Wheeler County, TX
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 35.39, -100.25.
Assembled 2026-10-06. Read the brief.
- 3rd pct · 2,964th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 6th pct · 228th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
- 93rd pct · 209th of 3,063 US counties · median +2.9%
- 92nd pct · 18th of 243 Texas counties · median +0.0%
- US counties: not published this period
- Texas counties: not published this period
- 13th pct · 2,793rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 23rd pct · 195th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
- 30th pct · 2,248th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 20th pct · 202nd of 254 Texas counties · median $1,115
- 4th pct · 2,915th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.3
- 12th pct · 212th 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 $103,196 (Aug 2026), +8.8% over one year, -21.5% over five
- 3rd pct · 2,964th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
- 6th pct · 228th of 243 Texas counties · median $215,660
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wheeler County, TX | $103,196 · +8.8% 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 $565 a month on $103,196 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,130 a month: 13.7% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $103,196 × 80% = $82,557, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $565/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $953 × 52 / 12 = $4,130) = 14% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $103,196 / ($953 × 52) = 2.1
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 #
1,691 jobs at 194 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +5.2% average weekly wage over the year
- 13th pct · 2,793rd of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 23rd pct · 195th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wheeler County, TX | 1,691 jobs · $953/wk · +0.9% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 268 | $543 | 1.63 | +5.1% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 88 | $2,735 | 1.23 | -3.3% |
| Mining, oil and gas | 79 | $2,137 | 13.12 | -26.9% |
| Professional and technical services | 69 | $1,088 | 0.59 | +1.5% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 54 | $832 | 4.42 | +0.0% |
| Construction | 48 | $1,067 | 0.54 | +50.0% |
| Finance and insurance | 32 | $1,110 | 0.46 | +18.5% |
| Administrative and waste services | 29 | $2,050 | 0.30 | +45.0% |
| Other services | 20 | $409 | 0.40 | +17.6% |
| Manufacturing | 13 | $2,948 | 0.10 | +0.0% |
| Information | 12 | $593 | 0.38 | +20.0% |
| Real estate and rental | 10 | $595 | 0.39 | -23.1% |
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 #
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Greenbelt Lake | 5 % full · 60k ac-ft | 73 km |
| Lake Meredith | 44 % full · 500k ac-ft | 123 km |
| Palo Duro Reservoir | 0 % full · 61k ac-ft | 134 km |
| Mackenzie Reservoir | 11 % full · 46k ac-ft | 143 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 (0.71)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.75 + 0.3×0.66 / 0.65
Banks & federal dollars #
$229.4 m in deposits at 4 offices of 3 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 4,465, highly concentrated. $30.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $28.4 m, contracts $1.5 m), $17,799 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wellington State Bank | $113.3 m · 49.4% share · 1 office | |
| Centennial Bank | $102.4 m · 44.6% share · 2 offices | |
| BOC Bank | $13.8 m · 6.0% share · 1 office | |
| Wheeler, TX | $30.1 m FY2026 · $17,799/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $27.1 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington State Bank | $113,265,000 | 49.4% | 1 |
| Centennial Bank | $102,380,000 | 44.6% | 2 |
| BOC Bank | $13,785,000 | 6.0% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 4,465 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 = 49.4² + 44.6² + 6.0² = 4,465
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 | $24,023,936 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $2,940,790 |
| Department of Justice | $1,533,125 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,172,643 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $142,354 |
| Department of Transportation | $112,012 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $91,787 |
| Department of Education | $81,640 |
That is $17,799 per covered job, against 1,691 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $30.1 m / 1,691 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,799
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 #
Wheeler County, TX: 11 findings, 11 noted
noteWheeler County, TX's average weekly wage was 5.2% 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
- +5.2 % = 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
noteWheeler County, TX's covered employment was 0.9% 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
- +0.9 % = 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
noteWheeler County, TX's typical home value rose 0.8% from $102,405 in July 2026 to $103,196 in August 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- +0.8% = (103196.29021399193 - 102404.58030356614) / 102404.58030356614 × 100
- 103196.29021399193 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
- 102404.58030356614 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-07
noteWheeler County, TX's typical home value of $103,196 ranks 2,964th of 3,063 US counties, against a median of $234,566.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 3 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3063 US counties that published home.latest
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteWheeler County, TX's years of wages of 2.1 ranks 2,915th of 3,063 US counties, against a median of 4.3.
Period 2026-08.Show the arithmetic
- 5 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3063 US 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 11 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.