full · 8k ac-ft | 129 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 #
low (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.24 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$262.5 m in deposits at 3 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,841, highly concentrated. $35.0 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $32.5 m, grants $2.4 m), $31,834 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Mason Bank | $122.3 m · 46.6% share · 1 office | |
| The Commercial Bank | $99.1 m · 37.8% share · 1 office | |
| The Huntington National Bank | $41.1 m · 15.7% share · 1 office | |
| Mason, TX | $35.0 m FY2026 · $31,834/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $32.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Bank | $122,279,000 | 46.6% | 1 |
| The Commercial Bank | $99,084,000 | 37.8% | 1 |
| The Huntington National Bank | $41,093,000 | 15.7% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,841 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 = 46.6² + 37.8² + 15.7² = 3,841
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 | $28,888,612 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $2,878,788 |
| Department of Transportation | $2,193,807 |
| Department of Agriculture | $507,849 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $266,288 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $219,719 |
| Department of Education | $29,263 |
| Small Business Administration | $1,706 |
That is $31,834 per covered job, against 1,099 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $35.0 m / 1,099 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $31,834
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 #
Mason County, TX: 8 findings, 2 at a watch level and 6 noted
watchMason County, TX's covered employment is -2.7% 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 = -2.7 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchMason County, TX's typical home value is -0.7% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -0.706248209991233 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
noteMason County, TX's average weekly wage was 8.6% 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
- +8.6 % = 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
noteMason County, TX's covered employment was 2.7% 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
- -2.7 % = 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
noteMason County, TX's years of wages of 7.0 ranks 14th of 243 Texas counties, against a median of 3.6.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 243 Texas counties that published yearsOfWages
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
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.