Labor Market Pulse · Restaurant Industry · October 2026
Restaurant Industry Labor Market Report: Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA — October 2026
Killeen advertised pay retreats as metro unemployment outpaces the state.
Killeen-area Crew pay fell to $24,929 against a stable $30,066 national median, while metro unemployment near 5.4% sits well above the 4.2% national rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 5.4% — vs 4.2% national, 4.4% Texas
- Crew advertised pay (metro): $24,929 — Down significantly vs stable $30,066 national
- Assistant Restaurant Manager pay (metro): $33,423 — Down significantly vs stable $39,211 national
- TX leisure & hospitality employment: -1,700 jobs — October statewide decline amid Q4 hiring season
Key takeaways
Killeen entry-level pay is pulling back from the national line.
Crew advertised pay fell significantly to a metro median of $24,929 versus a stable $30,066 nationally, a gap of roughly 17%. Widening local-national spreads on frontline roles can erode applicant flow even in a market with elevated local unemployment, since candidates increasingly compare offers across delivery, retail and warehouse job ads, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings).
Management pay compression signals a cautious labor cost posture.
Assistant Restaurant Manager pay dropped significantly to $33,423 locally while Restaurant Manager/GM held stable at $53,888, widening the spread between the two tiers. Current conditions suggest operators may be consolidating supervisory duties when filling assistant manager roles at prior rates, a cost-containment move worth validating against turnover data.
Elevated metro unemployment doesn't match statewide hospitality softness.
Killeen's 5.4% unemployment rate sits above both the 4.2% national and 4.4% Texas figures, even as statewide leisure and hospitality employment fell 1,700 in October. A looser local labor pool combined with sector-wide softness points to a demand-side labor story for area operators.
Federal 80/20 rule repeal creates room to rework tipped-role cost structures.
DOL's October withdrawal of the 80/20 rule removes the 20% cap on non-tip-producing duties paid at the $2.13 tipped rate in Texas. Operators with heavy side-work demands — closing, stocking, prep — may find updating tipped-wage policy documentation and shift assignments reduces direct wage exposure during slower dayparts.
Median advertised pay by role — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Restaurant Manager | $29,191 | $33,423 | $35,546 | Significant decline | $39,211 |
| Catering Manager * | $35,334 | $51,994 | $56,706 | Stable | $50,076 |
| Crew | $20,843 | $24,929 | $28,686 | Significant decline | $30,066 |
| Line Cook | $26,180 | $29,477 | $31,200 | Stable | $37,421 |
| Restaurant Manager/General Manager | $43,153 | $53,888 | $59,941 | Stable | $59,724 |
| Server | $24,681 | $28,397 | $30,460 | Stable | $35,024 |
| Shift Manager | $25,629 | $28,749 | $30,160 | Stable | $33,024 |
* 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 labor market remains shaped by Fort Cavazos and a metro unemployment rate near 5.4% as of the latest official reading, well above the 4.2% national and 4.4% Texas figures, suggesting a looser local labor pool than statewide conditions imply. Statewide leisure and hospitality employment declined 1,700 positions in October even as Texas job growth outpaced the nation overall, a divergence consistent with restaurant demand softening ahead of typical Q4 seasonal hiring.
What it means
Elevated local unemployment alongside declining state leisure and hospitality headcount points to softer consumer traffic as the likely driver, meaning the binding constraint for Killeen operators is labor cost per shift. Flat-to-declining advertised pay for Crew ($24,929, down significantly) and Assistant Restaurant Manager ($33,423, down significantly) locally, against stable national figures, suggests Killeen operators are pulling back on advertised wage competition faster than peer metros. Consider reviewing whether lower advertised entry-level pay is widening the gap with national rates enough to affect applicant flow once Fort Cavazos-linked household spending or PCS-season turnover picks up.
Looking ahead
Policy follow-through: Texas's elimination of the 80/20/30 rule took effect this cycle; watch whether operators formally update tipped-wage policies and whether compliance questions surface as local restaurants adjust side-work scheduling.
Seasonal signal: Statewide leisure and hospitality employment fell in October heading into the holiday season. Track whether Killeen's Q4 staffing ramp arrives on the usual timeline or lags, which would reinforce a demand-driven slowdown.
Emerging pressure point: Crew and Assistant Restaurant Manager advertised pay are both down significantly locally while national figures hold stable. Watch whether this spread stabilizes or continues widening over the next two pay cycles, which would signal a structural shift beyond a single month.
Base-driven demand: Fort Cavazos personnel and spending patterns remain a structural driver of local restaurant traffic. Any publicized deployment, drawdown, or PCS-cycle news in the metro over the next 60 days is worth monitoring for downstream effects on dining demand and staffing needs.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood MSA unemployment rate at 5.4%
- Texas Workforce Commission — Texas leisure and hospitality employment declined 1,700 in October
- U.S. Department of Labor — DOL withdrew the 80/20 rule for tipped wages in October 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — National unemployment rate at 4.1-4.2%
- Texas Workforce Commission — Texas unemployment rate at 4.4% seasonally adjusted
- U.S. Department of Labor — Texas 80/20/30 rule no longer applies to tipped wage calculations
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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