Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Brunswick, GA MSA — October 2026
Brunswick Controller pay surges while analyst roles pull back.
Metro Controller advertised pay climbed to $100,743 even as Financial Analyst pay fell to $61,701 — far below the $94,646 national median — while Georgia's 3.3% unemployment keeps overall finance hiring tight.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Brunswick MSA unemployment: 2.8% — vs 4.1% national, 3.3% Georgia
- Brunswick avg weekly wage: $895.49 — up from $855.60 a year ago (Aug 2025)
- Controller advertised pay, metro: $100,743 — up significantly; national median $115,420
- Financial Analyst advertised pay, metro: $61,701 — down significantly vs $94,646 national
Key takeaways
Controller pay is pulling away from the rest of finance.
Metro Controller advertised pay rose significantly to $100,743, even as Financial Analyst, Tax Specialist, and Credit Analyst pay all declined. Current conditions suggest employers are prioritizing retention and recruitment at the oversight layer, where CFO-adjacent turnover nationally (18.3% projected for 2026) raises succession stakes.
Analyst-level softening may ease near-term hiring costs.
Financial Analyst pay fell significantly to $61,701 against a stable $94,646 national median — a wide and unusual gap. This may create an opportunity to backfill analyst seats below national cost expectations, though it could also signal reduced local demand for in-office analyst talent as remote and contract options expand.
Tax Specialist pay divergence warrants a closer look.
Metro Tax Specialist pay dropped significantly to $39,573 while the national median rose significantly to $69,556 — now less than half the national figure. A gap this wide is consistent with thin local demand or a shift toward outsourced tax work, separate from any shift in skill value.
Georgia's tight labor supply raises the cost of finance vacancies.
State unemployment sits at 3.3%, with Georgia's labor force hitting record highs for nine straight months and jobless claims at a 50-year low. Combined with 85% of CFOs nationally reporting finance talent shortages, vacancy duration for senior Brunswick finance roles may extend further than local unemployment data alone would suggest.
Median advertised pay by role — Brunswick, GA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $62,988 | $100,743 | $100,743 | Significant increase | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant * | $74,650 | $83,847 | $87,464 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $47,500 | $61,701 | $66,421 | Significant decline | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $31,580 | $40,768 | $45,345 | Moderate increase | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $30,342 | $39,573 | $49,264 | Significant decline | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst * | $53,840 | $67,800 | $76,165 | Moderate decline | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager * | $107,481 | $118,411 | $130,606 | Moderate decline | $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
Brunswick MSA unemployment held at a historically tight 2.8% in August, well below the national 4.1% rate, as average weekly wages rose to $895.49 — up from $855.60 a year earlier, consistent with a labor pool that remains thin relative to demand. Georgia's record statewide labor force and 50-year-low jobless claims appear to be reinforcing local hiring difficulty, even as finance-specific advertised pay in Brunswick moves in the opposite direction for several roles, a divergence that signals local finance hiring may be decoupling from broader metro wage tightness.
What it means
Metro-level wage tightness is translating unevenly into finance function pay: Controller advertised pay is up significantly to $100,743 while Financial Analyst ($61,701), Tax Specialist ($39,573), and Credit Analyst ($67,800) have all moved down, suggesting employers are concentrating scarce compensation dollars on senior oversight roles while softening demand or filling junior analyst seats more cheaply, possibly through contract or remote arrangements. This bifurcation matters for headcount cost planning during close and budget cycles — a Controller vacancy now carries materially higher replacement cost locally than a year ago, while analyst-level roles may be easier and cheaper to backfill than national benchmarks suggest. Consider reviewing whether current FP&A and analyst compensation bands reflect this local softening before assuming national wage pressure applies uniformly across the finance org chart.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Georgia logged 74 WARN notices and 10,750 affected workers in 2026 YTD statewide, with professional and business services among the hardest-hit sectors. Watch whether any Brunswick-area filings emerge in finance-adjacent services, which could loosen the local analyst and specialist talent pool.
Emerging pressure point: Controller advertised pay has climbed while FP&A Manager pay locally fell moderately to $118,411 against a rising $130,000 national median. Divergence between these two senior roles could widen further if national wage growth in finance leadership (driven by 37.5% external CFO hiring rates) continues outpacing local movement.
Expected: National employment cost index growth of 3.4% year-over-year, with real compensation costs down 0.4% after inflation, points to moderating wage pressure entering 2027 budget cycles. Brunswick finance leaders building headcount budgets should weigh this moderation against local Controller-tier pay still rising against trend.
Potential inflection point: 70% of finance and accounting leaders nationally are increasing contract talent use in H2 2026, a shift that could accelerate locally given the metro's depressed Financial Analyst and Credit Analyst advertised pay. Watch whether Brunswick employers convert more analyst and credit roles to contract structures ahead of year-end close.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics / Georgia Department of Labor — Brunswick MSA unemployment at 2.8% in August 2026, average weekly wage $895.49
- Georgia Department of Labor — Georgia labor force and jobless claims hit records/50-year low in September 2026
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, external hiring rate 37.5%
- MAVI — 85% of CFOs report finance talent shortages affecting operations
- Georgia Department of Labor WARN tracker — Georgia recorded 74 WARN notices affecting 10,750 workers in 2026 YTD
- Robert Half — 70% of finance/accounting leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026
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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