Chippewa County, WI

Home values #

Typical home $325,234 (Aug 2026), +3.3% over one year, +30.0% over five

• 74th pct · 768th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 67th pct · 24th of 72 Wisconsin counties · median $298,900
• counties in the Eau Claire metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Eau Claire metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,255/mo (Aug 2026), +4.1% over one year; price-to-rent 21.6

• 26th pct · 1,028th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 59th pct · 16th of 38 Wisconsin counties · median $1,216
• counties in the Eau Claire metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Eau Claire metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 $1,780 a month on $325,234 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,563 a month: 39.0% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $325,234 × 80% = $260,187, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,780/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,053 × 52 / 12 = $4,563) = 39% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $325,234 / ($1,053 × 52) = 5.9
• price-to-rent = $325,234 / ($1,255 × 12) = 21.6

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 #

26,284 jobs at 2,064 employers (2026 Q1); -0.5% jobs and +2.5% average weekly wage over the year

• 75th pct · 779th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 66th pct · 25th of 72 Wisconsin counties · median 15,405
• counties in the Eau Claire metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the Eau Claire metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

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 #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

Sites found: 0, 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 #

30 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 15 stale

Sites found: 30, 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 #

6 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 6, 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 (0.32)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.00 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.3 bn in deposits at 22 offices of 13 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,608, moderately concentrated. $454.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $420.2 m, grants $19.0 m), $17,287 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,608 across 13 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 13 banks with deposits in the county = 31.6² + 12.5² + 11.7² + … (10 more) = 1,608

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 $17,287 per covered job, against 26,284 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $454.4 m / 26,284 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,287

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 #

Chippewa County, WI: 9 findings, 4 at a watch level and 5 noted

1. watchChippewa County, WI's covered employment is -0.5% 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 = -0.5 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

2. watchChippewa County, WI's price-to-rent ratio of 21.6 scores 81 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 38 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 44 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 44 = |81 across US counties - 38 across Wisconsin counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

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

3. watchChippewa County, WI's typical home value of +3.3% scores 54 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 11 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 43 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 43 = |54 across US counties - 11 across Wisconsin counties|

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

4. watchChippewa County, WI's typical asking rent of $1,255 scores 27 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 59 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |27 across US counties - 59 across Wisconsin counties|

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

5. noteChippewa County, WI's average weekly wage was 2.5% 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

   • +2.5 % = 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

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.