Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: College Station-Bryan, TX MSA — October 2026
College Station-Bryan's labor market outpaces the state on every measure.
Bryan-College Station's 3.5% unemployment rate and 6.0% local wage growth both beat Texas and national averages, even as statewide labor force growth has nearly stalled at 3,600 net new participants.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.5% — vs 4.4% Texas, 4.1% national (Sept. 2026)
- Brazos County wage growth: 6.0% YoY — vs 4.5% Texas, 4.1% national average
- Metro unemployment decline: -1,000 people — Since June 2026, per KBTX/TWC data
- Texas labor force growth: 3,600 net new (12 mo.) — Statewide stall vs. local labor force growth
Key takeaways
Local unemployment at 3.5% signals an economy running near full capacity.
Bryan-College Station's rate sits a full percentage point below the statewide 4.4% figure and below the national 4.1%, with nearly 1,000 fewer unemployed residents since June. Tight local labor supply is the more likely constraint on any employer or investor planning expansion in the metro.
Brazos County wage growth is outrunning both state and national averages.
A 6.0% year-over-year wage gain through Q3 2025 compares with 4.5% statewide and 4.1% nationally, placing the metro among the state's stronger wage-growth counties. That differential strengthens household purchasing power locally even as national data shows real wages broadly failing to keep pace with CPI.
University calendar swings make single-month hospitality data unreliable.
Leisure and hospitality employment appears down 3% year-over-year, but Texas A&M's academic calendar routinely produces month-to-month volatility that can mask or exaggerate underlying sector health. Commerce leaders should weigh multi-month trends over any single print when assessing retail and hospitality conditions.
Statewide labor force stagnation has not yet reached this metro.
Texas added just 3,600 net new labor force participants over the past year, a structural headwind tied partly to slower immigration-driven labor supply, yet Bryan-College Station's labor force grew from roughly 152,000 to nearly 160,000 between mid- and late-2025. That divergence suggests the metro's university and public-sector anchors are drawing or retaining workers at a pace the rest of the state is not matching.
Median advertised pay by role — College Station-Bryan, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $23,757 | $32,053 | $36,479 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $23,400 | $28,080 | $29,712 | Moderate increase | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,200 | $35,859 | $39,520 | Moderate decline | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $54,415 | $78,000 | $91,000 | Significant increase | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $28,760 | $32,838 | $38,622 | Moderate decline | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $29,569 | $33,280 | $33,280 | Moderate decline | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $55,526 | $66,466 | $73,389 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $30,178 | $34,473 | $37,710 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $34,829 | $38,925 | $42,384 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,345 | $29,120 | $32,760 | Moderate increase | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $29,120 | $33,975 | $42,695 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $28,621 | $38,526 | $43,988 | Stable | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $55,972 | $64,498 | $72,800 | Moderate increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $80,568 | $99,528 | $114,501 | Significant increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $119,600 | $154,030 | $171,670 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $99,189 | $145,237 | $159,248 | Stable | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $58,294 | $68,910 | $76,724 | Moderate increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $71,895 | $92,803 | $101,712 | Stable | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $49,124 | $79,943 | $85,527 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,363 | $56,414 | $69,126 | Stable | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $82,583 | $98,295 | Moderate decline | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $45,939 | $59,462 | $63,594 | Stable | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $62,500 | $95,430 | $117,500 | Moderate increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,368 | $70,873 | $85,260 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $83,031 | $98,305 | $111,373 | Moderate increase | $98,302 |
* 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 | $83,742 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $112,500 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $50,689 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $68,067 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $122,742 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $102,365 | Moderate decline | Significant decline |
| Professional & Business Services | $93,264 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $74,491 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $35,360 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,574 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Bryan-College Station's not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate held at 3.5% in September, among the lowest of any Texas metro, and local unemployment has fallen by roughly 1,000 people since June as the fall academic calendar at Texas A&M pulled workers back into payrolls. Brazos County wage growth of 6.0% year-over-year through Q3 2025 continues to outpace both the 4.5% Texas average and 4.1% national average, pointing to a labor market tightening faster than the state or national trend even as statewide labor force growth has nearly stalled.
What it means
Metro-level labor tightness alongside above-average wage growth signals a local economy operating near capacity, which has direct bearing on how commerce leaders assess the near-term climate for business expansion, storefront investment, or new facility siting in Brazos County. Public-sector and university-anchored employment stability continue to buffer the metro against the volatility seen in statewide manufacturing and white-collar sectors, suggesting the local economy's momentum is structurally durable. Current conditions suggest economic development officials and chambers may want to highlight labor force availability alongside wage trends when courting employers evaluating the metro against faster-growing but more volatile Texas peer markets.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Leisure and hospitality employment should be tracked across the full academic year, given how strongly Texas A&M's enrollment and session calendar moves local hospitality payrolls.
Potential inflection point: Statewide labor force growth has nearly stalled at 3,600 net new participants over the year; if that stagnation spreads to Brazos County, it would tighten local labor supply further and could constrain any employer or commercial project depending on workforce availability.
Early indicator: Texas's year-to-date job growth has slowed to 0.8%, below its 2% long-run average, with the Dallas Fed's October forecast downgrading 2026 growth to 0.9%. Whether College Station-Bryan continues outperforming that statewide deceleration will be a key signal of the metro's relative resilience.
Expected: Wage growth in Brazos County has been running well above state and national averages; watch whether Q4 2025/Q1 2026 data confirms this is sustained or was a temporary spike tied to seasonal university hiring.
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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