Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: San Angelo, TX MSA — September 2026
San Angelo holds near-record-low unemployment as wage gains split sharply by sector.
San Angelo's 3.6% August unemployment rate ranks second-lowest among Texas metros, but manufacturing production pay fell sharply even as registered nurse and HVAC technician pay rose significantly, underscoring an economy tightening unevenly across skill tiers.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- San Angelo unemployment rate: 3.6% — 2nd-lowest TX metro; vs 4.4% state, 4.1% U.S.
- Labor force participation: 63.9% — Tom Green County; vs 63.7% TX, 61.8% U.S.
- Manufacturing wage divergence: -significant local vs +4.8% TX — Metro production worker pay down vs TX mfg up
- National wage-inflation gap: 3.0% wage growth vs 3.4% CPI — Lowest annual wage gain since May 2021
Key takeaways
San Angelo's labor market is tighter than the state's, not looser.
A 3.6% unemployment rate against Texas's 4.4% and the nation's 4.1% signals a shallow pool of available workers locally, even as labor force participation near 63.9% shows most residents who can work already are. Any business considering local expansion should weigh worker availability, not just demand conditions, before committing.
Manufacturing wages are falling locally while rising statewide.
Metro manufacturing production worker pay dropped significantly even as Texas manufacturing wages posted 4.8% annual growth, the strongest pace since late 2023. The gap may suggest San Angelo's manufacturing base is structurally different from the state's data-center and AI-adjacent growth story, a distinction economic development planners should track closely.
Skilled trades and healthcare pay are pulling away from retail and food service.
HVAC technician pay rose significantly and registered nurse pay rose significantly locally, while retail cashier and food service pay stayed flat or declined. This bifurcation is consistent with the national pattern of hands-on, credentialed work outpacing lower-wage service roles, and points to where local wage-driven consumer spending power is actually concentrated.
National payroll deceleration has not yet reached San Angelo's numbers.
September's national payroll add of just 29,000 and downward revisions to July and August stand in contrast to San Angelo's improving unemployment trajectory from 3.8% in July to 3.4% not seasonally adjusted in September. Local resilience may reflect the metro's public-sector and healthcare employment base, which is less exposed to the finance and information-sector softness dragging on the national count.
Median advertised pay by role — San Angelo, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $22,962 | $28,080 | $31,721 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $22,880 | $25,304 | $27,217 | Moderate decline | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,681 | $36,308 | $39,520 | Moderate increase | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $50,903 | $81,817 | $96,000 | Moderate increase | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $28,584 | $33,208 | $35,230 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $30,784 | $36,505 | $40,560 | Moderate increase | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $57,588 | $67,846 | $73,222 | Moderate decline | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $20,800 | $28,822 | $29,203 | Significant decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $33,280 | $36,562 | $39,447 | Moderate increase | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $24,960 | $27,040 | $27,243 | Stable | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $31,066 | $34,010 | $39,406 | Moderate increase | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,548 | $35,994 | $37,440 | Stable | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician * | $57,200 | $69,087 | $75,777 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $78,385 | $92,503 | $102,076 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer * | $113,156 | $152,465 | $167,279 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer * | $100,220 | $136,140 | $154,980 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $59,030 | $65,000 | $66,996 | Significant increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst * | $72,922 | $93,298 | $101,911 | Moderate increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager * | $54,144 | $72,500 | $83,526 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist * | $46,677 | $60,734 | $71,585 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,000 | $83,712 | $98,391 | Moderate decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $28,236 | $51,507 | $55,493 | Significant increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $64,494 | $79,022 | $83,885 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $48,368 | $70,237 | $81,507 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst * | $79,805 | $97,107 | $109,495 | Stable | $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 | $55,463 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $61,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $35,308 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $41,081 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $55,986 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $48,347 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $62,736 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $50,940 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $29,120 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Government | $67,574 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
San Angelo's August unemployment rate held at 3.6%, the second-lowest among Texas metros and well below both the state's 4.4% and the national 4.1% reading, even as local civilian labor force participation sits near 63.9% against a 62.2% statewide figure. Momentum appears concentrated in education/health services and leisure/hospitality, the metro's two largest employment sectors, while advertised pay for skilled trades — HVAC, CDL driving, registered nursing — continues rising even as manufacturing production wages fell sharply, pointing to an economy expanding unevenly across skill tiers rather than broadly.
What it means
Divergence between a near-record-low jobless rate and a significant decline in manufacturing production wages suggests San Angelo's labor market is tightening fastest in services and skilled trades while manufacturing softens locally even as Texas manufacturing wages accelerate statewide — a signal worth distinguishing before drawing conclusions about the metro's industrial base. Commerce leaders weighing local expansion or investment should treat the 3.6% unemployment rate as evidence of a thin available labor pool rather than broad economic weakness; current conditions suggest reviewing which sectors are actually absorbing the area's modest labor force growth before assuming across-the-board tightness applies to a specific expansion plan.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Texas's statewide wage-vs-inflation margin has narrowed to roughly 2.7% year-over-year for average hourly earnings against a national CPI running near 3.4%. Watch whether San Angelo's healthcare and skilled-trades wage gains are enough to keep local purchasing power ahead of inflation as the year closes.
Early indicator: Texas WARN filings remain concentrated in transportation/logistics and manufacturing statewide, with total affected workers down 45% year over year. San Angelo has not appeared prominently in recent WARN activity, but commerce leaders should monitor whether that holds given the metro's declining manufacturing wage signal.
Potential inflection point: National labor force participation has plateaued at 61.8% with government payrolls shedding workers for a full year. San Angelo's public-sector stability, anchored by education, government, and corrections employment, is a local counterweight worth tracking if that national government drawdown trend reaches Texas municipal or county payrolls.
Expected: Dallas Fed's upward revision of 2026 Texas job growth to 2.0% reflects data-center and AI-related activity concentrated in larger metros. San Angelo's smaller, services-heavy base makes it unlikely to capture much of that growth directly, which is relevant for regional economic development messaging that leans on statewide figures.
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.