Flathead County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 48.30, -114.05.
Assembled 2026-10-20. Read the brief.
- 97th pct · 89th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 96th pct · 3rd of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
- 40th pct · 1,836th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 18th pct · 46th of 56 Montana counties · median +3.9%
- 84th pct · 211th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 88th pct · 2nd of 10 Montana counties · median $1,628
- 84th pct · 505th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 94th pct · 4th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 75th pct · 801st of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 83rd pct · 10th of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 97th pct · 70th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 87th pct · 8th of 56 Montana counties · median 5.5
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 $646,151 (Sep 2026), +2.0% over one year, +21.9% over five
- 97th pct · 89th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 96th pct · 3rd of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Flathead County, MT | $646,151 · +2.0% 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 #
Typical rent $2,025/mo (Sep 2026), +3.6% over one year; price-to-rent 26.6
- 84th pct · 211th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
- 88th pct · 2nd of 10 Montana counties · median $1,628
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Flathead County, MT | $2,025/mo · +3.6% 1-yr |
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 $3,579 a month on $646,151 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,165 a month: 69.3% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $646,151 × 80% = $516,921, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $3,579/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,192 × 52 / 12 = $5,165) = 69% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $646,151 / ($1,192 × 52) = 10.4
- price-to-rent = $646,151 / ($2,025 × 12) = 26.6
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 #
50,222 jobs at 7,254 employers (2026 Q1); +2.2% jobs and +4.0% average weekly wage over the year
- 84th pct · 505th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 94th pct · 4th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Flathead County, MT | 50,222 jobs · $1,192/wk · +2.2% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 8,508 | $1,438 | 1.13 | +6.3% |
| Retail trade | 7,186 | $849 | 1.47 | -1.8% |
| Accommodation and food services | 6,781 | $582 | 1.50 | +7.3% |
| Construction | 4,701 | $1,197 | 1.79 | +2.2% |
| Manufacturing | 3,334 | $1,626 | 0.83 | +2.5% |
| Professional and technical services | 2,638 | $1,774 | 0.76 | -0.1% |
| Finance and insurance | 1,769 | $2,243 | 0.86 | -0.2% |
| Other services | 1,718 | $878 | 1.14 | +0.3% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 1,266 | $525 | 1.53 | -13.0% |
| Wholesale trade | 1,155 | $1,628 | 0.60 | +3.4% |
| Real estate and rental | 938 | $900 | 1.22 | +4.3% |
| Educational services | 494 | $755 | 0.46 | -2.8% |
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 #
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 #
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 #
low (0.00)
Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 / 0.35
Banks & federal dollars #
$4.0 bn in deposits at 37 offices of 12 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 2,729, highly concentrated. $881.1 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $758.8 m, contracts $70.6 m), $17,544 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Glacier Bank | $1.9 bn · 48.0% share · 11 offices | |
| First Interstate Bank | $620.8 m · 15.6% share · 7 offices | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $295.1 m · 7.4% share · 2 offices | |
| Flathead, MT | $881.1 m FY2026 · $17,544/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $742.0 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glacier Bank | $1,903,478,000 | 48.0% | 11 |
| First Interstate Bank | $620,840,000 | 15.6% | 7 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $295,117,000 | 7.4% | 2 |
| Three Rivers Bank of Montana | $257,914,000 | 6.5% | 3 |
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $239,194,000 | 6.0% | 5 |
| Valley Bank of Kalispell | $190,345,000 | 4.8% | 2 |
| Freedom Bank | $138,843,000 | 3.5% | 1 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $90,734,000 | 2.3% | 1 |
| TrailWest Bank | $84,721,000 | 2.1% | 2 |
| American Bank | $73,492,000 | 1.9% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 2,729 across 12 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 12 banks with deposits in the county = 48.0² + 15.6² + 7.4² + … (9 more) = 2,729
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 | $617,524,828 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $114,078,618 |
| Department of Transportation | $35,751,668 |
| Department of Agriculture | $22,601,409 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $22,238,829 |
| Department of the Interior | $20,716,461 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $18,495,733 |
| Department of Energy | $9,000,000 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $5,513,856 |
| Department of Defense | $4,671,372 |
| Environmental Protection Agency | $3,842,550 |
| Department of Education | $3,637,289 |
That is $17,544 per covered job, against 50,222 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $881.1 m / 50,222 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $17,544
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 | 17.40 | 2026-10-19 | -3.1% |
| 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 | 2026-10-20 | +0.0% |
| Laredo truck crossings, monthly · trucks | 255,129.00 | 2026-09-01 | -1.4% |
| 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 | 1,221.00 | 2026-09-01 | -5.2% |
| Building permits, annual rate · thousands of units | 1,400.00 | 2026-09-01 | -0.2% |
| 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 #
Flathead County, MT: 15 findings, 5 at a watch level and 10 noted
watchFlathead County, MT's years of wages of 10.4 ranks 70th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; 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: yearsOfWages percentile = 97.74657086871326 >= 90
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level
watchFlathead County, MT's price-to-rent ratio of 26.6 ranks 56th 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 = 95.94694178334562 >= 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
watchFlathead County, MT's price-to-rent ratio is 26.6, 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 = 26.594258278023386 >= 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
watchFlathead County, MT's years of wages is 10.4, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; 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: yearsOfWages = 10.424488405196422 >= 10
- typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household
typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchFlathead County, MT's price-to-rent ratio of 26.6 scores 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 56 across Montana counties, a gap of 40 points.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- 40 = |96 across US counties - 56 across Montana 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
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.