Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Peoria, IL MSA — September 2026
Peoria finance pay climbs even as the metro keeps shedding jobs.
Peoria unemployment eased to 4.5% in August, yet the metro posted Illinois's largest wage gain at +6.9% as Controller pay advertised locally moved up significantly.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Peoria MSA unemployment: 4.5% — Down from 4.7% in July 2026
- Peoria County wage growth: +6.9% — Largest Q1 2026 gain among large IL counties
- IL financial activities jobs: -15,800 — Year-over-year through August 2026, statewide
- National F&A hiring intent: 74% — Firms planning headcount increases, H2 2026
Key takeaways
Peoria's job losses and wage gains are two sides of one story.
The metro lost jobs on net for much of 2026 while posting the state's largest weekly wage increase (+6.9% in Q1), consistent with employers paying more to retain a shrinking pool of qualified finance and skilled talent rather than broad-based labor demand growth.
Controller pay is moving while most other roles sit still.
Metro Controller advertised pay is up significantly this month against a merely moderate national increase, even as Senior Accountant, Financial Analyst, and FP&A Manager pay all held flat locally. Consider whether this reflects genuine scarcity at the Controller level or a smaller, noisier local sample skewing the signal.
Illinois financial activities keep shedding jobs statewide.
Financial activities lost 15,800 positions year-over-year statewide through August, mirroring national sector contraction of 129,000 jobs since May 2025 concentrated in insurance carriers. Peoria headcount plans should assume continued consolidation pressure in transactional finance functions even where leadership roles tighten.
Tax Specialist pay is diverging from the national trend.
Metro Tax Specialist advertised pay moved down moderately this month while the national median rose significantly, a split worth tracking given F&A's broader national narrative of CPA and tax talent scarcity. If local demand hasn't caught up to that national shortage signal yet, it may do so in coming months.
Median advertised pay by role — Peoria, IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $79,549 | $106,059 | $115,000 | Significant increase | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $81,687 | $84,046 | $96,940 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $74,004 | $74,143 | $75,106 | Stable | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $38,256 | $44,200 | $46,288 | Stable | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $49,349 | $65,000 | $74,714 | Moderate decline | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $62,400 | $71,686 | $75,000 | Moderate increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager * | $106,095 | $128,888 | $139,874 | Stable | $128,139 |
* 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
Peoria MSA unemployment eased to 4.5% in August, down from 4.7% in July, even as the metro continues a multi-year pattern of structural job losses, averaging roughly 100 jobs shed monthly through 2026 and ranking seventh-worst nationally in job growth since 2006. Against that backdrop, Peoria County posted the largest average weekly wage gain among large Illinois counties at +6.9% in Q1 2026, a combination that points to tightening skilled-labor supply inside a shrinking overall employment base.
What it means
Statewide financial activities employment fell 15,800 jobs year-over-year even as Illinois financial managers command median pay near $158,900 with 15,776 projected openings through 2029 — the sector is contracting in headcount while becoming more selective and expensive for the roles it retains, a pattern Peoria's own wage-gain-amid-job-loss data reflects at the metro level. Finance leaders building 2027 headcount plans should expect flatter organizational charts but firmer pay pressure on remaining Controller- and FP&A-level roles, since Peoria's Controller advertised pay is already trending up significantly against a stable national median. Consider reviewing whether current headcount models account for automation-driven consolidation in transactional roles while reserving budget flexibility for senior finance talent where local wage growth is outpacing the metro's broader labor market weakness.
Looking ahead
Expected: September 2026 BLS data for Peoria releases in late October, which will clarify whether August's unemployment improvement to 4.5% reflects a genuine turn or a one-month blip against the metro's longer-run job-loss trend.
Emerging pressure point: Illinois logged 29 WARN notices affecting 9,357 workers in the last 90 days statewide, though none yet concentrated in financial activities locally. Watch whether released talent from sectors like information or trade enters Peoria's finance candidate pool.
Worth watching: National F&A hiring intent remains aggressive, with 74% of finance leaders planning headcount increases despite sector-wide job losses. Whether that national appetite reaches a structurally shrinking metro like Peoria will test local wage competitiveness for Controller and FP&A-level talent.
Potential inflection point: National average hourly earnings growth decelerated to 3.0% year-over-year in September, below economist expectations. If that cooling persists, it may ease the wage pressure currently showing up in Peoria's outsized Controller pay gains.
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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