Sauk County, WI

Home values #

Typical home $346,135 (Aug 2026), +5.1% over one year, +24.9% over five

• 78th pct · 654th of 3,063 US counties · median $234,566
• 81st pct · 14th of 72 Wisconsin counties · median $298,900

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 $1,271/mo (Aug 2026), +6.8% over one year; price-to-rent 22.7

• 27th pct · 1,009th of 1,399 US counties · median $1,496
• 64th pct · 14th of 38 Wisconsin counties · median $1,216

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 $1,895 a month on $346,135 at 7.28%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,572 a month: 41.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $346,135 × 80% = $276,908, r = 7.28%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-01), n = 360 → $1,895/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,055 × 52 / 12 = $4,572) = 41% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $346,135 / ($1,055 × 52) = 6.3
• price-to-rent = $346,135 / ($1,271 × 12) = 22.7

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 #

34,632 jobs at 2,282 employers (2026 Q1); -1.7% jobs and +4.8% average weekly wage over the year

• 79th pct · 668th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 71st pct · 21st of 72 Wisconsin counties · median 15,405

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 #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

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 #

163 gauges · 0 flooding · 16 with quality panels averaging 95 % · 69 stale

Sites found: 163, 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 #

38 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 38, 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 (0.02)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.05 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$2.4 bn in deposits at 25 offices of 13 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,447, moderately concentrated. $474.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $419.5 m, grants $46.0 m), $13,704 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,447 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 = 26.4² + 17.9² + 13.7² + … (10 more) = 1,447

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 $13,704 per covered job, against 34,632 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $474.6 m / 34,632 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $13,704

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 #

Sauk County, WI: 10 findings, 3 at a watch level and 7 noted

1. watchSauk County, WI's covered employment is -1.7% 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 = -1.7 < 0

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

2. watchSauk County, WI's typical home value of +5.1% scores 74 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 34 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 40 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 40 = |74 across US counties - 34 across Wisconsin counties|

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

3. watchSauk County, WI's typical asking rent of $1,271 scores 28 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 65 across Wisconsin counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |28 across US counties - 65 across Wisconsin counties|

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

4. noteSauk County, WI's average weekly wage was 4.8% 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

   • +4.8 % = 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

5. noteSauk County, WI's typical asking rent rose 2.1% from $1,244 in July 2026 to $1,271 in August 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-08.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +2.1% = (1270.6150793650795 - 1243.9444531384029) / 1243.9444531384029 × 100
   • 1270.6150793650795 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08
   • 1243.9444531384029 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-07

Read all 10 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.