Refugio County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 28.32, -97.16.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 11th pct · 2,706th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 17th pct · 201st of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- 2nd pct · 2,981st of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 3rd pct · 234th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 17th pct · 2,672nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 26th pct · 187th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 29th pct · 2,280th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 17th pct · 208th of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 15th pct · 2,578th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 30th pct · 168th 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 $139,141 (Aug 2026), -7.2% over one year, -20.6% over five
- 11th pct · 2,706th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 17th pct · 201st of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Refugio County, TX | $139,141 · -7.2% 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 $762 a month on $139,141 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,112 a month: 18.5% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $139,141 × 80% = $111,313, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $762/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $949 × 52 / 12 = $4,112) = 19% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $139,141 / ($949 × 52) = 2.8
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 #
2,093 jobs at 205 employers (2026 Q1); -2.9% jobs and -1.6% average weekly wage over the year
- 17th pct · 2,672nd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 26th pct · 187th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Refugio County, TX | 2,093 jobs · $949/wk · -2.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 245 | $1,132 | 2.23 | -10.9% |
| Retail trade | 245 | $654 | 1.20 | -6.1% |
| Mining, oil and gas | 158 | $1,680 | 21.20 | -13.7% |
| Real estate and rental | 62 | $1,169 | 1.93 | -10.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 36 | $1,553 | 0.41 | -25.0% |
| Professional and technical services | 36 | $1,009 | 0.25 | +100.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 33 | $2,694 | 0.39 | +0.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Utilities | withheld | |||
| Manufacturing | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Management of companies | 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 #
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: 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Coleto Creek Reservoir | 75 % full · 31k ac-ft | 45 km |
| Lake Corpus Christi | 84 % full · 256k ac-ft | 76 km |
| Lake Texana | 89 % full · 159k ac-ft | 85 km |
| Choke Canyon Reservoir | 22 % full · 663k ac-ft | 107 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 #
high (0.51)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.3×0.53 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$110.8 m in deposits at 3 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,006, highly concentrated. $56.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $49.2 m, contracts $6.2 m), $27,021 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Vantage Bank Texas | $57.3 m · 51.7% share · 1 office | |
| The First State Bank | $53.5 m · 48.3% share · 2 offices | |
| Refugio, TX | $56.6 m FY2026 · $27,021/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $47.2 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vantage Bank Texas | $57,295,000 | 51.7% | 1 |
| The First State Bank | $53,478,000 | 48.3% | 2 |
Deposit concentration is 5,006 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 51.7² + 48.3² = 5,006
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 | $39,583,969 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $7,683,012 |
| Department of Defense | $5,765,194 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,881,251 |
| Department of Transportation | $940,377 |
| Department of the Interior | $351,807 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $190,341 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $98,386 |
| Department of Education | $42,021 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $19,539 |
That is $27,021 per covered job, against 2,093 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $56.6 m / 2,093 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $27,021
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 | -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 #
Refugio County, TX: 13 findings, 1 at an alert level, 4 at a watch level and 8 noted
alertRefugio County, TX's typical home value is -7.2% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -7.231246626262595 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchRefugio County, TX's typical home value is -7.2% 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 = -7.231246626262595 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
watchRefugio County, TX's covered employment is -2.9% 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 = -2.9 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
watchRefugio County, TX's average weekly wage is -1.6% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -1.6 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchRefugio County, TX's momentum index is -0.67, a watch level here: momentum index in the cooling band (the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; 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: momentum = -0.674828312299464 <= -0.25
- 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%)
the cooling band of the momentum index computed here, score at or below -0.25; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
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.