Clackamas County, OR

Home values #

Typical home $605,496 (Sep 2026), +0.6% over one year, +9.0% over five

• 96th pct · 107th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 94th pct · 3rd of 36 Oregon counties · median $428,005
• 100th pct · 1st of 7 counties in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro · median $541,704

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 $1,921/mo (Sep 2026), +1.3% over one year; price-to-rent 26.3

• 79th pct · 277th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 84th pct · 5th of 26 Oregon counties · median $1,770
• 100th pct · 1st of 6 counties in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro · median $1,886

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 $3,354 a month on $605,496 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $6,335 a month: 52.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $605,496 × 80% = $484,397, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $3,354/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,462 × 52 / 12 = $6,335) = 53% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $605,496 / ($1,462 × 52) = 8.0
• price-to-rent = $605,496 / ($1,921 × 12) = 26.3

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 #

173,559 jobs at 16,250 employers (2026 Q1); -0.7% jobs and +4.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 94th pct · 190th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 91st pct · 4th of 36 Oregon counties · median 15,683
• 50th pct · 4th of 7 counties in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro · median 173,559

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 #

1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 1, 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 #

256 gauges · 0 flooding · 180 with quality panels averaging 99 % · 150 stale

Sites found: 256, 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 #

28 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 28, 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 (0.16)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.2×0.01 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$9.7 bn in deposits at 78 offices of 18 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,463, moderately concentrated. $4.2 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $3.7 bn, contracts $327.1 m), $24,248 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,463 across 17 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 17 banks with deposits in the county = 22.8² + 18.8² + 16.4² + … (14 more) = 1,463

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 $24,248 per covered job, against 173,559 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $4.2 bn / 173,559 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $24,248

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 #

Clackamas County, OR: 20 findings, 4 at a watch level and 16 noted

1. watchClackamas County, OR's price-to-rent ratio of 26.3 ranks 61st 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 = 95.57848194546794 >= 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. watchClackamas County, OR's years of wages of 8.0 ranks 212th 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 = 93.10907903331156 >= 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

3. watchClackamas County, OR's price-to-rent ratio is 26.3, 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 = 26.262750800965673 >= 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

4. watchClackamas County, OR's covered employment is -0.7% 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 = -0.7 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

5. noteClackamas County, OR's average weekly wage was 4.7% 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

   • +4.7 % = 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

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.