Polk County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 30.78, -94.84.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 27th pct · 2,209th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 35th pct · 157th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- 5th pct · 2,883rd of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 14th pct · 208th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- 51st pct · 682nd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 55th pct · 48th of 106 Texas counties · median $1,483
- 61st pct · 1,233rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 69th pct · 79th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 46th pct · 1,707th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 31st pct · 173rd of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 28th pct · 2,181st of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 43rd pct · 137th 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 $179,466 (Aug 2026), -3.9% over one year, +3.0% over five
- 27th pct · 2,209th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 35th pct · 157th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Polk County, TX | $179,466 · -3.9% 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 #
Typical rent $1,508/mo (Aug 2026), +0.7% over one year; price-to-rent 9.9
- 51st pct · 682nd of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
- 55th pct · 48th of 106 Texas counties · median $1,483
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Polk County, TX | $1,508/mo · +0.7% 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 $982 a month on $179,466 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,442 a month: 22.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $179,466 × 80% = $143,572, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $982/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,025 × 52 / 12 = $4,442) = 22% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $179,466 / ($1,025 × 52) = 3.4
- price-to-rent = $179,466 / ($1,508 × 12) = 9.9
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 #
13,164 jobs at 949 employers (2026 Q1); -0.3% jobs and +6.5% average weekly wage over the year
- 61st pct · 1,233rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 69th pct · 79th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Polk County, TX | 13,164 jobs · $1,025/wk · -0.3% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 1,712 | $751 | 1.33 | +0.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,491 | $413 | 1.26 | -7.3% |
| Manufacturing | 1,490 | $1,391 | 1.41 | -1.3% |
| Construction | 641 | $1,352 | 0.93 | +0.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 620 | $1,249 | 3.07 | +5.3% |
| Administrative and waste services | 533 | $799 | 0.71 | +7.2% |
| Finance and insurance | 406 | $1,167 | 0.76 | +6.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 239 | $1,246 | 0.47 | -0.8% |
| Other services | 229 | $594 | 0.58 | -1.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 171 | $1,069 | 1.80 | -3.9% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 149 | $1,626 | 0.27 | -14.4% |
| Information | 137 | $1,676 | 0.56 | +0.0% |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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: 12, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Livingston Reservoir | 90 % full · 1,604k ac-ft | 24 km |
| B. A. Steinhagen Lake | 94 % full · 69k ac-ft | 63 km |
| Sam Rayburn Reservoir | 64 % full · 2,857k ac-ft | 76 km |
| Lake Conroe | 95 % full · 418k ac-ft | 84 km |
| Lake Nacogdoches | 86 % full · 40k ac-ft | 89 km |
| Houston County Lake | 95 % full · 17k ac-ft | 100 km |
| Lake Houston | 100 % full · 132k ac-ft | 101 km |
| Gibbons Creek Reservoir | 88 % full · 26k ac-ft | 119 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 (0.09)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.3×0.21 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$918.6 m in deposits at 11 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,409, highly concentrated. $533.3 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $523.4 m, grants $9.5 m), $40,513 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| The First National Bank of Livingston | $398.3 m · 43.4% share · 3 offices | |
| First State Bank of Livingston | $342.7 m · 37.3% share · 4 offices | |
| Citizens State Bank | $88.0 m · 9.6% share · 1 office | |
| Polk, TX | $533.3 m FY2026 · $40,513/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $513.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| The First National Bank of Livingston | $398,326,000 | 43.4% | 3 |
| First State Bank of Livingston | $342,676,000 | 37.3% | 4 |
| Citizens State Bank | $87,955,000 | 9.6% | 1 |
| PNC Bank, National Association | $56,558,000 | 6.2% | 1 |
| Peoples State Bank | $23,423,000 | 2.5% | 1 |
| Woodforest National Bank | $9,686,000 | 1.1% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 3,409 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 = 43.4² + 37.3² + 9.6² + … (3 more) = 3,409
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 | $444,582,071 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $64,629,196 |
| Department of the Interior | $7,886,416 |
| Department of Transportation | $5,140,423 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $4,123,679 |
| Department of Agriculture | $2,416,458 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,922,720 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $966,101 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $907,672 |
| Department of Education | $568,992 |
| Department of Justice | $496,250 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $86,843 |
That is $40,513 per covered job, against 13,164 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $533.3 m / 13,164 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $40,513
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 | 12.28 | 2026-10-04 | -0.1% |
| 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 | -88,576.00 | 2026-07-01 | -24.4% |
| 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 #
Polk County, TX: 12 findings, 3 at a watch level and 9 noted
watchPolk County, TX's typical home value is -3.9% 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 = -3.9014926153096505 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchPolk County, TX's typical asking rent is -2.9% against the previous month, a watch level here: typical asking rent at least 1 percent below the previous month (arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, 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: rent.momPct = -2.857064113666989 <= -1
- month-over-month percent change = (newest month − previous month) / |previous month| × 100, from Zillow's own published month columns
arithmetic on the Zillow ZORI month columns; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchPolk County, TX's covered employment is -0.3% 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 = -0.3 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
notePolk County, TX's average weekly wage was 6.5% 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
- +6.5 % = 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
notePolk County, TX's typical asking rent fell 2.9% from $1,552 in July 2026 to $1,508 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- -2.9% = (1507.9166666666667 - 1552.265898604383) / 1552.265898604383 × 100
- 1507.9166666666667 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
- 1552.265898604383 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07
Read all 12 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.