Hill County, MT
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 48.63, -110.11.
Assembled 2026-10-19. Read the brief.
- 48th pct · 1,571st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 36th pct · 36th of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
- 66th pct · 1,015th of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 52nd pct · 27th of 56 Montana counties · median +3.9%
- US counties: not published this period
- Montana counties: not published this period
- 45th pct · 1,760th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 81st pct · 11th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
- 28th pct · 2,316th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 32nd pct · 38th of 56 Montana counties · median $996
- 58th pct · 1,258th of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 34th pct · 37th 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 $227,989 (Sep 2026), +4.3% over one year, +18.9% over five
- 48th pct · 1,571st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 36th pct · 36th of 56 Montana counties · median $286,409
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hill County, MT | $227,989 · +4.3% 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
- Montana 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 $1,263 a month on $227,989 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,091 a month: 30.9% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $227,989 × 80% = $182,391, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,263/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $944 × 52 / 12 = $4,091) = 31% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $227,989 / ($944 × 52) = 4.6
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 #
6,854 jobs at 603 employers (2026 Q1); +1.7% jobs and +0.7% average weekly wage over the year
- 45th pct · 1,760th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 81st pct · 11th of 56 Montana counties · median 2,560
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hill County, MT | 6,854 jobs · $944/wk · +1.7% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 1,030 | $1,047 | 1.00 | +6.1% |
| Retail trade | 1,019 | $677 | 1.53 | +3.3% |
| Accommodation and food services | 782 | $369 | 1.27 | +2.5% |
| Construction | 333 | $1,404 | 0.93 | +3.1% |
| Other services | 286 | $746 | 1.40 | +9.6% |
| Finance and insurance | 234 | $1,547 | 0.84 | +5.9% |
| Wholesale trade | 192 | $1,111 | 0.73 | +3.2% |
| Professional and technical services | 135 | $1,114 | 0.29 | -4.3% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 109 | $318 | 0.97 | +3.8% |
| Educational services | 93 | $620 | 0.63 | +1.1% |
| Administrative and waste services | 74 | $803 | 0.19 | -19.6% |
| Transportation and warehousing | 69 | $911 | 0.24 | +6.2% |
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 #
$871.9 m in deposits at 4 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,841, highly concentrated. $165.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $128.6 m, grants $30.4 m), $24,151 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Independence Bank | $654.3 m · 75.0% share · 1 office | |
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $84.2 m · 9.7% share · 1 office | |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $69.2 m · 7.9% share · 1 office | |
| Hill, MT | $165.5 m FY2026 · $24,151/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $90.7 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Bank | $654,281,000 | 75.0% | 1 |
| Stockman Bank of Montana | $84,206,000 | 9.7% | 1 |
| Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | $69,236,000 | 7.9% | 1 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | $64,212,000 | 7.4% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,841 across 4 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 4 banks with deposits in the county = 75.0² + 9.7² + 7.9² + … (1 more) = 5,841
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 | $64,270,757 |
| Department of Education | $17,903,465 |
| Department of the Interior | $17,060,878 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $14,719,079 |
| Department of Agriculture | $13,142,827 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $11,552,891 |
| Department of Homeland Security | $8,027,907 |
| Department of Transportation | $7,293,000 |
| Department of Health and Human Services | $5,839,740 |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | $3,938,581 |
| Department of Justice | $849,942 |
| National Science Foundation | $349,612 |
That is $24,151 per covered job, against 6,854 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $165.5 m / 6,854 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $24,151
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 #
Hill County, MT: 6 findings, 1 at a watch level and 5 noted
watchHill County, MT's covered employment of 6,854 scores 45 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 82 across Montana counties, a gap of 36 points.
Period 2026 Q1.Show the arithmetic
- 36 = |45 across US counties - 82 across Montana counties|
position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level
noteHill County, MT's covered employment was 1.7% 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
- +1.7 % = 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
noteHill County, MT's average weekly wage was 0.7% 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
- +0.7 % = 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
noteHill County, MT's typical home value fell 0.5% from $229,142 in August 2026 to $227,989 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- -0.5% = (227989.3419242905 - 229141.55660444289) / 229141.55660444289 × 100
- 227989.3419242905 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 229141.55660444289 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
noteThe next Unemployment rate (BLS Employment Situation, monthly) covering Hill County, MT is due between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern.
Show the arithmetic
- window = 2026-10-30 to 2026-11-13, estimated from the publisher's past release pattern
estimated from the publisher's past release pattern; not an announced date
Read all 6 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.