Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Billings, MT MSA — October 2026
Billings finance talent stays scarce as Montana jobs shrink.
Yellowstone County unemployment holds at 3.1% even as Montana loses 5,300 jobs statewide, while Billings Controller pay climbs to a $107,500 median amid an 18.3% national CFO turnover rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Yellowstone County unemployment: 3.1% — vs 4.2% national rate (Aug/Sept 2026)
- Montana annual job change: -5,300 jobs (-1%) — First annual decline since 2020
- National CFO turnover rate: 18.3% — Highest since pandemic (Crist|Kolder, 2026)
- Billings metro weekly wage growth: 3.3% YoY — To $1,355 in Q4 2025, below $1,569 national avg
Key takeaways
Billings finance hiring is tight despite statewide job losses.
Montana shed 5,300 jobs over the past year, yet Yellowstone County unemployment held at 3.1% and local Finance and Insurance employment grew to 22,178 statewide. Candidate scarcity is shaping availability for finance roles.
Controller pay is moving for a reason worth tracking.
Metro Controller advertised pay rose to a $107,500 median, a significant increase, while national CFO turnover hits 18.3% — the highest since the pandemic. Succession planning gaps at the top are pushing employers to pay up for proven controllers to avoid risking an external CFO search later.
Billing Specialist and Credit Analyst pay are outrunning national trends.
Both roles show significant upward movement locally ($66,000 and $66,472 medians) against flat-to-stable national figures. Transactional finance roles tied to revenue cycle and collections appear to be absorbing wage pressure that broader analyst roles have not.
Contract staffing is quietly reshaping headcount cost models.
70% of finance leaders nationally report increasing contract talent use in H2 2026, a shift with direct audit-readiness implications given documentation and control gaps contract arrangements can introduce. Billings employers competing for a thin local talent pool may lean on contractors for close-cycle coverage, making control testing in Q4 close a point worth flagging early.
Median advertised pay by role — Billings, MT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $90,000 | $107,500 | $109,716 | Significant increase | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant | $75,543 | $83,000 | $99,875 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $74,914 | $80,580 | $82,988 | Stable | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $40,201 | $66,000 | $96,276 | Significant increase | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $38,009 | $62,627 | $62,627 | Significant increase | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst | $55,181 | $66,472 | $75,332 | Significant increase | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager * | $101,164 | $129,454 | $139,846 | Moderate increase | $130,000 |
* 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
Yellowstone County's 3.1% unemployment rate sits well below the national 4.2%, but Montana's statewide loss of 5,300 jobs over the past 12 months — the first annual decline since 2020 — signals a labor market that is tight on supply yet soft on hiring velocity, a dynamic BBER economists describe as a "no-hire, no-fire economy." Finance and Insurance employment grew modestly to 22,178 jobs statewide even as the sector shed positions at the national level in September, suggesting Billings-area finance functions are better insulated from the white-collar contraction hitting coastal and corporate hubs.
What it means
Flat statewide job growth alongside sub-4% unemployment means Billings Finance leaders face limited bench depth for replacement hiring even as overall headcount demand cools — budget cycles should assume longer time-to-fill for Controller and FP&A-level vacancies regardless of softening national finance payrolls. National data showing 18.3% CFO turnover and 37.5% external hiring rates compounds this locally, since a thin Billings talent pool makes succession gaps costlier to close with outside hires than with internal promotion. Consider reviewing succession depth for senior finance roles now, before a departure forces a market search in a metro where Controller pay has already moved up to a $107,500 median.
Looking ahead
Expected data release: Montana's full October employment report publishes November 20 and will clarify whether the 1,300 September payroll losses concentrated in Finance and Insurance extend into Q4. Treat current Yellowstone figures as directional until then.
Emerging pressure point: CFO and senior finance turnover nationally sits at 18.3%, the highest since the pandemic, with external hiring filling more vacancies than internal promotion. A thin Billings candidate pool raises the cost and timeline risk of any unplanned senior finance departure during close or audit season.
Worth watching: Montana's minimum wage rises to $11.20 on January 1, 2027. Finance leaders should model the compounding effect on entry-level billing, AP/AR, and clerical finance support roles already showing significant local pay increases.
Potential inflection point: 70% of finance organizations nationally are expanding contract talent use for H2 2026. Watch whether this trend reaches Billings employers managing headcount costs amid a tight local labor pool, and what that means for audit documentation practices heading into year-end close.
Sources
- Bureau of Business and Economic Research — Montana lost 5,300 jobs over 12 months ending September 2026
- USA Facts / Bureau of Labor Statistics — Yellowstone County unemployment rate at 3.1% in August 2026
- Crist Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic
- Robert Half / AFP FP&A Forum — 70% of finance leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Average weekly wage in Yellowstone County rose 3.3% to $1,355 in Q4 2025
- Montana Department of Labor and Industry — Montana minimum wage rises to $11.20 effective January 1, 2027
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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