Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Cheyenne, WY MSA — September 2026
Cheyenne finance pay climbs even as local job count shrinks.
Financial Analyst advertised pay jumped to a $106,206 metro median even as Laramie County shed 300 nonfarm jobs year-over-year and national financial activities employment fell by 129,000 since May 2025.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Laramie County unemployment: 2.6% — vs 3.0% Wyoming, 4.1% U.S. (July 2026)
- Laramie County nonfarm employment change: -300 jobs — First YoY decline since December 2022 (April 2026)
- National financial activities job losses: -129,000 — Since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers
- National average hourly earnings growth: 3.0% y/y — Below 3.2% expected, eases budget pressure
Key takeaways
Cheyenne's finance pay is rising faster than its labor supply is loosening.
Financial Analyst advertised pay is up significantly to a $106,206 metro median, well above the stable national figure, even as Laramie County unemployment sits near 2.6-2.7%. Tight supply paired with sharp local pay movement suggests budget assumptions built on national stability may understate Cheyenne-specific pressure.
National sector contraction hasn't reached Cheyenne's advertised pay yet.
Financial activities shed 129,000 jobs nationally since May 2025 and Wyoming's financial activities sector fell 4.8% in Q1 2026, yet Controller, Credit Analyst, and Tax Specialist pay all moved up locally. Headcount reductions elsewhere may be masking a tighter-than-expected local specialist market rather than easing it.
Senior Accountant pay diverges sharply from the national trend.
Metro median Senior Accountant pay rose significantly to $82,426 while the national figure held stable near $87,731 — a reversal of the usual metro discount to national pay. This may reflect genuine local scarcity in accounting talent as Wyoming's CPA shortage (Talent Shortage Index of 77%, up from a 2025 surplus) takes hold.
Countywide job softness complicates headcount planning, not eases it.
Laramie County's 300-job year-over-year decline in nonfarm employment is the first since 2022, but it has coincided with rising unemployment from 4.4% to 4.5% in the same comparison period — a signal of softening demand, not available slack. Finance leaders should treat this as a caution on volume hiring rather than a sign of easing wage pressure.
Median advertised pay by role — Cheyenne, WY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $85,676 | $117,660 | $123,000 | Moderate increase | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $59,558 | $82,426 | $86,875 | Significant increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $87,750 | $106,206 | $113,496 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $41,065 | $46,852 | $47,639 | Significant increase | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $47,073 | $61,268 | $62,437 | Significant increase | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $70,349 | $75,907 | $80,658 | Significant increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager | $105,831 | $127,260 | $139,154 | Moderate increase | $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
Cheyenne MSA unemployment has tightened to the 2.6–2.7% range through mid-2026, well below both state (3.0%) and national (4.1%) rates, even as Laramie County logged its first year-over-year nonfarm employment decline since December 2022 — a 300-job drop reported in April. Financial activities nationally shed jobs for a fifth straight month, and Wyoming's own financial activities sector contracted 4.8% in Q1 2026, suggesting Cheyenne's finance hiring is occurring against a backdrop of sector-level contraction even as advertised pay for finance roles locally continues to climb.
What it means
Tight local labor supply combined with national finance-sector headcount contraction creates a split signal: budget for upward pay pressure on skilled finance roles (Financial Analyst and Credit Analyst both posting significant local gains) while recognizing that broader financial-activities job losses may expand the available candidate pool for support-level roles. Headcount cost planning should account for F&A compensation nearly doubling year-over-year nationally alongside nearly half of organizations expecting direct labor rate increases above 4% — a dynamic likely to outpace Cheyenne's historically modest wage trajectory. Consider reviewing whether current FP&A and Controller pay bands reflect the metro's significant upward movement in Financial Analyst and Credit Analyst advertised rates before the next hiring cycle locks in stale benchmarks.
Looking ahead
Expected: Watch whether Wyoming's August flat unemployment (3.0%) and declining labor force participation (60.2%, 36th nationally) persist into Q4, which would tighten the specialist talent pool further for Controller and FP&A Manager searches.
Emerging pressure point: National financial activities job losses, concentrated in insurance carriers, have not yet shown up as a visible Cheyenne WARN signal given Wyoming's limited WARN disclosure requirements. Track whether displaced finance talent from larger regional employers begins surfacing in local applicant pools.
Potential inflection point: CPA and accountant shortage signals (2026 Talent Shortage Index of 77%) suggest Senior Accountant and Tax Specialist advertised pay may continue climbing through year-end budget cycles. Model pay band adjustments now rather than during Q1 2027 merit planning.
Worth watching: National average hourly earnings growth decelerated to 3.0% year-over-year in September, below the 3.2% expected — a potential signal that broad wage pressure is easing even as Cheyenne's finance-specific roles continue moving up. Divergence between broad and role-specific trends warrants monthly tracking.
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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