Benton County, MN

Home values #

Typical home $313,228 (Sep 2026), +2.8% over one year, +26.5% over five

• 72nd pct · 831st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 69th pct · 27th of 87 Minnesota counties · median $270,028
• counties in the St. Cloud metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the St. Cloud 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 $1,003/mo (Sep 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 26.0

• 7th pct · 1,252nd of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 6th pct · 31st of 33 Minnesota counties · median $1,370
• counties in the St. Cloud metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the St. Cloud 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 $1,735 a month on $313,228 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,780 a month: 36.3% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $313,228 × 80% = $250,583, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,735/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,103 × 52 / 12 = $4,780) = 36% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $313,228 / ($1,103 × 52) = 5.5
• price-to-rent = $313,228 / ($1,003 × 12) = 26.0

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 #

16,618 jobs at 1,057 employers (2026 Q1); +0.8% jobs and -0.1% average weekly wage over the year

• 67th pct · 1,059th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 73rd pct · 24th of 87 Minnesota counties · median 7,739
• counties in the St. Cloud metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 2 counties in the St. Cloud 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 #

53 gauges · 0 flooding · 18 with quality panels averaging 100 % · 23 stale

Sites found: 53, 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 #

19 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 19, 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 #

$723.6 m in deposits at 12 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,550, moderately concentrated. $235.2 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $215.7 m, grants $18.6 m), $14,152 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,550 across 10 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 10 banks with deposits in the county = 26.5² + 16.3² + 15.7² + … (7 more) = 1,550

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 $14,152 per covered job, against 16,618 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $235.2 m / 16,618 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $14,152

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 #

Benton County, MN: 12 findings, 3 at a watch level and 9 noted

1. watchBenton County, MN's price-to-rent ratio of 26.0 ranks 70th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent percentile = 94.91525423728814 >= 90
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

2. watchBenton County, MN's price-to-rent ratio is 26.0, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; 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 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent = 26.027992095819616 >= 25
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

3. watchBenton County, MN's average weekly wage is -0.1% against a year earlier, a watch level here: average weekly wage below the same quarter a year earlier, before inflation (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.avgWeeklyWage = -0.1 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published, nominal dollars; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. noteBenton County, MN's typical asking rent rose 1.2% from $991 in August 2026 to $1,003 in September 2026, on Zillow ZORI.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • +1.2% = (1002.8571428571428 - 990.9495067272736) / 990.9495067272736 × 100
   • 1002.8571428571428 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-09
   • 990.9495067272736 = Zillow ZORI, 2026-08

5. noteBenton County, MN's covered employment was 0.8% 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

   • +0.8 % = 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

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.