Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Coeur d'Alene, ID MSA — September 2026
Coeur d'Alene's calm unemployment rate hides a cooling labor market.
Coeur d'Alene held at 3.7% unemployment in August even as nonfarm payrolls slipped 0.3% month-over-month and advertised pay for truck drivers and construction laborers fell sharply, pointing to an economy leveling off after two exceptional growth years.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.7% — August 2026, unchanged from July; matches Idaho statewide
- Metro nonfarm payrolls: -0.3% m/m — +0.3% year-over-year — growth has flattened
- Northern Idaho unemployment: 4.56% — vs 3.6% Idaho statewide, a persistent regional gap
- National payroll growth: 29,000 jobs — September, vs 45,000 12-month average; prior months revised down 60,000
Key takeaways
Unemployment steadiness is masking a quieter payroll contraction.
Coeur d'Alene's 3.7% August rate looks calm, but nonfarm employment actually fell 0.3% month-over-month, a sign the labor market may be flattening after two exceptional growth years rather than continuing to expand.
Goods-movement pay drops point to a freight and construction slowdown.
CDL truck driver advertised pay fell significantly (down to $70,834 from a national $78,000 median) and construction laborer pay dropped sharply, patterns consistent with softer regional building and shipping activity rather than a broad-based downturn.
Healthcare and services remain the metro's demand floor.
Registered nurses and home health aides continue to top local job-posting demand even as overall hiring cools, underscoring that population growth and aging demographics are sustaining one sector while goods-producing industries soften.
Idaho's wage-growth story doesn't fully reach Coeur d'Alene.
Idaho ranks third nationally for wage growth at 4.7%, yet several metro roles — delivery driver, manufacturing assembler, HR generalist, account manager — show falling advertised pay, suggesting the state's wage strength is unevenly distributed across North Idaho's sectors.
Median advertised pay by role — Coeur d'Alene, ID MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $31,371 | $35,651 | $37,908 | Moderate decline | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $30,246 | $34,155 | $35,360 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $33,671 | $40,560 | $43,485 | Moderate increase | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $58,861 | $70,834 | $83,200 | Significant decline | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $33,803 | $37,440 | $41,600 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $38,953 | $43,680 | $47,840 | Significant decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $68,333 | $90,896 | $93,600 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $35,360 | $39,520 | $46,025 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $35,477 | $39,992 | $41,600 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $31,797 | $35,984 | $36,400 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $38,596 | $44,720 | $46,800 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,671 | $42,615 | $45,760 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician * | $57,953 | $69,876 | $80,278 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $86,820 | $99,986 | $110,083 | Stable | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $65,609 | $125,347 | $132,704 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer * | $85,521 | $120,596 | $137,146 | Moderate decline | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $58,576 | $75,000 | $78,545 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst * | $75,000 | $93,103 | $95,577 | Stable | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $56,830 | $67,478 | $73,750 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $46,702 | $62,731 | $72,192 | Significant increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $51,797 | $77,612 | $77,612 | Significant increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $33,280 | $44,335 | $56,242 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $49,920 | $62,500 | $73,104 | Significant decline | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $70,000 | $70,000 | $70,000 | No data | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $78,459 | $81,739 | $81,872 | 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 | $56,170 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $65,119 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $36,972 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $45,372 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $72,500 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $51,951 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $48,617 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $72,800 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $37,440 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,157 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Coeur d'Alene's unemployment rate held at 3.7% in August, but that stability masks a labor force edging down year-over-year and nonfarm payrolls contracting 0.3% month-over-month even as they posted modest 0.3% annual growth — a metro cooling from a two-year hiring boom rather than entering distress. Healthcare, retail, and hospitality continue to anchor job postings, with registered nurses and retail roles in persistent demand even as truck driver and construction laborer advertised pay fall sharply, consistent with softer freight and building activity statewide.
What it means
Divergent signals — steady unemployment alongside falling nonfarm payrolls and declining advertised wages in transportation and construction — suggest a metro economy in a holding pattern rather than clear expansion or contraction, which matters for timing on capital projects, commercial space decisions, and public investment planning. Healthcare and services remain the structural backbone of local demand, while goods-movement and building trades show the clearest signs of a slowdown that could affect permitting activity and freight volumes. Current conditions suggest monitoring local building-permit and freight data alongside labor figures before drawing conclusions about the direction of the broader business climate.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Northern Idaho's unemployment rate (4.56% in August) runs well above the state's 3.6-3.7%, a gap that could widen if construction and transportation softness persists into the fall building season.
Early indicator: Truck-driver postings more than doubled year-over-year in Northern Idaho even as advertised pay fell, an unusual combination worth tracking as a sign of either employer caution on rates or a genuine oversupply of applicants.
Potential inflection point: National payroll growth slowed sharply to 29,000 in September with downward revisions to prior months; if that national cooling persists, Coeur d'Alene's already-flat August payrolls could tip toward outright contraction.
Expected: Public-sector hiring events (library job fairs featuring county government, school districts, and North Idaho College) suggest continued public-sector payroll stability locally, a contrast to the national government job losses reported for September.
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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