Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Topeka, KS MSA — September 2026
Topeka's jobless rate climbs as core-county wages outpace the state.
Topeka's preliminary unemployment rate hit 5.0% in July, a point above the 4.1% national rate, even as Shawnee County logged the state's largest wage gain at 5.4%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Topeka MSA unemployment rate: 5.0% — Preliminary July 2026, vs 4.1% national, up from 4.6% in April
- Shawnee County wage growth: +5.4% — Q3 2025, largest among Kansas's four largest counties
- Kansas labor force participation: 67.4% — April 2026, vs 61.8% U.S. rate, down 1% YoY statewide
- Kansas WARN notices (90-day): 0 — As of Sept 25, 2026, vs 313,234 workers affected nationally
Key takeaways
Topeka's jobless rate is rising while core-county wages accelerate.
A 5.0% preliminary metro unemployment rate — up from 4.6% in April and well above the 4.1% national rate — sits alongside a 5.4% Shawnee County wage increase, the state's largest. That combination may suggest a bifurcated local market: softening in some sectors even as skilled or in-demand roles see genuine wage competition.
Healthcare and skilled trades are pulling local wages upward.
Registered nurse pay rose significantly to a $87,472 metro median and HVAC technician pay rose significantly to $59,440, both outpacing broader metro wage trends. This tracks the national pattern of healthcare and hands-on trades outperforming white-collar and retail segments, with implications for which sectors are genuinely driving local economic activity.
Retail and food-service pay softness points to consumer-facing strain.
Retail cashier pay fell moderately and food service worker pay fell significantly in the metro, both against stable national trends. Localized softness in consumer-facing wage data is consistent with the Indeed Hiring Lab's national read that real wages are no longer keeping pace with inflation, which may dampen discretionary local spending.
Public-sector stability remains a load-bearing feature of the local economy.
State of Kansas employment (8,833 workers) and Topeka USD #501 (2,300) remain the metro's largest employers with no WARN filings reported in the last 90 days statewide as of late September. That stability contrasts with the national trend of a 216,000 government job decline over the past year, suggesting Topeka's public-sector base is currently insulated from the federal pullback.
Median advertised pay by role — Topeka, KS MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $22,159 | $27,040 | $31,200 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $24,199 | $25,150 | $28,630 | Moderate decline | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $30,160 | $37,440 | $42,640 | Moderate increase | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $57,871 | $76,160 | $90,500 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $28,220 | $31,974 | $33,931 | Significant decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $28,763 | $29,538 | $33,280 | Moderate decline | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $56,160 | $67,623 | $74,618 | Moderate decline | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $31,200 | $33,280 | $35,360 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $31,160 | $35,677 | $37,960 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $26,755 | $30,049 | $30,967 | Significant decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $33,546 | $36,400 | $39,312 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $32,186 | $37,440 | $42,423 | Moderate decline | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $50,390 | $59,440 | $63,244 | Significant increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $77,723 | $87,472 | $97,911 | Significant increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $128,722 | $163,828 | $175,614 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,220 | $130,068 | $149,158 | Stable | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $54,128 | $64,187 | $67,901 | Stable | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,450 | $100,667 | $110,255 | Significant increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $54,136 | $62,346 | $65,000 | Stable | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $46,367 | $67,897 | $79,655 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager * | $49,925 | $73,000 | $75,000 | Significant increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $28,977 | $50,484 | $54,276 | Moderate increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $80,000 | $113,127 | $139,109 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $66,655 | $69,791 | $78,511 | No data | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $74,683 | $87,080 | $96,492 | Significant increase | $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 | $53,904 | Significant decline | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $110,895 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Retail Trade | $44,702 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $67,821 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Information | $138,086 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Financial Activities | $95,293 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Professional & Business Services | $76,831 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Education & Health Services | $51,768 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $27,893 | Moderate decline | Significant increase |
| Government | $63,228 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Local market conditions
Topeka's preliminary unemployment rate climbed to 5.0% in July 2026, a full point above the national rate of 4.1% and up from 4.6% in April, even as Shawnee County — the metro's economic core — posted a 5.4% average weekly wage increase in Q3 2025, the largest among Kansas's four largest counties. Sector momentum is uneven: statewide manufacturing gains tied to Garmin, Honeywell, and Panasonic investment contrast with a Tenth District Beige Book report citing labor availability, not demand, as the binding constraint on regional business activity.
What it means
Divergence between a softening metro unemployment rate and above-national wage growth in the metro's core county suggests a labor market that is tightening in specific occupational lanes — healthcare, skilled trades, software — while broader participation lags, a pattern consistent with Kansas's statewide 1% year-over-year decline in labor force participation. Commerce leaders weighing local expansion or investment should treat wage pressure in high-demand occupations (registered nurses up significantly to a $87,472 metro median, HVAC technicians up significantly) as a signal of real capacity constraints, not just inflation. Consider evaluating workforce-availability data by occupation before committing to expansion plans that assume slack labor supply exists broadly across the metro.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Watch whether Topeka's metro unemployment rate, last reported at a preliminary 5.0% for July, continues rising when August and September BLS figures post. A sustained climb above 5% would mark a clear divergence from the 4.1% national and 3.8% Kansas state rates worth tracking for its implications on local consumer demand.
Emerging pressure point: Kansas labor force participation has declined 1% year-over-year even as the statewide rate (67.4% in April) still outpaces the national 61.8%. Continued erosion would narrow the available local workforce further, a constraint regional economic development groups should monitor alongside any shift in net migration.
Worth watching: Statewide WARN activity has been minimal — zero notices in the 90 days through late September — but national filings affecting over 313,000 workers nationally, concentrated in logistics, retail, and tech-adjacent sectors, warrant a local check for any spillover into Topeka's warehousing and distribution base.
Early indicator: National wage growth has slipped to its slowest annual pace since May 2021 (3.0%) against 3.4% inflation, a reversal of the real-wage gains of the prior two years. If that gap persists into Topeka's Q4 wage data, it would be the first real erosion in local purchasing power in several years and a signal worth flagging for retail and commerce planning.
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.