Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Longview, TX MSA — October 2026
Longview finance pay diverges sharply from national market.
Longview's Financial Analyst pay sits 24% below the $94,646 national median while local unemployment eased to 4.6% from 5.0%, pointing to a metro labor market cooling unevenly across roles.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Longview unemployment rate: 4.6% — Down from 5.0% in August; above 4.1% national
- Financial Analyst pay gap: $71,635 vs $94,646 — 24% below national median, widest gap tracked
- Metro nonfarm employment: 124,700 — Down 400 month-over-month, up 600 year-over-year
- Texas WARN notices (2026 YTD): 17,285 workers — Down 35% from 2025 statewide
Key takeaways
Financial Analyst pay gap with national market has widened sharply.
Metro median sits at $71,635 against a $94,646 national figure, a roughly 24% discount that may reflect softer local demand or a stale local benchmark. Remote-capable analysts in Longview have little reason to stay if national postings remain visible to them.
Credit Analyst pay is moving up while most roles stand still.
Local advertised pay rose significantly to $70,000, nearly closing the gap with the $71,397 national median. This looks like a localized tightening signal worth tracking against local credit demand.
Billing Specialist compensation decline raises retention exposure.
Metro pay fell significantly to $33,425 against a stable $49,000 national figure — among the widest local-national gaps in this data. Back-office roles supporting close and billing cycles are vulnerable when pay drifts this far from national comparables.
Metro job growth of 600 over the year masks a softer recent trend.
September's 400-job monthly decline followed August's gain, and unemployment easing to 4.6% from 5.0% still sits above the state's 4.4% and the national 4.1%. Hiring plans built on a tightening labor market may need to account for a metro that is cooling.
Median advertised pay by role — Longview, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller * | $73,158 | $114,528 | $126,261 | Stable | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant * | $76,930 | $87,731 | $92,500 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $67,120 | $71,635 | $99,024 | Moderate decline | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $30,160 | $33,425 | $34,887 | Significant decline | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $35,915 | $40,409 | $42,526 | Stable | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst | $60,975 | $70,000 | $73,125 | 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
Longview MSA unemployment eased to 4.6% in September from 5.0% in August, but nonfarm employment slipped 400 positions month-over-month to 124,700 even as the metro gained 600 jobs over the year — a pattern consistent with a labor market cooling at the margins. Texas's own deceleration (11,100 jobs shed statewide in September, Dallas Fed forecast revised to sub-1% growth on immigration-driven labor supply constraints) compounds local softness, while Gregg County's thinner labor force of roughly 130,000 limits the bench of finance talent available locally.
What it means
Local Financial Analyst pay has fallen to $71,635 against a $94,646 national median — a gap wide enough to suggest either softer local demand for that role in Longview or a benchmarking lag that risks losing analysts to remote national postings, a dynamic compounded by national finance turnover running at 18.3% CFO attrition and 70% of finance leaders increasing contract talent use. Billing Specialist pay dropping significantly locally while staying flat nationally signals a role where Longview employers may be under-pricing against the broader market precisely when finance back-office capacity is strained ahead of close cycles. Consider reviewing Financial Analyst and Billing Specialist pay against national postings before Q4 close, when vacancy in either role carries outsized operational risk.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS metro-level unemployment data for October releases mid-November; watch whether the September improvement to 4.6% holds or reverses given the prior June spike to 5.3% in Gregg County.
Emerging pressure point: National CFO turnover at 18.3% and 85% of CFOs reporting finance talent shortages raise the stakes for Longview employers competing against remote and Dallas-Fort Worth postings for scarce FP&A and analyst talent.
Potential inflection point: Texas's HB 149 AI governance law carries penalties up to $200,000 per violation; finance teams piloting AI in forecasting or FP&A models should confirm compliance review is underway before year-end budget cycles.
Worth watching: Statewide WARN filings are down 35% year over year, but any metro-specific notice would matter disproportionately in a labor market this size — monitor TWC filings tied to Gregg County employers through year-end.
Sources
- Texas Workforce Commission — Longview MSA unemployment rate and nonfarm employment figures for September 2026
- Dallas Federal Reserve — Texas statewide job losses and Dallas Fed growth forecast revision
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover rate and finance talent shortage statistics
- Robert Half / AFP FP&A Forum — Finance leaders increasing contract talent usage
- Texas Legislature — Texas HB 149 AI governance penalties
- Texas Workforce Commission — Texas WARN notice volume and year-over-year decline
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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