Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA — October 2026
Killeen finance pay splits sharply from a softening local labor market.
Metro Controller pay has fallen to $95,000 against a $115,420 national median even as Credit Analyst and Billing Specialist pay climb, while the metro's 5.4% July unemployment rate remains a full point above the national 4.1%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 5.4% — vs 4.4% Texas, 4.1% national (July 2026)
- Controller pay gap: $95,000 — vs $115,420 national median, down sharply
- CFO talent shortage: 85% — of CFOs report finance talent shortages (Oct. 2026)
- Texas WARN notices YTD: 17,285 workers — down 35% from 2025 through October
Key takeaways
Controller and Analyst pay are falling locally while national pay climbs.
Metro Controller advertised pay dropped to $95,000 against a national median of $115,420, and Financial Analyst pay fell to $79,464 versus $94,646 nationally. Widening gaps this large warrant checking whether the metro is losing senior finance postings to remote or regional hubs, since the local market may still be firm even as these gaps widen.
Credit Analyst and Senior Accountant demand is firming against a soft backdrop.
Both roles posted upward, significant-to-moderate local pay movement even as Controller and Analyst pay slid, suggesting employers are still competing for mid-level operational finance talent. This divergence may signal that transactional and credit-risk functions are harder to backfill locally than management-track roles.
Billing Specialist pay jumped sharply while still trailing the national rate by $10,000.
Metro Billing Specialist pay rose significantly to $38,891 but remains well below the $49,000 national median, pointing to continued room for upward pressure. Finance leaders relying on this role for revenue-cycle throughput should expect further catch-up movement.
A 5.4% metro jobless rate coexists with rising wages in key finance roles.
Higher unemployment than state and national averages has not translated into broad pay softening — several roles moved up even as the headline rate stayed elevated. Local labor slack appears concentrated outside finance occupations, meaning Finance leaders should look to role-specific pay data, not metro unemployment figures, to gauge compensation relief.
Median advertised pay by role — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $80,000 | $95,000 | $106,250 | Significant decline | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant | $74,173 | $85,288 | $92,657 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $71,449 | $79,464 | $84,554 | Significant decline | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $32,130 | $38,891 | $43,160 | Significant increase | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $30,297 | $62,832 | $76,903 | Stable | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst | $65,114 | $72,614 | $87,500 | Significant increase | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager * | $106,400 | $125,340 | $137,139 | Stable | $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
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood's 5.4% July unemployment rate sits well above both the Texas (4.4%) and national (4.1%) rates, reflecting a metro labor pool shaped heavily by military-connected households and a government-services base that shed jobs statewide in September. A thin local finance talent bench, combined with national CFO turnover running at 18.3% and 85% of CFOs reporting finance talent shortages, leaves metro Finance functions with less depth to absorb departures during close and audit cycles.
What it means
Metro Controller advertised pay has fallen to $95,000 against a national median of $115,420 — a gap wide enough to signal either underpricing against a thin local candidate pool or a shift in the roles employers are actually posting for. With 70% of finance and accounting leaders nationally expanding contract talent use, Killeen-area Finance leaders managing lean in-house teams face a direct tradeoff between fixed headcount cost and audit-readiness risk if contractors fill control-sensitive roles. Consider reviewing whether Controller and Financial Analyst pay levels reflect actual local demand or a posting mix skewed toward lower-complexity roles before using them to anchor 2027 budget assumptions.
Looking ahead
Data gap to monitor: BLS metro unemployment data for Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood lags by roughly three months, with October figures not expected until early 2027. Finance leaders building Q1 headcount plans should treat the July 5.4% figure as dated and watch FRED series KILL648UR for the next update.
Emerging pressure point: Texas's HB 149 AI governance law carries penalties up to $200,000 per violation and applies to any entity deploying AI in the state, including FP&A forecasting tools. Finance teams piloting AI-driven budget or workforce models should confirm compliance review is underway before year-end close cycles begin.
Worth watching: National CFO external hiring is running at 37.5%, up from 35% in 2025, against a metro Controller pay rate nearly $20,000 below the national median. A thin local candidate pool combined with below-market pay raises the risk of an unplanned Controller-level vacancy extending through a close or audit window.
Potential inflection point: Texas's Dallas Fed service-sector wage index hit 20.5 in October, its highest since January 2023, even as statewide job growth forecasts were downgraded to under 1% for 2026. Watch whether that wage pressure reaches Killeen's finance postings in November or stays concentrated in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood MSA unemployment rate was 5.4% in July 2026
- Texas Workforce Commission — Texas unemployment rate was 4.4% in September 2026
- Robert Half — 70% of finance and accounting leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since the pandemic
- Texas Legislature — Texas HB 149 AI governance law penalties up to $200,000 per violation
- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — Dallas Fed service sector wages/benefits index reached 20.5 in October
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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