Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC MSA — September 2026
Augusta finance pay climbs locally while national hiring contracts.
Metro Financial Analyst pay rose to a median $96,391 against a flat national $94,782, even as national financial activities payrolls shed 129,000 jobs since May 2025.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment (Augusta MSA): 4.0% — vs 3.2% Georgia, 4.1% national (July 2026)
- National financial activities job losses: -129,000 — Since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers
- Georgia finance/statistics vacancy growth: +4.9% YoY — As of June 2026, signals tight finance hiring
- National average hourly earnings growth: 3.0% YoY — September 2026, below 3.2% consensus forecast
Key takeaways
Local Financial Analyst pay is outrunning the national trend.
Metro median advertised pay for Financial Analyst sits at $96,391, up significantly, versus a stable $94,782 nationally. Augusta employers appear to be bidding more aggressively for analytical talent than national conditions alone would predict, a signal worth weighing before anchoring offers to national data.
Tax Specialist pay divergence looks like a data flag, not a trend.
Metro median pay fell sharply to $39,712 while the national figure jumped to $65,842 — a gap too wide to reflect genuine market softening alone. Before budgeting this role at current metro levels, confirm whether thin local posting volume or job-mix shifts are distorting the figure.
National F&A sector job losses mask local hiring intent.
Financial activities have shed 129,000 jobs nationally since May 2025, yet national surveys show 74% of finance and accounting leaders planning to grow permanent headcount in the second half of 2026. Augusta Finance teams should expect continued competition for scarce accounting talent even as sector-wide payroll counts contract.
Georgia's sub-4% unemployment keeps finance hiring timelines tight.
State unemployment at 3.2% versus 4.1% nationally, alongside a 4.9% year-over-year rise in Georgia finance and statistics vacancies, points to sustained difficulty filling mid-to-senior finance roles. Close-cycle and audit-readiness staffing plans may need longer lead times than national averages would suggest.
Median advertised pay by role — Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $97,027 | $97,028 | $97,028 | Moderate decline | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $76,673 | $84,823 | $90,000 | Significant increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $90,000 | $96,391 | $100,628 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $35,539 | $48,800 | $50,000 | Significant increase | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $29,644 | $39,712 | $43,016 | Significant decline | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $54,020 | $70,632 | $77,388 | Moderate increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager * | $101,279 | $116,719 | $130,000 | Moderate decline | $128,139 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Local market conditions
Augusta-Richmond County's labor market held near 4.0% unemployment in July against a statewide Georgia rate of 3.2%, a gap that reflects the metro's heavier exposure to federal government and manufacturing employment even as services-sector hiring drives state-level gains. National financial activities payrolls continue contracting — down 7,000 in September and 129,000 since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers — a headwind that tempers how aggressively local Finance functions can expect external candidate flow to loosen.
What it means
Metro-level pay for Financial Analyst and Senior Accountant roles is rising significantly even as national benchmarks for the same titles sit flat, suggesting Augusta employers are competing harder locally than national postings data would imply — a dynamic that complicates reliance on national surveys for budget-cycle planning. Tax Specialist pay has moved in the opposite direction, down significantly in the metro against a sharp national increase, a divergence worth confirming isn't a posting-mix artifact before it shapes a FY2027 compensation line. Consider reviewing role-level metro postings against national figures before finalizing headcount cost assumptions for the next budget cycle, rather than defaulting to national trend direction.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Official September BLS data for the Augusta-Richmond MSA won't post until November or December; the July 4.0% unemployment reading remains the operative baseline for near-term workforce planning.
Emerging pressure point: National financial activities payrolls are still contracting, led by insurance carriers. Watch whether any of that national softness shows up as increased candidate supply in Augusta's finance and accounting applicant pools over the next two months.
Early indicator: The sharp Metro Tax Specialist pay decline warrants a follow-up read next month to confirm whether it reflects a genuine local softening or a temporary dip in posting volume before it's used in any compensation planning.
Potential inflection point: National average hourly earnings growth decelerated to 3.0% year-over-year in September, below consensus. If that cooling persists, it may ease FY2027 salary budget pressure even as Georgia's tight labor supply keeps local finance hiring competitive.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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