Labor Market Pulse · Finance · August 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL MSA — August 2026
Quad Cities finance pay splits: entry roles up, leadership down.
Scott County unemployment holds at a tight 3.0% even as metro Controller pay falls to $107,898 against a stable $112,500 national median, while Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst pay climb sharply against flat national rates.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of August 2026.
Key indicators
- Scott County unemployment: 3.0% — vs 4.1% national, 4.7% Illinois
- Controller advertised pay, metro: $107,898 — Down significantly vs stable $112,500 national
- Illinois financial activities jobs, YoY: -15,800 — Statewide loss despite 15,000 net job growth
- F&A leaders offering above-range pay: 69% — National figure, business-critical roles
Key takeaways
Controller and FP&A Manager pay are falling locally while national rates hold firm.
Metro Controller advertised pay dropped to $107,898 and FP&A Manager to $119,364, both significant declines against stable national medians of $112,500 and $127,341. That widening gap may reflect softer local demand for senior finance leadership roles rather than a true cost-of-labor shift, and warrants caution before assuming national comp trends apply locally.
Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst pay are rising against a national plateau.
Metro Senior Accountant pay climbed to $79,174 and Financial Analyst to $88,250 — both significant local increases while national medians stayed flat. This divergence is consistent with employers competing harder for mid-level technical talent locally even as senior-role demand appears to soften, suggesting budget pressure is concentrating in specific bands rather than across the finance function broadly.
Billing Specialist pay decline may not signal genuine market softening.
Metro Billing Specialist advertised pay fell sharply to $41,232 against a national figure of $49,700 that is itself rising moderately. Before treating this as a benchmark shift, consider whether local postings reflect a narrower mix of employers or job requirements this month rather than a durable repricing of the role.
Illinois' financial-activities job losses could ease pressure on Rock Island-side sourcing.
Illinois lost 15,800 financial services jobs over the past year and 1,700 in August alone, even as statewide unemployment fell. Displaced finance talent from larger Illinois markets may filter into the Quad Cities candidate pool, offering Rock Island-side employers a modest supply cushion Scott County employers currently lack.
Median advertised pay by role — Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $84,320 | $107,898 | $117,174 | Significant decline | $112,500 |
| Senior Accountant | $64,000 | $79,174 | $79,527 | Significant increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $67,710 | $88,250 | $101,240 | Significant increase | $82,905 |
| Billing Specialist | $35,557 | $41,232 | $43,680 | Significant decline | $49,700 |
| Tax Specialist | $39,048 | $63,256 | $65,620 | Stable | $66,725 |
| Credit Analyst * | $62,400 | $71,759 | $75,000 | Moderate increase | $72,000 |
| FP&A Manager | $102,637 | $119,364 | $136,259 | Significant decline | $127,341 |
* 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
Scott County's unemployment rate sits at a tight 3.0% and Rock Island County has improved to 3.7%, well below the national 4.1% and Illinois' 4.7% rates, even as statewide financial activities employment continues to contract — Illinois shed 1,700 finance jobs in August and 15,800 over the past year. Metro Finance and accounting hiring is unfolding against this bifurcated backdrop: Iowa-side tightness constrains candidate supply while Illinois-side sector softness signals uneven demand across the bi-state labor pool Davenport employers draw from.
What it means
Divergent Iowa/Illinois labor conditions mean headcount cost planning can no longer treat the metro as a single labor market — Scott County's 3.0% unemployment implies genuine recruiting friction for Finance roles, while Illinois' financial-activities job losses may be loosening supply just across the river. Controllers and FP&A leaders building FY2027 headcount budgets should also account for national F&A hiring dynamics, where 69% of hiring managers report offering above-range salaries and 82% pay premiums for AI-adjacent skills, both of which raise the effective cost of filling technical accounting seats even in a smaller metro. Consider reviewing county-level sourcing strategy separately for Scott and Rock Island rather than treating the MSA as homogeneous when budgeting for open Finance requisitions.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Illinois WARN notices are up 17% year over year statewide; watch whether any filings touch Rock Island County or nearby Illinois finance employers, which would test whether displaced talent reaches the Quad Cities labor pool.
Emerging pressure point: National F&A leaders report 61% find skilled hiring harder than a year ago, with AI-skills premiums reaching up to 56%. Expect this pressure to reach Davenport-area postings for FP&A and technical accounting roles as employers compete beyond the immediate metro.
Potential inflection point: August 2026 BLS metro-level unemployment and payroll data for Davenport-Moline-Rock Island has not yet been published; the next release should clarify whether county-level tightness (Scott County at 3.0%) is translating into MSA-wide wage acceleration.
Early indicator: Controller and FP&A Manager advertised pay have moved down significantly locally while national rates hold steady — track whether this reflects fewer senior finance openings in the metro or a genuine repricing, since it changes how leaders should benchmark incoming offers.
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.