Matagorda County, TX

Home values #

Typical home $210,271 (Aug 2026), +1.1% over one year, +12.7% over five

• 40th pct · 1,818th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 46th pct · 131st of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660

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 $856/mo (Aug 2026), +4.2% over one year; price-to-rent 20.5

• 2nd pct · 1,366th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 0th pct · 105th of 106 Texas counties · median $1,483

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 $1,151 a month on $210,271 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,543 a month: 17.6% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $210,271 × 80% = $168,217, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,151/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,510 × 52 / 12 = $6,543) = 18% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $210,271 / ($1,510 × 52) = 2.7
• price-to-rent = $210,271 / ($856 × 12) = 20.5

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 #

11,685 jobs at 815 employers (2026 Q1); +2.4% jobs and +17.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 58th pct · 1,343rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 65th pct · 88th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022

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 #

87 % 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.

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 #

40 gauges · 0 flooding · 9 with quality panels averaging 49 % · 7 stale

Sites found: 40, 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 (0.27)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.13 + 0.2×0.51 / 0.85

Banks & federal dollars #

$543.4 m in deposits at 8 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,135, highly concentrated. $336.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $219.0 m, contracts $86.3 m), $28,794 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 4,135 across 6 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 6 banks with deposits in the county = 60.6² + 14.5² + 12.1² + … (3 more) = 4,135

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 $28,794 per covered job, against 11,685 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $336.5 m / 11,685 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $28,794

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 #

Matagorda County, TX: 9 findings, 1 at a watch level and 8 noted

1. watchMatagorda County, TX's typical home value of +1.1% scores 30 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 61 across Texas counties, a gap of 31 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 31 = |30 across US counties - 61 across Texas counties|

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

2. noteMatagorda County, TX's average weekly wage was 17.3% 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

   • +17.3 % = 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

3. noteMatagorda County, TX's covered employment was 2.4% 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

   • +2.4 % = 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. noteMatagorda County, TX's typical asking rent rose 0.6% from $851 in July 2026 to $856 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +0.6% = (855.9333333333334 - 850.691499200672) / 850.691499200672 × 100
   • 855.9333333333334 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 850.691499200672 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

5. noteMatagorda County, TX's typical asking rent of $856 ranks 105th of 106 Texas counties, against a median of $1,483.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 1 on the 0-to-100 scale across 106 Texas counties that published rent.latest

   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.