Delta County, MI
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 45.81, -86.90.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 39th pct · 1,851st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 39th pct · 51st of 83 Michigan counties · median $225,043
- 94th pct · 160th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 90th pct · 9th of 83 Michigan counties · median +5.3%
- US counties: not published this period
- Michigan counties: not published this period
- 62nd pct · 1,215th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 57th pct · 36th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
- 39th pct · 1,955th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 35th pct · 54th of 83 Michigan counties · median $1,045
- 44th pct · 1,699th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 46th pct · 45th of 83 Michigan counties · median 4.0
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 $203,915 (Sep 2026), +9.1% over one year, +42.5% over five
- 39th pct · 1,851st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 39th pct · 51st of 83 Michigan counties · median $225,043
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Delta County, MI | $203,915 · +9.1% 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
- Michigan 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 $1,129 a month on $203,915 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,299 a month: 26.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $203,915 × 80% = $163,132, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,129/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $992 × 52 / 12 = $4,299) = 26% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $203,915 / ($992 × 52) = 4.0
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 #
13,531 jobs at 1,069 employers (2026 Q1); -0.1% jobs and +4.9% average weekly wage over the year
- 62nd pct · 1,215th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 57th pct · 36th of 83 Michigan counties · median 12,414
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Delta County, MI | 13,531 jobs · $992/wk · -0.1% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 2,054 | $934 | 1.01 | +3.6% |
| Manufacturing | 1,909 | $1,614 | 1.75 | +1.2% |
| Retail trade | 1,857 | $694 | 1.41 | -2.2% |
| Accommodation and food services | 1,128 | $384 | 0.93 | -5.5% |
| Administrative and waste services | 885 | $664 | 1.15 | -3.7% |
| Other services | 801 | $656 | 1.98 | -9.3% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 470 | $1,034 | 0.82 | -1.3% |
| Construction | 466 | $1,056 | 0.66 | +1.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 457 | $1,312 | 0.83 | +7.3% |
| Wholesale trade | 341 | $1,149 | 0.66 | -3.7% |
| Information | 298 | $1,317 | 1.19 | +22.6% |
| Educational services | 75 | $545 | 0.26 | -3.8% |
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 #
D1 moderate 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: 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 #
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 #
moderate (0.25)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$774.0 m in deposits at 12 offices of 5 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,959, highly concentrated. $350.6 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $317.9 m, grants $18.9 m), $25,908 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First Bank, Upper Michigan | $285.6 m · 36.9% share · 5 offices | |
| Upper Peninsula State Bank | $266.3 m · 34.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Baybank | $145.8 m · 18.8% share · 3 offices | |
| Delta, MI | $350.6 m FY2026 · $25,908/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $307.6 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Bank, Upper Michigan | $285,556,000 | 36.9% | 5 |
| Upper Peninsula State Bank | $266,280,000 | 34.4% | 2 |
| Baybank | $145,827,000 | 18.8% | 3 |
| Flagstar Bank, National Association | $56,701,000 | 7.3% | 1 |
| Nicolet National Bank | $19,682,000 | 2.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,959 across 5 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 5 banks with deposits in the county = 36.9² + 34.4² + 18.8² + … (2 more) = 2,959
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 | $255,673,321 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $42,708,260 |
| Department of Transportation | $23,490,691 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $11,517,391 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $9,010,259 |
| Department of Agriculture | $3,230,282 |
| Department of Education | $2,414,142 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $1,509,156 |
| Federal Communications Commission | $503,784 |
| Department of the Interior | $248,319 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $203,313 |
| General Services Administration | $50,179 |
That is $25,908 per covered job, against 13,531 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $350.6 m / 13,531 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $25,908
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 | 17.95 | 2026-10-18 | -2.6% |
| 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 · % | 72.20 | 2026-10-19 | +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 | 7.00 | 2026-10-13 | +133.3% |
| Shanghai to Los Angeles container rate · $ per 40 ft box | 7,848.00 | 2026-09-01 | +14.9% |
| US diesel retail price · $ per gallon | unavailable | not published | |
| WTI crude oil, spot · $ per barrel | 101.91 | 2026-10-14 | +1.0% |
| 30-year fixed mortgage rate · % | 7.40 | 2026-10-15 | +0.0% |
| 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 | -105,572.00 | 2026-08-01 | -13.7% |
| Retail sales excluding food services, monthly · $ millions | 652,115.00 | 2026-09-01 | +0.7% |
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 #
Delta County, MI: 8 findings, 1 at a watch level and 7 noted
watchDelta County, MI's covered employment is -0.1% 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 = -0.1 < 0
BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level
noteDelta County, MI's average weekly wage was 4.9% 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
- +4.9 % = 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
noteDelta County, MI's typical home value rose 0.5% from $202,897 in August 2026 to $203,915 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- +0.5% = (203914.59991776742 - 202896.6946818128) / 202896.6946818128 × 100
- 203914.59991776742 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 202896.6946818128 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
noteDelta County, MI's covered employment was 0.1% lower 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
- -0.1 % = 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
noteDelta County, MI's typical home value of +9.1% ranks 160th of 3,062 US counties, against a median of +2.9%.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 95 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3062 US counties that published home.yoyPct
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
Read all 8 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.