Douglas County, WI

Home values #

Typical home $261,738 (Aug 2026), +4.7% over one year, +26.4% over five

• 59th pct · 1,243rd of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 25th pct · 54th of 72 Wisconsin counties · median $298,900
• counties in the Duluth metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Duluth 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 $1,065/mo (Aug 2026), +5.4% over one year; price-to-rent 20.5

• 12th pct · 1,226th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 13th pct · 33rd of 38 Wisconsin counties · median $1,216
• counties in the Duluth metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Duluth 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 $1,433 a month on $261,738 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,745 a month: 30.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $261,738 × 80% = $209,390, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,433/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,095 × 52 / 12 = $4,745) = 30% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $261,738 / ($1,095 × 52) = 4.6
• price-to-rent = $261,738 / ($1,065 × 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 #

15,473 jobs at 1,255 employers (2026 Q1); -1.3% jobs and +3.6% average weekly wage over the year

• 65th pct · 1,114th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 50th pct · 36th of 72 Wisconsin counties · median 15,405
• counties in the Duluth metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 3 counties in the Duluth 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 #

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 #

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 #

18 gauges · 0 flooding · 6 with quality panels averaging 92 % · 9 stale

Sites found: 18, 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 #

8 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 8, 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 = 0.35×0.75 + 0.2×0.08 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$1.1 bn in deposits at 10 offices of 6 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 6,047, highly concentrated. $355.8 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $311.7 m, grants $31.2 m), $22,997 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 6,047 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 = 76.7² + 9.0² + 7.6² + … (3 more) = 6,047

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 $22,997 per covered job, against 15,473 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $355.8 m / 15,473 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $22,997

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 #

Douglas County, WI: 12 findings, 6 at a watch level and 6 noted

1. watchDouglas County, WI's covered employment is -1.3% 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 = -1.3 < 0

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

2. watchDouglas County, WI's typical asking rent is -1.6% 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 = -1.557819927596046 <= -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

3. watchDouglas County, WI's typical home value of +4.7% scores 69 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 24 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 45 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 45 = |69 across US counties - 24 across Wisconsin counties|

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

4. watchDouglas County, WI's price-to-rent ratio of 20.5 scores 77 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 35 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 41 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 41 = |77 across US counties - 35 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

5. watchDouglas County, WI's years of wages of 4.6 scores 57 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 18 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |57 across US counties - 18 across Wisconsin counties|
   • 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 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.