Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Hinesville-Fort Stewart, GA MSA — October 2026
Hinesville finance pay splits from a historically tight Georgia market.
FP&A Manager pay fell to $118,411 locally while the national median climbed to $130,000, even as Georgia's unemployment rate held at a historic-tightness 3.3% statewide.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Liberty County unemployment: 4.1% — vs 3.3% Georgia, 4.1% national (June 2026)
- FP&A Manager advertised pay, metro: $118,411 — down moderately vs $130,000 national (up moderately)
- CFO turnover rate, national: 18.3% — highest since pandemic; 37.5% hired externally
- Georgia initial jobless claims: 15,874 — 50-year low, down 953 over the month
Key takeaways
FP&A Manager pay is falling locally while national rates climb.
Metro advertised pay for FP&A Manager is down moderately to $118,411 even as the national median rose moderately to $130,000, a widening $11,589 gap. Retaining a manager-level finance planner in this market now carries real flight risk toward remote or regional opportunities paying national rates.
Credit Analyst pay is softening against a stable national market.
Metro Credit Analyst pay dropped moderately to $67,800 while the national median held stable at $71,397. A declining local rate in a tight overall labor market may reflect reduced local demand, a point worth confirming before resetting offer ranges downward.
Local wage growth is lagging a state posting historic labor tightness.
Georgia's labor force and employment hit record highs for nine consecutive months and initial claims fell to a 50-year low, yet Liberty County's unemployment rate sits above the state average and local average hourly pay trails sharply. Finance leaders here are competing for talent in a slack-looking local market embedded within a historically tight state one.
CFO turnover risk compounds in thin single-threaded finance teams.
National CFO turnover is projected at 18.3% for 2026, the highest since the pandemic, with 37.5% of replacements hired externally. In a metro this size, losing a Controller or FP&A Manager likely means an extended, costlier external search, with internal backfill unlikely.
Median advertised pay by role — Hinesville-Fort Stewart, GA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller * | $97,028 | $115,889 | $123,613 | Stable | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant * | $74,650 | $83,847 | $87,464 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst * | $66,935 | $90,889 | $97,590 | Stable | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist * | $35,887 | $45,202 | $51,565 | Stable | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $29,062 | $40,464 | $43,590 | Moderate increase | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst * | $53,840 | $67,800 | $76,165 | Moderate decline | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager * | $107,481 | $118,411 | $130,606 | Moderate decline | $130,000 |
* 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
Military-anchored employment in the Hinesville-Fort Stewart MSA continues to hold the local labor market tight, with Liberty County's unemployment rate climbing to 4.1% in June before easing to around 3.8-4.0% in subsequent readings, running above Georgia's 3.3% state rate despite the state posting record labor force and employment levels for a ninth straight month. Average hourly pay in Liberty County sits at $17.44, well below the state's broader wage trajectory, signaling a metro where Finance and professional roles compete against a shallow local talent pool shaped heavily by base-adjacent retail, logistics, and government employment.
What it means
Thin local supply for Finance talent in a market this small means Controller and FP&A Manager searches likely extend beyond typical timelines, and the national CFO turnover rate of 18.3% combined with an elevated 37.5% external hire rate raises succession risk for any finance leader managing close cycles with a single-threaded team. Georgia's statewide finance-adjacent layoffs (SK Battery, Wellstar Health System, Home Depot USA) suggest some displaced finance talent may surface in regional candidate pools, but Hinesville's distance from Atlanta's hiring corridors limits how much of that overflow reaches local employers. Consider reviewing succession depth for Controller and FP&A Manager roles now, before a departure forces a reactive, premium-priced external search in a market where local advertised pay already lags national medians by $12,000-$15,000 for FP&A Manager specifically.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS MSA-level unemployment data for October will release in mid-November with a one-to-two month lag; watch whether Liberty County's rate continues trending toward 4% or reverts toward the 3.4-3.8% range seen earlier in 2026.
Emerging pressure point: Georgia recorded 74 WARN notices affecting 10,750 workers year-to-date, with professional and business services among the hardest-hit sectors statewide. Monitor whether any displaced finance or accounting talent from larger Georgia metros begins appearing in Hinesville-area applicant pools.
Worth watching: FP&A Manager and Credit Analyst advertised pay both moved downward locally this month against stable-to-rising national trends. A second consecutive month of decline would strengthen the case that local demand softened, confirming the trend beyond a one-month data anomaly.
Potential inflection point: National employment cost index growth slowed to 3.4% with inflation-adjusted compensation costs down 0.4%, suggesting 2027 budget cycles may face less wage pressure than 2026. Finance leaders planning headcount costs for next fiscal year should watch whether this moderation holds through Q4 national releases before finalizing merit budgets.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics / FRED — Liberty County unemployment rate and average hourly pay figures
- Georgia Department of Labor — Georgia record labor force and employment for ninth consecutive month
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic
- Georgia Department of Labor — Georgia WARN notices affecting 10,750 workers year-to-date 2026
- Georgia Department of Labor — Georgia initial jobless claims fell to 50-year low
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — National employment cost index rose 3.4%, inflation-adjusted compensation fell 0.4%
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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