Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Binghamton, NY MSA — September 2026
Binghamton's economy splits: office pay climbs, care and factory pay slip.
Binghamton metro unemployment held at 4.4% in August as accountant and business-analyst pay rose significantly locally while CNA/home health aide pay fell significantly to $40,560, underscoring a two-speed local economy.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Binghamton metro unemployment: 4.4% — vs 4.1% US, 4.3% NY state, Aug 2026
- Employed residents vs payroll jobs: 103,800 vs 99,300 — Residents up 1,500; payrolls roughly flat
- CNA/home health aide advertised pay: $40,560 — Down significantly; near $41,106 national
- NY labor force participation: 61.3% — Down from 61.5% in July 2026
Key takeaways
Resident employment is rising faster than local payroll jobs.
Employed Broome/Tioga residents grew by 1,500 to 103,800 while metro payroll employment held near 99,300, a gap consistent with residents working outside the metro or in self-employment. That gap matters for how economic development officials read local job creation data going forward.
Health care and direct-care pay softness cuts against the sector's size.
CNA/home health aide advertised pay fell significantly even though health care and social assistance remains the metro's largest private sector at 16% of employment. A pay pullback in the region's biggest employment category is a meaningful signal for overall local economic health, not a niche development.
Professional-services pay strength stands apart from the broader metro trend.
Accountant, business analyst, and account manager advertised pay all rose significantly locally, outpacing several national benchmarks, even as manufacturing and administrative roles softened. That split is consistent with the national pattern of white-collar wage acceleration diverging from blue-collar and clerical softening.
Manufacturing wage softness bears watching given the sector's local weight.
Manufacturing production/assembler pay fell moderately to $35,253, well below the $39,520 national figure, even as manufacturing ranks among the metro's top three private industries alongside retail. Sustained underperformance versus national manufacturing pay could affect the metro's competitiveness for production investment.
Median advertised pay by role — Binghamton, NY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $30,581 | $33,800 | $35,578 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $32,902 | $34,320 | $35,360 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,280 | $37,440 | $39,520 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,240 | $83,798 | $98,800 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $32,240 | $35,778 | $41,907 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $35,311 | $41,600 | $41,600 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $60,482 | $70,566 | $70,782 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $33,452 | $35,253 | $38,480 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $35,942 | $40,880 | $41,652 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $31,828 | $34,580 | $36,920 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $36,763 | $40,560 | $45,240 | Significant decline | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,440 | $42,434 | $47,920 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $57,720 | $63,349 | $69,940 | Significant decline | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $91,193 | $105,820 | $117,511 | Stable | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $72,500 | $120,000 | $132,834 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $78,786 | $78,894 | $78,967 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $61,806 | $77,047 | $81,605 | Significant increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,269 | $82,725 | $94,597 | Significant decline | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $55,972 | $58,646 | $60,061 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $45,760 | $59,470 | $70,614 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $85,960 | $100,600 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $34,320 | $44,530 | $56,000 | Moderate increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $70,958 | $88,196 | $93,539 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $47,232 | $62,774 | $75,021 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $86,607 | $93,486 | $122,805 | Significant increase | $98,279 |
* 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
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $48,253 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $107,420 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $37,336 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $43,680 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $49,920 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $48,339 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $49,920 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $57,719 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $34,387 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $68,931 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Binghamton metro unemployment held steady at 4.4% in August, modestly above the national 4.1% and New York's 4.3%, as employed residents rose by 1,500 to 103,800 even while payroll job counts stayed flat near 99,300. Wage data show a bifurcated local economy: accountants, business analysts, and account managers posted significant advertised pay gains while manufacturing, CNA/home health aide, and HVAC technician pay fell significantly, suggesting cooling demand in production and direct-care work even as professional services tighten.
What it means
Divergence between rising employed-resident counts and flat payroll jobs is consistent with workers commuting out of the metro or shifting into self-employment, a signal economic development officials should track when assessing whether local job creation is keeping pace with labor supply. Significant pay softening in CNA/home health aide and manufacturing production work, set against the region's 16% health-care employment share, may point to softening demand or margin pressure in sectors the metro depends on most heavily for its employment base. Current conditions suggest commerce leaders evaluate business investment and expansion timing sector-by-sector rather than metro-wide, since professional/technical pay strength and direct-care/production softness point to a two-speed local economy.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Binghamton University and SUNY-area institutions remain a major regional employment anchor; watch whether the February WARN notice affecting 471 Sodexo dining-services workers at Binghamton University produces any ripple effects in regional food-service and facilities employment through year-end.
Emerging pressure point: Health care and direct-care pay fell significantly even as the sector carries the largest local employment share. Track whether Guthrie, UHS, or other regional health systems show hiring or wage shifts that would confirm or offset this month's pay softening.
Potential inflection point: Statewide labor force participation slipped from 61.5% to 61.3% in July, and NYC's unemployment improvement was driven by fewer job-seekers rather than more hiring. Watch whether Broome/Tioga participation follows the same pattern, which would mean a steady local unemployment rate is masking a shrinking labor pool rather than genuine strength.
Early indicator: National wage growth has slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, eroding real purchasing power. Local professional-services pay gains may be cushioning Binghamton consumers better than the national pattern, but sectors with falling local pay (manufacturing, direct care, logistics) face a tighter real-wage squeeze worth monitoring in local retail and consumer activity.
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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