Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA — September 2026
Killeen unemployment climbs to 5.4% as Texas job growth bypasses the metro
Killeen-Temple's unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in July against a steady 4.0% statewide rate and 1.1% annual Texas job growth, while local average weekly wages ($1,288) remain roughly 22% below the national figure ($1,654).
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 5.4% — Up from 4.9% in June; vs 4.0% Texas, 4.2% U.S.
- Average weekly wage, metro: $1,288 — vs $1,654 national average, Q1 2026
- Fort Hood monthly transition volume: ~800 service members — Monthly flow into civilian labor force
- Texas annual job growth: 1.1% — 159,400 jobs added; outpaces U.S. by 0.7 pts
Key takeaways
Wage floor gap may be an underused selling point.
Average weekly wages here ($1,288) trail the national figure ($1,654) by roughly 22%, a persistent structural gap rather than a new development. For commerce leaders courting employers on cost, this remains a quantifiable advantage, though it also signals constrained local purchasing power relative to the national economy.
Fort Hood's transition pipeline is a labor-supply wildcard.
Up to 800 service members leave active duty for the civilian workforce each month in this metro, a volume large enough to move local unemployment figures independent of private-sector hiring activity. Watching how that pipeline interacts with sectors like healthcare and skilled trades, where pay is strengthening nationally, is more informative than watching headline job counts alone.
Skilled-trade pay gains locally buck the metro's softer pattern.
HVAC technician pay is up significantly locally (to $61,000) and registered nurse pay is up significantly as well (to $93,600), even as unemployment rises and several other advertised-pay categories soften. Divergence between strengthening skilled-trade/healthcare pay and a cooling broader labor market is consistent with localized, sector-specific tightness rather than metro-wide momentum.
Median advertised pay by role — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $22,880 | $27,040 | $31,200 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $22,997 | $27,107 | $30,592 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $29,120 | $34,195 | $35,699 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $55,284 | $77,351 | $91,000 | Moderate decline | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $28,837 | $31,667 | $33,802 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $28,975 | $37,492 | $37,893 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $60,910 | $71,345 | $75,920 | Stable | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $30,160 | $35,360 | $36,464 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $27,910 | $31,720 | $34,673 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $24,916 | $28,080 | $40,584 | Significant decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $31,009 | $35,839 | $39,520 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,200 | $36,379 | $38,078 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $51,191 | $61,000 | $69,127 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $80,080 | $93,600 | $101,148 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $121,921 | $161,356 | $170,659 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $118,490 | $150,725 | $158,093 | Significant increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $56,746 | $65,000 | $74,546 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $71,802 | $80,146 | $84,627 | Significant decline | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $40,740 | $54,762 | $60,491 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $35,470 | $40,000 | $55,096 | Significant decline | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $83,712 | $98,391 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $30,909 | $56,210 | $63,063 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $40,484 | $63,357 | $83,932 | Moderate decline | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,368 | $70,237 | $81,507 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $78,793 | $81,268 | $85,992 | Significant decline | $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 | $60,537 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $50,845 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $38,456 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $63,960 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $72,500 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $43,771 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $41,548 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $57,070 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $29,309 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,574 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Killeen-Temple's unemployment rate climbed to 5.4% in July, the latest metro figure available, up from 4.9% in June and well above both the Texas rate of 4.0% and the national 4.2% reading for September, with Fort Hood's steady monthly transition of up to 800 service members into the civilian labor force continuing to add supply faster than local employers are absorbing it. Average weekly wages in the metro ($1,288 in Q1 2026) sit roughly 22% below the national average ($1,654), a structural gap tied to the area's military- and government-heavy employment base rather than a recent shift.
What it means
Rising local unemployment against a backdrop of still-positive statewide job growth (Texas added 159,400 jobs over the year) suggests Killeen's labor market is not tracking the broader Texas expansion, a divergence worth flagging for economic development planning and incentive targeting. Commerce leaders weighing expansion or relocation incentives should treat the area's below-national wage floor as a genuine cost advantage, but should also factor in a labor pool shaped heavily by military transition timing rather than organic population or sector growth. Current conditions suggest reviewing whether local workforce development programming is positioned to channel transitioning service members into the professional and construction roles showing wage strength statewide.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS publishes September metro-level employment and unemployment data on October 28, which will show whether July's uptick to 5.4% was a one-month blip or the start of a trend. Commerce leaders should hold off on drawing firm conclusions about metro trajectory until that release.
Worth watching: Texas's statewide labor force grew by just 10,900 over the year despite adding 17,100 in August alone, a supply constraint that could interact with Fort Hood's transition flow to either ease or tighten depending on how many separating service members stay local. Track Central Texas Workforce Board reporting for signs of where that labor is landing.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide manufacturing wage growth (4.8% over the year, the strongest since December 2023) and accelerating Texas manufacturing activity in September stand in contrast to flat-to-declining manufacturing pay signals locally. Watch whether any announced manufacturing or data-center investment reaches this metro given the Dallas Fed's upgraded statewide forecast.
Potential inflection point: National wage growth slowed to 3.0% annually in September, its weakest pace since May 2021, while inflation runs at 3.4% — a gap that, if it persists, could further pressure local consumer spending given this metro's already-below-national wage base. Local retailers and service providers may be first to feel any softening in discretionary spending.
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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