Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: St. Joseph, MO-KS MSA — October 2026
St. Joseph holds 3.7% jobless rate as state cools around it.
Metro unemployment at 3.7% continues to outperform the national 4.1% rate even as Missouri shed 10,600 jobs statewide in September, with local healthcare wages (Registered Nurse pay up significantly) and transportation wages (CDL Truck Driver pay down moderately) moving in opposite directions.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.7% — vs 4.1% national, 3.6% Missouri statewide
- Missouri September payrolls: -10,600 — Statewide loss; KC -4,200, St. Louis +3,400
- Buchanan County avg weekly wage: $1,182 — Highest among Missouri's smaller counties
- Missouri 2026 WARN notices: 31 notices / 3,029 workers — Down 41% from 2025 totals
Key takeaways
Metro unemployment beats the nation in a pattern now eleven years running.
3.7% local versus 4.1% national continues an 11-year pattern of Missouri running below the US rate, so this month's reading signals continuity in local economic momentum.
Healthcare wage gains outpace the broader metro basket.
Registered Nurse pay rose significantly and CNA/Home Health Aide pay rose moderately, consistent with national healthcare hiring strength and aging-population demand that shows no sign of easing locally.
Software Engineer pay fell sharply while Data Engineer pay climbed.
Metro Software Engineer advertised pay dropped significantly even as Data Engineer pay rose moderately, a divergence that may reflect how thin and volatile the local tech-adjacent labor pool is relative to coastal or Kansas City markets.
Transportation pay softness tracks a state-level freight slowdown.
CDL Truck Driver and Delivery Driver advertised pay both declined moderately in the metro, consistent with Missouri's 20 WARN notices in transportation and logistics — the state's most-cited layoff category this year.
Median advertised pay by role — St. Joseph, MO-KS MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $24,424 | $28,864 | $31,611 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $25,869 | $29,766 | $31,720 | Moderate increase | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,493 | $35,320 | $37,087 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $60,385 | $75,920 | $86,092 | Moderate decline | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $27,252 | $30,788 | $37,440 | Moderate decline | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $29,398 | $35,444 | $37,440 | Stable | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $57,951 | $68,214 | $75,702 | Stable | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $33,554 | $37,765 | $43,448 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $27,324 | $32,886 | $35,876 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $27,422 | $31,200 | $31,557 | Moderate decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $33,800 | $40,602 | $44,200 | Moderate increase | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $31,591 | $36,831 | $39,520 | Stable | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $65,494 | $71,308 | $73,637 | Moderate increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $80,906 | $97,370 | $104,360 | Significant increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $91,571 | $121,408 | $134,049 | Significant decline | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $94,657 | $133,134 | $135,761 | Moderate increase | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $54,652 | $61,802 | $72,554 | Stable | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $66,207 | $84,119 | $88,902 | Significant increase | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $51,300 | $61,201 | $70,553 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $61,347 | $77,145 | $100,232 | Significant increase | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $66,901 | $80,684 | $87,686 | Significant increase | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $28,600 | $48,805 | $54,186 | Stable | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $60,000 | $92,639 | $114,092 | Significant increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $70,000 | $81,594 | $103,119 | Moderate decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $70,794 | $86,499 | $90,089 | Stable | $98,302 |
* 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 | $85,000 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $77,854 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $44,450 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $58,000 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $74,463 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $66,748 | Significant decline | Moderate increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $88,557 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $80,832 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $30,320 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $56,653 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
St. Joseph metro unemployment held at 3.7% in the most recent reading, a tighter reading than both the national 4.1% rate and a level consistent with more than a decade of Missouri outperforming the US jobline. Buchanan County's average weekly wage of $1,182 — the strongest among Missouri's smaller counties — alongside active local demand in manufacturing, healthcare and logistics suggests the metro's labor market is absorbing statewide softness (Missouri shed 10,600 jobs in September) without a comparable local pullback.
What it means
Metro wage strength in healthcare (Registered Nurse up significantly, CNA/Home Health Aide up moderately) and skilled trades (HVAC Technician up moderately) points to where local economic activity is concentrated, while flat-to-declining advertised pay in trucking, delivery and software signals uneven momentum across the basket of occupations that make up the metro economy. Commerce leaders weighing expansion or investment timing should read the healthcare and trades strength as the more durable local signal, since it tracks demographic and infrastructure demand on a longer cycle than any single employer follows; consider evaluating local business investment decisions against sector-specific momentum alongside the metro's aggregate unemployment rate.
Looking ahead
Expected release: September 2026 metro-level unemployment data from BLS was due October 23 and will be the first hard read on whether Missouri's statewide September job losses (-10,600) touched St. Joseph specifically.
Worth watching: Kansas City lost 4,200 jobs in September while St. Louis gained 3,400, underscoring metro-level divergence within Missouri; St. Joseph's next jobs report will show which direction it tracks closer to.
Emerging pressure point: Manufacturing and transportation account for 35 of Missouri's 2026 WARN notices combined — the two categories most visible in St. Joseph's local job postings (National Beef, logistics staffing), where job ads signal hiring demand and one ad often covers several openings. Local establishment concentration (2,713 total in Buchanan County) means a single large filing would register more visibly here than in a larger metro.
Policy to track: Missouri's minimum wage reached $15/hour in January 2026 with the CPI-adjustment provision repealed legislatively; the full-year wage data from this change will begin showing in year-over-year comparisons for the metro's lower-wage roles (retail, food service) over the coming months.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — St. Joseph MSA unemployment rate at 3.7%
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Buchanan County average weekly wage of $1,182
- Missouri Department of Labor — Missouri lost 10,600 jobs in September 2026
- Missouri Department of Labor — Kansas City lost 4,200 jobs, St. Louis gained 3,400 in September
- Missouri WARN Act filings — Missouri 2026 WARN notices concentrated in transportation, manufacturing
- Missouri HB 567 — Missouri minimum wage set at $15/hour effective January 2026
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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