Minnehaha County, SD

Home values #

Typical home $325,224 (Sep 2026), +1.3% over one year, +22.6% over five

• 75th pct · 750th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 79th pct · 11th of 50 South Dakota counties · median $251,658
• 75th pct · 2nd of 5 counties in the Sioux Falls metro · median $292,101

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 $1,229/mo (Sep 2026), +3.8% over one year; price-to-rent 22.0

• 23rd pct · 1,039th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 30th pct · 8th of 11 South Dakota counties · median $1,275
• counties in the Sioux Falls metro: only 2 of counties in the Sioux Falls metro published this metric; 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 $1,801 a month on $325,224 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,932 a month: 30.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $325,224 × 80% = $260,179, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,801/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,369 × 52 / 12 = $5,932) = 30% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $325,224 / ($1,369 × 52) = 4.6
• price-to-rent = $325,224 / ($1,229 × 12) = 22.0

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 #

138,476 jobs at 10,147 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +5.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 92nd pct · 230th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 100th pct · 1st of 66 South Dakota counties · median 1,825
• 100th pct · 1st of 5 counties in the Sioux Falls metro · median 3,840

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 #

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 #

22 gauges · 0 flooding · 0 with quality panels · 4 stale

Sites found: 22, 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 #

10 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 10, 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 (0.25)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 / 0.35

Banks & federal dollars #

$479.3 bn in deposits at 83 offices of 26 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 9,303, highly concentrated. $1.6 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.3 bn, contracts $129.1 m), $11,403 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 9,303 across 26 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls highly concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 26 banks with deposits in the county = 96.4² + 1.6² + 0.5² + … (23 more) = 9,303

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 $11,403 per covered job, against 138,476 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.6 bn / 138,476 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $11,403

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 #

Minnehaha County, SD: 11 findings, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchMinnehaha County, SD's price-to-rent ratio of 22.0 scores 84 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 50 across South Dakota counties, a gap of 34 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 34 = |84 across US counties - 50 across South Dakota 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

2. noteMinnehaha County, SD's average weekly wage was 5.3% 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

   • +5.3 % = 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

3. noteMinnehaha County, SD's covered employment was 0.9% 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

   • +0.9 % = 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

4. noteMinnehaha County, SD's covered employment of 138,476 ranks 1st of 5 counties in the Sioux Falls metro, against a median of 3,840.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 100 on the 0-to-100 scale across 5 counties in the Sioux Falls metro that published jobs.emp

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

5. noteMinnehaha County, SD's covered employment of 138,476 ranks 1st of 66 South Dakota counties, against a median of 1,825.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 100 on the 0-to-100 scale across 66 South Dakota counties that published jobs.emp

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

Read all 11 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.