Labor Market Pulse · Life Sciences · October 2026
Life Sciences Labor Market Report: Green Bay, WI MSA — October 2026
Green Bay regulatory and data pay climb as lab pay slides.
Metro Regulatory Affairs pay hit $108,813 against a declining $103,780 national median, while local Lab Technician pay fell to $36,584, well under the $47,840 national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Brown County unemployment: 3.4% — Up from 2.7% in Dec. 2025; still below 4.1% U.S. rate
- Wisconsin biohealth wage premium: 76% — Above statewide all-industry average wage
- Biopharma active recruiting rate: 64% — National share of biopharma orgs hiring in 2026
- National quit rate: 1.9% — Low attrition limits candidate availability nationally
Key takeaways
Regulatory Affairs pay is climbing against the national grain.
Metro advertised pay for Regulatory Affairs Specialist rose to $108,813 even as the national median fell to $103,780, a divergence that may reflect Green Bay employers competing locally for a credential pool too thin to benefit from national softening. Compensation strategy should treat this as a local tightness signal.
Clinical Data Manager pay outpaces the national benchmark by nearly $19,000.
Metro median of $142,249 against a national $123,653 suggests Green Bay employers are paying a premium to secure data management talent locally, building internal capacity instead of leaning on remote or outsourced support. Worth testing whether this premium reflects local scarcity or a thin local sample size before resetting pay bands.
Lab Technician pay is falling while national pay holds steady.
Metro median dropped to $36,584, well below the $47,840 national figure, pointing to softer entry-level lab demand locally even as upstream scientific and regulatory roles tighten. This bifurcation complicates pipeline planning — entry-level hiring may be easier even as mid-career specialist roles stay hard to fill.
Biostatistician pay is sliding sharply against a stable national market.
Metro median fell to $91,787 against a flat $131,958 nationally, a wide and widening gap that may reflect limited local demand depth. Leaders relying on this role for clinical trial support should benchmark against regional or national data alongside local postings.
Median advertised pay by role — Green Bay, WI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Scientist * | $89,753 | $117,107 | $119,062 | Significant increase | $130,339 |
| Clinical Research Associate * | $55,000 | $88,590 | $119,192 | Significant increase | $90,065 |
| Lab Technician | $33,908 | $36,584 | $40,632 | Moderate decline | $47,840 |
| Regulatory Affairs Specialist * | $86,107 | $108,813 | $108,814 | Moderate increase | $103,780 |
| Clinical Data Manager * | $99,430 | $142,249 | $154,539 | Significant increase | $123,653 |
| Biostatistician * | $77,671 | $91,787 | $124,765 | Significant decline | $131,958 |
| Validation Engineer * | $91,500 | $109,517 | $130,000 | Significant increase | $106,478 |
* 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
Green Bay's labor market remains structurally tight, with Brown County unemployment at 3.4% in August 2026, still running below the national 4.1% rate even as it has drifted up from 2.7% in December 2025. A modest civilian labor force of roughly 178,800 continues to constrain specialist supply across the metro, while statewide biohealth employment growth of 12.9% since 2021 signals the sector is expanding faster than Wisconsin's broader job base is able to staff it.
What it means
Tight local labor supply combined with national biopharma hiring momentum — 64% of biopharma organizations actively recruiting against a 1.9% national quit rate — means Green Bay employers competing for regulatory, clinical, and quality talent face both scarce external candidates and low attrition-driven internal mobility. Wisconsin's $116,452 average biohealth wage, 76% above the statewide all-industry average, helps retention but competes against national biomanufacturing investment pulling credentialed talent toward larger hubs. Consider reviewing retention premiums for regulatory affairs and clinical data roles now, before build-vs-outsource tradeoffs with CROs become the default response to unfilled requisitions.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Brown County unemployment has risen from 2.7% in December 2025 to 3.4% in August 2026. Watch whether this continues loosening the local labor pool for support roles like lab technicians while specialist roles remain tight.
Potential inflection point: Catalent's $45 million Madison biologics expansion signals growing in-state CDMO capacity. Green Bay employers weighing build-vs-outsource decisions should track whether this draws regional manufacturing and quality talent away from smaller metros.
Worth watching: Wisconsin's biohealth wage premium of 76% over the statewide average has supported retention, but statewide real wage growth fell 5.1% year-over-year, the steepest drop among states. Monitor whether inflation erodes the effective value of that premium over the next two quarters.
Emerging pressure point: National CRA and lab/R&D vacancy rates remain elevated (23.2% across top U.S. life sciences markets), with experienced professionals the bottleneck. Green Bay employers should watch whether national scarcity pushes more clinical operations work toward CRO partners regardless of local pay positioning.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics / Wisconsin DWD — Brown County unemployment at 3.4% in August 2026
- Biopharma industry hiring survey — 64% of biopharma orgs actively recruiting; 1.9% national quit rate
- Wisconsin biohealth industry report — Wisconsin biohealth average wage of $116,452, 76% above state average
- Life sciences real estate/labor market tracker — Lab/R&D vacancy reached 23.2% across top 13 U.S. life sciences markets
- Catalent corporate announcement — Catalent $45 million Madison biologics manufacturing expansion
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Wisconsin real wage growth fell 5.1% year-over-year, steepest among states
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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