Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA — September 2026
Hagerstown holds steadier than Maryland's statewide slowdown
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's 4.0% June unemployment rate beats Maryland's 4.1% statewide figure, even as healthcare pay surges and professional-services pay softens in a pattern that tracks the state's broader contractor-driven divergence.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.0% — June 2026, vs 4.1% Maryland statewide
- Washington County unemployment: 4.8% — March 2026, above metro and state rates
- Maryland labor force participation: 63.7% — 10-year low, down from 63.8% in July
- Maryland average weekly wage growth: +4.2% — Year-over-year, Aug 2026, vs 3.4% national CPI
Key takeaways
Metro unemployment undercuts the statewide deterioration narrative.
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's 4.0% June rate sits below Maryland's 4.1% and below the metro's own March Washington County reading of 4.8%, suggesting local conditions may be more resilient than state headlines on job losses and contractor cuts imply. Commerce leaders should treat statewide softness as context, not a direct read on this metro.
Healthcare pay strength looks like the metro's clearest bright spot.
Registered nurse pay (up significantly to $111,634 locally) and CNA/home health aide pay (up significantly to $43,680) both outpace national medians, consistent with Maryland's statewide bright spots in leisure/hospitality and state/local government employment. Meritus Health's position as the metro's largest employer gives this sector outsized weight in local economic stability.
Professional and technical pay softness tracks the statewide contractor pullback.
Financial analyst pay (down significantly to $69,614) and software engineer pay (down significantly to $120,613) diverge sharply from stable-to-rising national medians, a pattern consistent with Maryland's broader loss of federal-contractor-linked professional services jobs. This may signal a local labor pool increasingly available for white-collar roles even as demand elsewhere stays firm.
Logistics sector pay is softening despite the region's distribution-hub identity.
Warehouse/fulfillment pay is down moderately and delivery driver pay down significantly locally, even as the metro's economic identity rests heavily on logistics employers like FedEx Ground, Dot Foods, and Staples Distribution. Commerce leaders tracking the health of this traditional growth sector should watch whether softening pay reflects slower volume or simply a stabilizing, less competitive hiring environment.
Median advertised pay by role — Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $26,568 | $32,734 | $35,360 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $28,289 | $33,280 | $33,280 | Moderate increase | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $34,889 | $38,563 | $41,600 | Moderate decline | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $62,192 | $83,590 | $92,690 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $29,555 | $33,195 | $36,227 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $33,161 | $38,480 | $43,680 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $60,697 | $67,665 | $72,800 | Significant decline | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $34,048 | $38,480 | $41,600 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,280 | $37,440 | $43,680 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,881 | $34,902 | $42,959 | Significant decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $35,360 | $43,680 | $46,268 | Significant increase | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $35,008 | $42,602 | $45,760 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $56,044 | $65,520 | $70,720 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $88,741 | $111,634 | $122,218 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $113,354 | $120,613 | $134,128 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer * | $107,488 | $145,000 | $160,000 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $50,000 | $67,951 | $73,914 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $62,400 | $69,614 | $82,944 | Significant decline | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $62,000 | $70,000 | $77,268 | Moderate increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $50,000 | $67,817 | $79,053 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $71,968 | $95,900 | $101,693 | Stable | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $42,500 | $56,602 | $60,036 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $62,500 | $89,247 | $105,000 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $50,960 | $51,397 | $67,000 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $91,303 | $101,777 | $110,973 | Stable | $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 | $53,190 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $64,009 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $35,360 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $53,062 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Information | $73,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $61,282 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $69,551 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $84,889 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $31,200 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $70,300 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's 4.0% June unemployment rate, the most recent MSA-level figure, continues to run below Maryland's 4.1% statewide rate even as Washington County posted a higher 4.8% reading in March, pointing to a widening gap between the metro's two states and counties that merit watching as newer data arrives. Local wage movement is mixed and sector-specific rather than broad-based: advertised pay for nursing assistants and registered nurses is up sharply while electricians, financial analysts, and software engineers have pulled back significantly, a pattern consistent with Maryland's statewide divergence between healthcare/hospitality gains and professional-services softness tied to federal contractor pullback.
What it means
Divergent sector performance locally mirrors the state's broader split: healthcare and public-sector-adjacent roles are strengthening even as professional and technical pay cools, which is consistent with Maryland's 11,500-job decline in professional/scientific/technical services since January 2025. For commerce leaders weighing expansion timing, the metro's sub-state unemployment rate and large regional employers (Meritus Health, Washington County Public Schools, FedEx Ground, Volvo Group) suggest more underlying stability than the statewide headline implies, though Maryland's falling labor force participation rate (63.7%, a 10-year low) warrants caution about assuming abundant available labor capacity. Current conditions suggest reviewing expansion or investment plans against the metro's specific sector mix rather than extrapolating from statewide softness alone.
Looking ahead
Data gap to watch: September MSA-level unemployment won't publish until mid-October, and Washington County unemployment data lags to March; commerce leaders making near-term decisions should treat current metro figures as directionally useful but dated.
Emerging pressure point: Maryland's labor force participation rate fell to a 10-year low of 63.7% in August; if this trend extends to Washington and Berkeley counties, it could tighten effective labor supply even where unemployment appears moderate.
Worth watching: Statewide WARN filings dropped 48% year-over-year in affected workers, but recent notices (PepsiCo's Hyattsville facility, Amentum's Prince George's County cuts) show federal- and contractor-linked sectors remain exposed; any similar filing touching Washington or Berkeley counties would be a meaningful local signal.
Potential inflection point: National wage growth has slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the weakest pace since May 2021; if local wage trends in logistics and professional services follow this national erosion, it would pressure household purchasing power across the metro's retail and consumer-facing business base.
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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