Carbon County, UT

Home values #

Typical home $279,151 (Sep 2026), +2.2% over one year, +39.2% over five

• 65th pct · 1,071st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 3rd pct · 27th of 28 Utah counties · median $445,634

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 $693/mo (Sep 2026), n/a over one year; price-to-rent 33.6

• 0th pct · 1,357th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 0th pct · 15th of 15 Utah counties · median $1,741

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 $1,546 a month on $279,151 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $4,368 a month: 35.4% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $279,151 × 80% = $223,321, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $1,546/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,008 × 52 / 12 = $4,368) = 35% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $279,151 / ($1,008 × 52) = 5.3
• price-to-rent = $279,151 / ($693 × 12) = 33.6

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 #

8,458 jobs at 629 employers (2026 Q1); -3.5% jobs and +0.7% average weekly wage over the year

• 50th pct · 1,585th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 46th pct · 16th of 29 Utah counties · median 8,951

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 #

D2 severe 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 #

32 gauges · 0 flooding · 3 with quality panels averaging 67 % · 15 stale

Sites found: 32, 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 #

2 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 2, 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 (0.44)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.33 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$235.9 m in deposits at 4 offices of 4 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 3,091, highly concentrated. $184.4 m federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $132.3 m, contracts $36.4 m), $21,806 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 3,091 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 = 42.3² + 26.2² + 23.3² + … (1 more) = 3,091

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 $21,806 per covered job, against 8,458 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $184.4 m / 8,458 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $21,806

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 #

Carbon County, UT: 19 findings, 1 at an alert level, 5 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. alertCarbon County, UT's covered employment is -3.5% against a year earlier, an alert level here: covered employment at least 3 percent below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; 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 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -3.5 <= -3

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

2. watchCarbon County, UT's price-to-rent ratio of 33.6 ranks 7th 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 = 99.55784819454679 >= 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

3. watchCarbon County, UT's price-to-rent ratio is 33.6, 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 = 33.59219230924678 >= 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. watchCarbon County, UT's covered employment is -3.5% 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 = -3.5 < 0

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

5. watchCarbon County, UT's years of wages of 5.3 scores 70 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 7 across Utah counties, a gap of 63 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 63 = |70 across US counties - 7 across Utah counties|
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

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

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.