Labor Market Pulse · Life Sciences · October 2026
Life Sciences Labor Market Report: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA — October 2026
Killeen biostatisticians now out-earn the national market.
Metro biostatistician pay hit $139,166 against a $131,958 national median, even as metro unemployment held at 5.4%, a full point above the national 4.1% rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 5.4% — vs 4.1% national, 4.4% Texas (July 2026, latest available)
- Biostatistician advertised pay, metro: $139,166 — Above $131,958 national median
- Regulatory affairs pay, national: $103,780 — Down moderate YoY despite hard-to-fill status
- Texas biopharma job postings growth: +53% YoY — Jan-Aug 2026, outpacing hiring capacity statewide
Key takeaways
Biostatistician pay in Killeen now outpaces the national rate.
Metro median advertised pay of $139,166 sits above the $131,958 national figure, a reversal from the typical pattern where smaller metros trail national pay. This may signal a thin local supply of credentialed biostatisticians forcing employers to bid above national norms to fill roles.
Regulatory affairs pay is softening locally and nationally together.
Metro median fell to $95,473 and national median declined to $103,780, a rare dual-market downturn for a role flagged nationally as among the hardest to fill. Softening pay alongside persistent vacancy reports is consistent with employers recalibrating job leveling or shifting regulatory work toward outsourced partners rather than easing demand.
CRA pay gap between Killeen and the national market is widening.
Metro median of $78,893 trails the national $90,065 by roughly 12%, even as CRAs remain the national bottleneck role for clinical operations. Texas-based sponsors weighing site or CRO placement in Killeen should expect this gap to pressure retention if candidates can access remote roles paying national rates.
Elevated metro unemployment does not translate to scientific talent abundance.
5.4% metro unemployment, a full point above the national rate, likely reflects military transition and lower-wage service-sector churn rather than surplus lab or clinical talent. Headcount planners should treat local unemployment figures as a weak proxy for availability of credentialed R&D and quality staff.
Median advertised pay by role — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Scientist * | $82,765 | $123,070 | $131,979 | Significant increase | $130,339 |
| Clinical Research Associate * | $57,977 | $78,893 | $95,462 | Moderate increase | $90,065 |
| Lab Technician * | $38,082 | $45,670 | $49,588 | Stable | $47,840 |
| Regulatory Affairs Specialist * | $70,793 | $95,473 | $116,373 | Moderate decline | $103,780 |
| Clinical Data Manager * | $96,453 | $122,953 | $135,700 | Stable | $123,653 |
| Biostatistician * | $98,485 | $139,166 | $160,691 | Moderate increase | $131,958 |
| Validation Engineer * | $82,756 | $104,143 | $112,977 | Moderate 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
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood's metro unemployment rate sat at 5.4% in July, the latest official reading, running well above both the Texas state rate of 4.4% and the national 4.1% — a gap consistent with a labor market still anchored by Fort Cavazos and limited private-sector scientific infrastructure rather than tight specialist competition. Statewide, biopharma job postings surged 53% year-over-year through August even as Texas added 4,500 life sciences jobs in September, signaling that demand for credentialed talent is concentrating in Austin-Houston-Dallas corridors and leaving smaller metros like Killeen more reliant on remote, hybrid, or regional talent pipelines.
What it means
Elevated local unemployment paired with statewide credential scarcity means Killeen-based life sciences employers likely compete on total rewards against Austin and Dallas-area organizations rather than local peers, particularly for regulatory affairs, CRA, and biostatistics roles where metro advertised pay already diverges sharply from national medians. Build-vs-outsource calculus shifts further toward CRO and CDMO partnerships for functions requiring deep local bench strength — R&D and clinical operations — while quality and validation roles may be more viable to build in-market given steadier regional wage patterns. Organizations should evaluate whether current compensation structures for regulatory and clinical roles reflect competition with higher-cost Texas metros rather than local labor market benchmarks alone.
Looking ahead
Data release to watch: BLS metro-level unemployment data for August through October remains unreleased; when it posts, compare against the July 5.4% baseline to assess whether the gap to the 4.1% national rate is widening or narrowing.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide regulatory affairs pay softened even as national vacancy reports flag it as a top hard-to-fill role — watch whether Texas employers are substituting CRO-based regulatory support for in-house hires, a signal relevant to build-vs-outsource planning in Killeen-based organizations.
Worth watching: Texas biopharma job postings rose 53% year-over-year through August, concentrated in major metros; track whether any of that demand spills into Killeen-Temple as commercialization and quality functions decentralize from Austin and Dallas.
Early indicator: National quit rate remains low at 1.9%, meaning experienced regulatory, CRA, and biostatistics talent are not moving voluntarily. Any local counteroffer activity or retention bonus announcements over the next two months would mark a meaningful shift from this holding pattern.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), BLS series KILL648UR — 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
- Texas life sciences labor market research — Texas biopharma job postings surged 53% YoY Jan-Aug 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — National unemployment rate stable at 4.1% in October 2026
- Biopharma industry labor market research — National quit rate sits at 1.9% in biopharma sector
- Life sciences workforce research — Regulatory affairs ranks among hardest-to-fill pharma roles in 2026
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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