Fort Bend County, TX

Home values #

Typical home $374,185 (Sep 2026), -2.1% over one year, +14.8% over five

• 83rd pct · 517th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 92nd pct · 18th of 243 Texas counties · median $207,861
• 88th pct · 2nd of 10 counties in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro · median $332,146

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 $1,955/mo (Sep 2026), -0.1% over one year; price-to-rent 15.9

• 81st pct · 255th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 94th pct · 6th of 98 Texas counties · median $1,449
• 75th pct · 3rd of 9 counties in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro · median $1,744

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 $2,073 a month on $374,185 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,577 a month: 37.2% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $374,185 × 80% = $299,348, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,073/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,287 × 52 / 12 = $5,577) = 37% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $374,185 / ($1,287 × 52) = 5.6
• price-to-rent = $374,185 / ($1,955 × 12) = 15.9

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 #

263,103 jobs at 18,598 employers (2026 Q1); +1.9% jobs and +2.2% average weekly wage over the year

• 96th pct · 124th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 96th pct · 10th of 254 Texas counties · median 6,022
• 88th pct · 2nd of 10 counties in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro · median 76,883

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 #

Surface water layer not loaded

Sites found: 6, 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 (0.17)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.25 + 0.3×0.08 / 0.65

Banks & federal dollars #

$20.7 bn in deposits at 154 offices of 45 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,076, moderately concentrated. $4.9 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $4.7 bn, grants $141.8 m), $18,670 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,076 across 45 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 45 banks with deposits in the county = 23.4² + 15.6² + 10.5² + … (42 more) = 1,076

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 $18,670 per covered job, against 263,103 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $4.9 bn / 263,103 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,670

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 #

Fort Bend County, TX: 11 findings, 1 at a watch level and 10 noted

1. watchFort Bend County, TX's typical home value is -2.1% 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 = -2.0611252596742973 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

2. noteFort Bend County, TX's average weekly wage was 2.2% 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

   • +2.2 % = 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. noteFort Bend County, TX's covered employment was 1.9% 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

   • +1.9 % = 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. noteFort Bend County, TX's covered employment of 263,103 ranks 10th of 254 Texas counties, against a median of 6,022.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across 254 Texas counties that published jobs.emp

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

5. noteFort Bend County, TX's covered employment of 263,103 ranks 124th of 3,221 US counties, against a median of 8,232.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 96 on the 0-to-100 scale across 3221 US 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.