Thomas County, NE
Housing, jobs, water, deposits and federal obligations for this county, each figure with the release it came from. Internal point 41.86, -100.52.
Assembled 2026-10-20. Read the brief.
- 31st pct · 2,109th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 36th pct · 57th of 89 Nebraska counties · median $214,386
- 3rd pct · 2,962nd of 3,062 US counties · median +2.9%
- 1st pct · 88th of 89 Nebraska counties · median +3.5%
- US counties: not published this period
- Nebraska counties: not published this period
- 0th pct · 3,201st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 10th pct · 83rd of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151
- 18th pct · 2,638th of 3,221 US counties · median $1,039
- 31st pct · 64th of 93 Nebraska counties · median $970
- 43rd pct · 1,722nd of 3,063 US counties · median 4.2
- 45th pct · 49th of 89 Nebraska 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 $182,513 (Sep 2026), -5.7% over one year, n/a over five
- 31st pct · 2,109th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
- 36th pct · 57th of 89 Nebraska counties · median $214,386
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas County, NE | $182,513 · -5.7% 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
- Nebraska 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 $1,011 a month on $182,513 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $3,874 a month: 26.1% of one job’s pay.
- payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $182,513 × 80% = $146,010, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,011/mo principal and interest
- wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $894 × 52 / 12 = $3,874) = 26% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
- years of wages = $182,513 / ($894 × 52) = 3.9
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 #
246 jobs at 40 employers (2026 Q1); +10.8% jobs and +4.3% average weekly wage over the year
- 0th pct · 3,201st of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
- 10th pct · 83rd of 93 Nebraska counties · median 2,151
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas County, NE | 246 jobs · $894/wk · +10.8% YoY |
| NAICS sector | Jobs | Avg weekly wage | Location quotient | Jobs over the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail trade | 38 | $762 | 1.59 | +2.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | 32 | $328 | 1.45 | +6.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | withheld | |||
| Mining, oil and gas | withheld | |||
| Construction | withheld | |||
| Wholesale trade | withheld | |||
| Transportation and warehousing | withheld | |||
| Finance and insurance | withheld | |||
| Professional and technical services | withheld | |||
| Administrative and waste services | withheld | |||
| Other services | withheld |
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 #
D0 abnormally dry
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 #
$70.3 m in deposits at 2 offices of 2 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 5,113, highly concentrated. $6.5 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $5.0 m, contracts $1.3 m), $26,474 per covered job
| Item | Value | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Western Nebraska Bank | $40.4 m · 57.5% share · 1 office | |
| Security First Bank | $29.9 m · 42.5% share · 1 office | |
| Thomas, NE | $6.5 m FY2026 · $26,474/job | |
| MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS | $4.5 m · top recipient FY2026 |
| Institution | Deposits | Share | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Nebraska Bank | $40,405,000 | 57.5% | 1 |
| Security First Bank | $29,863,000 | 42.5% | 1 |
Deposit concentration is 5,113 across 2 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.
HHI = Σ (share %)² over 2 banks with deposits in the county = 57.5² + 42.5² = 5,113
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 | $3,764,171 |
| Department of Agriculture | $1,802,815 |
| Department of Veterans Affairs | $465,679 |
| Railroad Retirement Board | $268,741 |
| Department of Transportation | $195,987 |
| Department of Education | $15,166 |
That is $26,474 per covered job, against 246 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.
per job = FY2026 obligations $6.5 m / 246 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $26,474
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 #
Thomas County, NE: 12 findings, 1 at an alert level, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted
alertThomas County, NE's typical home value is -5.7% against a year earlier, an alert level here: typical home value at least 5 percent below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -5.7175072309279065 <= -5
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level
watchThomas County, NE's typical home value is -5.7% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; 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: home.yoyPct = -5.7175072309279065 < 0
arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level
noteThomas County, NE's covered employment was 10.8% 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
- +10.8 % = 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
noteThomas County, NE's average weekly wage was 4.3% 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
- +4.3 % = 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
noteThomas County, NE's typical home value fell 0.8% from $183,933 in August 2026 to $182,513 in September 2026, on Zillow ZHVI.
Period 2026-09.Show the arithmetic
- -0.8% = (182512.60419192255 - 183932.8955828297) / 183932.8955828297 × 100
- 182512.60419192255 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-09
- 183932.8955828297 = Zillow ZHVI, 2026-08
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.