Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Columbia, MO MSA — October 2026
Columbia's wages outpace a cooling Missouri labor market.
Boone County's 4.5% first-quarter wage gain and 3.7% unemployment rate stand apart from Missouri's September loss of 10,600 jobs statewide.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Boone County unemployment: 3.7% — vs 4.1% national, 3.6% Missouri (Aug/Sep 2026)
- Boone County wage growth, Q1 2026: 4.5% — Largest gain among major Missouri counties
- Missouri nonfarm payrolls, September: -10,600 — Yet +28,400 year-over-year through Sept 2026
- Missouri labor force participation: 64.0% — vs 62.4% national rate
Key takeaways
Columbia's wage gains are outrunning the statewide trend.
Boone County's 4.5% first-quarter wage increase topped every major Missouri county even as the state shed 10,600 jobs in September. That gap may signal the metro economy is absorbing less of the statewide pullback than peer markets like Kansas City, which lost 4,200 jobs the same month.
Unemployment near 3.7% signals a historically tight local market.
Boone County's rate sits well under the 4.1% national figure and tracks closely with Missouri's 3.6% statewide reading, continuing an 11-year streak of the state running below the national rate. Tight local labor supply typically means slower-than-usual fill times for growing employers and sustained upward pressure on advertised pay in skilled trades and healthcare.
Skilled-trade pay is climbing faster than most white-collar roles locally.
Electrician ($78,558) and HVAC technician ($81,120) advertised pay both moved up significantly in Columbia, outpacing national medians for the same roles. That divergence points to tight capacity in construction-adjacent trades just as regional building and infrastructure activity continues, a signal worth tracking for any capital project timeline.
State-level softness in professional services has not yet reached Columbia.
Missouri's September contraction was concentrated in professional/business services (-5,200) and private education/health (-4,200), sectors with real presence in Columbia's economy through university-adjacent and office-based employers. Commerce leaders should watch whether that statewide softness shows up in Columbia's own job ads data over the next quarter, keeping in mind that job ads signal hiring demand and one ad often covers several openings, and should treat current local insulation as a condition to monitor rather than a guarantee.
Median advertised pay by role — Columbia, MO MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $25,677 | $31,200 | $34,195 | Moderate decline | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $26,817 | $31,862 | $32,240 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $30,890 | $36,801 | $40,560 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $60,862 | $78,000 | $85,800 | Stable | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $30,995 | $35,360 | $43,680 | Stable | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $33,950 | $41,600 | $45,760 | Moderate decline | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $57,209 | $78,558 | $83,200 | Significant increase | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $32,864 | $38,480 | $40,092 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $26,025 | $37,477 | $39,065 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $28,002 | $32,760 | $33,500 | Significant decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $34,069 | $39,520 | $42,900 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $33,765 | $38,800 | $45,240 | Significant decline | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $69,946 | $81,120 | $81,120 | Significant increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $87,163 | $108,499 | $117,228 | Moderate increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $97,079 | $121,367 | $143,829 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $103,888 | $127,330 | $133,388 | Significant increase | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $55,000 | $62,500 | $73,906 | Moderate increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $65,000 | $74,601 | $90,470 | Significant increase | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $54,555 | $62,916 | $70,032 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $48,845 | $62,500 | $69,316 | Stable | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $66,901 | $80,684 | $87,686 | Significant increase | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $35,360 | $55,010 | $60,217 | Moderate increase | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $61,413 | $84,410 | $94,980 | Moderate increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $70,000 | $81,594 | $103,119 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $70,860 | $84,729 | $101,827 | Moderate decline | $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 | $65,520 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $70,231 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $40,560 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $47,840 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $71,688 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $49,798 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $54,080 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $69,580 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $33,280 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $61,700 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Boone County's unemployment rate held near 3.7% in August, well below the national 4.1% rate, while Columbia's wage gains averaged weekly pay of $1,237 and a first-quarter increase of 4.5% — the largest among major Missouri counties. Statewide, September brought a 10,600-job decline driven by professional/business services and private education/health losses, a signal that Columbia's local resilience is occurring against a cooling state backdrop.
What it means
Columbia's wage growth outpacing the statewide trend suggests the metro's labor market has not yet absorbed the softening visible in Missouri's September job losses, giving commerce leaders a window where local demand and worker availability remain comparatively favorable. Divergence between Columbia's tight labor market and the state's broader contraction in professional and business services warrants attention, since sectors cooling in Kansas City or St. Louis could eventually filter into regional supply chains and client relationships tied to Columbia employers. Current conditions suggest monitoring whether state-level softness in professional services reaches Columbia's own business-services base before treating local wage momentum as a lasting trend.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Missouri's September job loss (-10,600) followed months of gains; watch whether October state data shows this as a one-month dip or the start of a trend that eventually touches Columbia's professional-services base.
Worth watching: Kansas City lost 4,200 jobs in September while St. Louis gained 3,400 — a regional divergence that suggests statewide averages may mask meaningful metro-level differences. Columbia's own October figures, when available, will clarify which direction the metro is tracking.
Early indicator: Advertised pay for administrative and office-clerk roles in Columbia fell significantly this month even as the national median rose, a gap that may point to softening demand in office-support functions ahead of broader sector data.
Emerging pressure point: Federal employment nationally sits near 1966 lows and Missouri federal government employment declined 4,100 in September; any further federal workforce contraction carries added weight in a metro with substantial public-sector and university-affiliated employment.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (via KTLO) — Boone County unemployment rate at 3.7% in August 2026
- BLS County Employment and Wages Report — Boone County Q1 2026 wage gain of 4.5%, weekly wages of $1,237
- Missouri Department of Economic Development / BLS — Missouri lost 10,600 jobs in September 2026
- BLS state and metro employment data — Kansas City lost 4,200 jobs while St. Louis gained 3,400 in September
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Missouri labor force participation rate at 64% vs 62.4% national
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Federal government employment near 1966 lows nationally
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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