Labor Market Pulse · Finance · August 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA — August 2026
Killeen finance pay splits: analysts lose ground, credit gains sharply.
Financial Analyst pay in Killeen has fallen to $78,800 against a stable $82,905 nationally, even as local Credit Analyst pay jumped to $80,000 and metro unemployment climbed toward 4.9%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of August 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.9% — June 2026, vs 4.4% Texas, 4.1% national
- Financial Analyst pay gap: $78,800 vs $82,905 — Metro down significantly vs stable national
- Tax Specialist pay divergence: $48,635 vs $66,725 — Metro down significantly, national up significantly
- Fort Cavazos veteran retention: ~40% — Share of ~8,000 annual separations staying local
Key takeaways
Financial Analyst pay is falling locally while holding steady nationally.
Metro median has moved down significantly to $78,800 against a stable $82,905 national figure, a gap that suggests Killeen employers may be losing ground on a role increasingly filled remotely. Retention risk concentrates here, not in roles tied to physical presence.
FP&A Manager compensation is softening against a stable national market.
Metro median FP&A Manager pay has declined moderately to $121,841 while national pay holds at $127,341 stable. Widening gap on a role central to close and forecasting cycles warrants a closer look at whether local postings are keeping pace with what remote candidates can command elsewhere.
Credit Analyst demand is running hot against a soft local labor market.
Metro Credit Analyst pay is up significantly to $80,000, outpacing a moderate national increase to $72,000, even as metro unemployment climbs toward 4.9%. Localized demand for credit and risk expertise appears to be decoupling from broader labor market slack.
Tax Specialist pay gap between metro and national market is widening sharply.
Metro median has fallen significantly to $48,635 while national pay has risen significantly to $66,725 — a roughly $18,000 spread. Organizations recruiting tax talent locally may be competing against national remote offers without realizing the scale of the gap.
Median advertised pay by role — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $92,178 | $112,258 | $112,569 | Stable | $112,500 |
| Senior Accountant * | $78,408 | $87,976 | $92,500 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $68,670 | $78,800 | $82,302 | Significant decline | $82,905 |
| Billing Specialist * | $38,129 | $47,256 | $54,850 | Moderate increase | $49,700 |
| Tax Specialist | $29,839 | $48,635 | $52,922 | Significant decline | $66,725 |
| Credit Analyst | $63,775 | $80,000 | $90,000 | Significant increase | $72,000 |
| FP&A Manager * | $103,580 | $121,841 | $132,700 | Moderate 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
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood unemployment has drifted up to roughly 4.9% in mid-2026 from 4.4% a year earlier, tracking above both the Texas (4.4%) and national (4.1%) rates as Fort Cavazos separations continue to feed a local labor pool that only partially absorbs into civilian roles. Healthcare and defense-adjacent employers are pulling talent from the same military-connected pipeline, while statewide tightening — Dallas Fed contacts cite restrictive immigration policy as a hiring constraint — compounds recruiting difficulty for finance and administrative functions competing against better-resourced metros.
What it means
Metro Financial Analyst and FP&A Manager advertised pay have both moved down against stable-to-rising national figures, suggesting Killeen employers are either underpricing these roles relative to national competition for remote-capable talent or facing softer local demand than the national market — either way, headcount plans built on legacy local benchmarks risk understating flight risk. Rising local unemployment alongside wage divergence points to a bifurcated market: transactional and compliance-heavy roles face less pressure while analytical roles tied to national talent pools are exposed to out-of-market competition. Consider reviewing whether Financial Analyst and FP&A Manager offers are being benchmarked against local medians or national ones, given the growing gap on both roles.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Fort Cavazos separation flow continues at an estimated 8,000 soldiers annually, with about 40% remaining locally. Watch whether finance and accounting credentials among this pool are being actively recruited or are flowing into adjacent sectors like healthcare and logistics.
Emerging pressure point: Metro unemployment has risen for several consecutive readings even as Texas and national rates hold flatter, a divergence that could either loosen local candidate supply or reflect underlying weakness in Fort Hood-adjacent demand. Track whether August/September BLS metro data confirms the trend once released.
Potential inflection point: National F&A hiring managers report 69% offering pay above planned range and 82% paying premiums for AI-adjacent skills, pressure that has yet to clearly show up in Killeen's advertised pay data. Local Financial Analyst and FP&A Manager softness may not hold if national premium-chasing reaches this market.
Early indicator: Healthcare's reported 80% surge in AI-related openings signals a competing draw on analytically skilled talent that finance functions also recruit from. Monitor whether this cross-sector pull widens time-to-fill for analyst-level finance roles locally.
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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