Labor Market Pulse · Finance · August 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: SC NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — August 2026
SC nonmetro finance pay climbs even as headcount growth cools.
South Carolina's nonmetro counties show Controller advertised pay up significantly to $104,601 and FP&A Manager pay down 5% to $124,493, as statewide job growth moderates toward 1.8% for FY26.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of August 2026.
Key indicators
- SC nonmetro FY26 job growth forecast: 1.8% — Below long-term trend; FY27 forecast at 1.7%
- Controller advertised pay: $104,601 — Up significantly locally vs $112,500 national median
- SC average weekly wage: $1,130 — Down 0.1% YoY, Aug 2026 vs Aug 2025
- SC unemployment rate: 4.1% — Down 0.5 pts over 12 months; tied 1st in US job growth
Key takeaways
Controller pay is rising sharply while overall wages stall.
Advertised Controller pay in this market is up significantly to $104,601, even as statewide average weekly wages slipped 0.1 percent year-over-year. Budget models built on flat statewide wage assumptions will understate the true cost of backfilling or retaining senior finance leadership.
FP&A Manager pay is the one role moving against the grain.
Advertised FP&A Manager pay fell moderately to $124,493 locally, bucking the upward trend seen across nearly every other finance role tracked this month. This may reflect a temporary softening in demand for forecasting talent locally rather than a durable shift — worth revisiting before resetting FP&A comp bands downward.
Tax Specialist and Credit Analyst pay signal a tightening niche.
Both roles show significant advertised pay increases locally, outpacing national Credit Analyst movement and matching national Tax Specialist gains. Nonmetro employers appear to be competing directly with metro and national markets for these specialized finance functions, a shift that changes how these roles should be benchmarked.
Skills gap in technical roles is a budgeting risk, not just a hiring one.
State labor market intelligence flags engineering, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity as acute skills-gap areas, and finance functions supporting these industries — cost accounting, FP&A — face spillover pressure. Headcount cost plans built on historical fill rates may need wider contingency bands for finance roles embedded in technically constrained business units.
Median advertised pay by role — SC NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $58,755 | $104,601 | $114,118 | Significant increase | $112,500 |
| Senior Accountant | $72,318 | $86,604 | $88,063 | Moderate increase | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $67,169 | $79,736 | $91,563 | Significant increase | $82,905 |
| Billing Specialist | $36,718 | $43,680 | $50,000 | Significant increase | $49,700 |
| Tax Specialist | $39,049 | $59,414 | $72,884 | Significant increase | $66,725 |
| Credit Analyst | $63,153 | $75,000 | $80,829 | Significant increase | $72,000 |
| FP&A Manager | $99,549 | $124,493 | $130,140 | Moderate decline | $127,341 |
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
South Carolina's rural and nonmetro counties are riding the state's broader momentum — 38,600 jobs added statewide over the past year and unemployment down to 4.1 percent — but forecasted employment growth is projected to slow to 1.8 percent in FY26, below long-term trend, signaling a cooling expansion rate even as talent scarcity persists. Finance and insurance added 2,076 jobs statewide over the year, a modest but visible signal that nonmetro employers are still competing for accounting and finance talent against a shrinking rural labor force participation rate of 58.8 percent.
What it means
Slowing statewide job growth combined with continued advertised pay increases for Controller, Financial Analyst, and Tax Specialist roles in this market suggests wage pressure is decoupling from headcount expansion — employers are paying more for the same or fewer positions, tightening cost-per-hire even as budgeted headcount growth softens. This dynamic complicates FY27 headcount cost planning, since compensation inflation in finance-critical roles is outpacing broader wage trends (statewide average weekly wages actually fell 0.1 percent year-over-year) even as hiring volume cools. Consider reviewing budgeted comp escalators for finance and accounting roles separately from general merit pool assumptions, since these roles appear to be moving on a distinct trajectory from the broader nonmetro wage environment.
Looking ahead
Expected: South Carolina's FY26 employment growth forecast of 1.8 percent, below long-term trend, should show up in nonmetro job postings data over the next two months. Finance leaders should watch whether budgeted headcount adds for FY27 planning cycles need to be revised against this slower baseline.
Worth watching: Thirty-three WARN notices have been filed statewide in 2026 affecting 4,155 workers, concentrated in manufacturing and services rather than finance functions directly. Watch whether displaced administrative and finance talent from these notices — including Limestone University and Compass Group USA layoffs — begins entering the nonmetro candidate pool.
Emerging pressure point: National F&A hiring data shows 69 percent of finance leaders now offering salaries above planned range, with AI-skills premiums reaching up to 56 percent for technical roles. Nonmetro employers competing for the same limited pipeline may find advertised pay for tax and analyst roles continuing to climb faster than budget cycles anticipate.
Potential inflection point: FP&A Manager pay's local decline is unusual against a national backdrop of stable demand for forecasting talent. Confirm whether this reflects a genuine local demand shift before the next budget cycle locks in lower comp assumptions for this role.
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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