Labor Market Pulse · Finance · August 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Binghamton, NY MSA — August 2026
Binghamton finance pay splits from national trend as private jobs shrink.
Metro Tax Specialist pay sits at $45,390 versus a national median of $66,725, while private-sector payrolls slipped 600 jobs even as total metro employment held flat at 99,300.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of August 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.4% — Unchanged from July and August 2025
- Metro private payroll change: -600 jobs — YoY, while total payrolls flat at 99,300
- Tax Specialist pay gap: $45,390 vs $66,725 — Metro vs national median, national up significantly
- NY financial activities employment: 0% growth — Statewide in 2025 despite wage growth elsewhere
Key takeaways
Local finance pay is falling while national pay climbs.
Tax Specialist advertised pay in the metro sits at $45,390 against a national median of $66,725 — a 32% gap that did not exist a year ago given the national figure is up significantly. Budgeting to national survey data for this role risks systematically underpricing offers relative to what candidates can find elsewhere.
FP&A Manager pay is the outlier moving with the market.
Metro FP&A Manager pay rose moderately to $126,936, nearly matching the national median of $127,341 — a signal that strategic finance roles remain competitively priced even as transactional roles lag. This bifurcation suggests employers are protecting budget for planning and analysis talent while cutting posted pay elsewhere.
Flat payrolls mask a private-sector pullback.
Metro payroll jobs held at 99,300 year-over-year, but private employers cut 600 positions, meaning public-sector and government gains are offsetting private contraction. Finance leaders in privately held or publicly traded local employers should not read metro-wide stability as evidence their own hiring environment is loosening.
Credit Analyst and Billing Specialist roles show the steepest local softening.
Both roles posted significant declines locally while national medians moved up moderately, a divergence that may reflect reduced local demand for transactional finance support as private employers trim headcount. Worth revisiting job architecture for these roles before assuming current advertised levels reflect market equilibrium.
Median advertised pay by role — Binghamton, NY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $90,049 | $94,944 | $97,000 | Moderate decline | $112,500 |
| Senior Accountant * | $78,979 | $87,704 | $90,072 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $70,372 | $77,233 | $95,567 | Significant decline | $82,905 |
| Billing Specialist | $41,652 | $47,840 | $50,000 | Significant decline | $49,700 |
| Tax Specialist | $33,748 | $45,390 | $62,902 | Moderate decline | $66,725 |
| Credit Analyst * | $62,606 | $76,375 | $89,228 | Significant decline | $72,000 |
| FP&A Manager * | $102,500 | $126,936 | $135,742 | Moderate increase | $127,341 |
* 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
Binghamton metro unemployment held steady at 4.4% in August, with payroll jobs flat year-over-year at 99,300 even as private employers shed 600 positions — a labor market that is stable in aggregate but structurally soft beneath the surface. Advertised pay for finance and accounting roles across the metro is moving in the opposite direction from national trends, with Financial Analyst, Credit Analyst, Tax Specialist and Billing Specialist postings all down significantly, suggesting employers are pulling back on posted pay even as national F&A hiring managers report intensifying competition for talent.
What it means
Flat payroll counts alongside declining local advertised pay for several finance roles points to employers holding headcount steady while compressing budgeted starting offers, a pattern inconsistent with the national narrative of 74% of F&A leaders planning permanent headcount increases. Controllers and FP&A leaders in this metro may be operating with more pricing power on non-manager roles than national compensation surveys would suggest, but the divergence also raises retention risk if candidates benchmark against national postings showing Tax Specialist pay up sharply and Credit Analyst pay up moderately elsewhere. Consider reviewing offer ranges for mid-level finance roles against current local advertised data rather than national medians, since the metro-national gap has widened meaningfully this cycle.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Private-sector payrolls fell 600 even as total metro employment held flat; a continuation into September would confirm the private pullback is trend, not noise, and warrants a closer look at sector-level WARN filings in Broome and Tioga counties.
Emerging pressure point: New York's financial activities sector posted zero employment growth in 2025 statewide, and Basel III-driven structural cost reduction at larger banks could push displaced talent into upstate labor pools, potentially easing recruiting difficulty for specialized roles.
Potential inflection point: National F&A leaders report 82% paying premiums for AI skills; watch whether Binghamton-area postings for FP&A and analyst roles begin reflecting AI-skill premiums, which would signal the local market catching up to national compensation structuring.
Early indicator: New York's minimum wage rises to $16/hour outside NYC-metro counties on January 1; budget cycles for Q1 2027 should account for compression effects on entry-level finance support roles like Billing Specialist, already under pay pressure locally.
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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