Labor Market Pulse · Finance · October 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Port St. Lucie, FL MSA — October 2026
Port St. Lucie finance pay holds firm despite statewide sector losses.
Metro unemployment sits at 5.2%, well above the 4.1% national rate, yet Financial Analyst advertised pay climbed significantly to $90,933 while Controller pay held above the national median at $125,994.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 5.2% — vs 4.1% national, 4.4% Florida
- Florida financial activities jobs lost: -15,800 — Year-over-year, finance and insurance concentrated
- Financial Analyst advertised pay: $90,933 — Up significantly locally vs flat nationally
- CFO turnover rate, national: 18.3% — Highest since pandemic (Crist|Kolder)
Key takeaways
Financial Analyst pay is breaking from the pack locally.
Metro median advertised pay for Financial Analysts rose significantly to $90,933, moving against a flat national trend. This suggests Port St. Lucie employers are competing hard for analytical talent even as other finance roles hold steady — a signal to re-benchmark this role on its own trajectory, independent of Controller or FP&A movement.
Local unemployment isn't translating into cheaper senior hires.
Metro unemployment of 5.2% sits well above the national rate, yet Controller pay ($125,994) remains above the national median ($115,420). Slack in the broader labor pool is leaving finance leadership roles untouched, which stay tight on both supply and price.
Billing Specialist pay softness may reflect a thinner skills requirement.
Metro advertised pay for Billing Specialists fell moderately to $40,716, well under the $49,000 national median. Worth distinguishing whether this reflects oversupply locally or a shift toward lower-complexity billing work being carved out and priced separately.
Statewide finance-sector contraction hasn't fully hit this metro's advertised pay.
Florida lost 15,800 financial activities jobs over the past year, concentrated in finance and insurance, yet five of seven tracked Finance roles here show stable or rising pay. Local employers may be competing for a shrinking qualified pool even as aggregate state demand softens.
Median advertised pay by role — Port St. Lucie, FL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $104,192 | $125,994 | $129,598 | Stable | $115,420 |
| Senior Accountant | $66,753 | $81,660 | $86,695 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $68,040 | $90,933 | $91,574 | Significant increase | $94,646 |
| Billing Specialist | $36,614 | $40,716 | $43,834 | Moderate decline | $49,000 |
| Tax Specialist | $36,400 | $57,918 | $74,714 | Moderate increase | $69,556 |
| Credit Analyst * | $57,801 | $74,286 | $78,476 | Moderate increase | $71,397 |
| FP&A Manager * | $102,954 | $120,000 | $140,000 | 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
Port St. Lucie's unemployment rate held at 5.2% in September, a full point above the national 4.1% and nearly a point above the state's 4.4%, even as construction continues to absorb a disproportionate share of local labor — 6.2% of metro employment versus 4.1% nationally. Florida's statewide financial activities sector shed 15,800 jobs over the past year, concentrated in finance and insurance, a contraction that compounds an already soft labor market in a metro where local finance hiring has limited scale to absorb displaced talent.
What it means
Elevated local unemployment paired with statewide finance-sector contraction creates a buyer's market for most Finance roles here, but advertised pay tells a nuanced story — Financial Analyst pay is up significantly locally while Controller and FP&A Manager pay sit flat, suggesting employers are still paying for analytical and modeling capability even as broader headcount budgets tighten. CFO turnover nationally is running at 18.3%, the highest since the pandemic, which raises succession and continuity risk precisely when local labor slack might otherwise tempt leaders to defer senior hiring. Consider reviewing succession depth for controller and FP&A leadership roles now, ahead of a vacancy that would test a thinner regional talent pool.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Florida's financial activities losses are statewide so far — watch whether St. Lucie County's own QCEW data, released with a lag, shows the sector contraction reaching local finance and insurance employers directly.
Emerging pressure point: National CFO turnover at 18.3% and a 37.5% external-hire rate raise the odds that a local finance leadership vacancy gets filled from outside the metro, likely at a premium given tight senior-level supply.
Early indicator: Compensation costs rose 0.8% in the Treasure Coast/Florida region over the June–September window with 3.1% year-over-year wage growth — a pace to track against Q4 budget assumptions as close-cycle planning firms up.
Potential inflection point: 70% of finance and accounting leaders nationally are increasing contract talent use in H2 2026. Watch whether that shift reaches this metro's smaller finance departments, where audit-readiness and control documentation carry more risk per contractor.
Sources
- Florida Department of Commerce — Port St. Lucie MSA unemployment at 5.2% for September 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Construction represents 6.2% of local employment vs 4.1% nationally
- Florida Department of Commerce — Florida financial activities sector lost 15,800 jobs year-over-year
- Crist|Kolder Associates — CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic
- Robert Half / AFP FP&A Forum — 70% of finance/accounting leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Compensation costs rose 0.8% June-September with 3.1% annual wage growth
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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