Labor Market Pulse · Finance · September 2026
Finance Labor Market Report: Winston-Salem, NC MSA — September 2026
Winston-Salem finance pay splits sharply by role tier.
FP&A Manager pay climbed to $135,200 locally while Billing Specialist pay fell to $41,600, as national Financial Activities payrolls shed 129,000 jobs since May 2025.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.8% — vs 4.1% national, 3.5% NC statewide
- National Financial Activities job losses: -129,000 — Since May 2025, concentrated in insurance carriers
- F&A Talent Shortage Index: 77% — Up from 108% surplus reading in 2025
- National wage growth deceleration: 3.0% y/y — September gain of 0.13%, below 3.2% forecast
Key takeaways
FP&A and Controller pay keep climbing against a shrinking sector.
Metro FP&A Manager pay rose significantly to a $135,200 median — above the national figure — and Controller pay rose to $114,275, even as Financial Activities lost jobs locally and nationally. This divergence suggests employers are concentrating scarce compensation budget on strategic finance roles while pulling back elsewhere.
Transactional finance roles are losing local pay ground fast.
Billing Specialist and Tax Specialist advertised pay fell significantly in the metro to $41,600 and $42,719 respectively, moving opposite the national trend where both roles rose. Local employers may be consolidating these functions into shared services or automating them, consistent with the national signal that F&A automation is offsetting headcount growth.
CPA and accountant scarcity is a national signal worth local testing.
The national Talent Shortage Index for finance and accounting swung from a 108% surplus in 2025 to a 77% shortage reading in 2026, alongside a 134% Hiring Index. Metro Senior Accountant pay has stayed flat at $77,442, well below the $87,731 national median — a gap that may not hold if shortage pressure reaches this market.
Slower wage growth nationally buys Finance some budget room.
September's 0.13% monthly gain in average hourly earnings (3.0% year-over-year) came in below the 3.2% forecast, easing a key input to salary budget planning mid-cycle. Locally, Financial Activities job losses reduce competitive bidding pressure for transactional roles, even as analytical finance talent stays tight.
Median advertised pay by role — Winston-Salem, NC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controller | $97,501 | $114,275 | $120,000 | Significant increase | $113,754 |
| Senior Accountant | $72,084 | $77,442 | $85,000 | Stable | $87,731 |
| Financial Analyst | $58,751 | $74,256 | $86,795 | Stable | $94,782 |
| Billing Specialist | $33,742 | $41,600 | $42,451 | Significant decline | $49,512 |
| Tax Specialist | $31,898 | $42,719 | $45,207 | Significant decline | $65,842 |
| Credit Analyst * | $60,050 | $78,094 | $90,547 | Moderate increase | $71,758 |
| FP&A Manager | $121,257 | $135,200 | $140,675 | Significant increase | $128,139 |
* 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
Winston-Salem's 3.8% metro unemployment rate continues to run well below the 4.1% national average, but Financial Activities payrolls fell locally and statewide in August, consistent with a national sector that has shed 129,000 positions since May 2025 driven largely by insurance carrier contraction. Tight overall labor supply alongside sector-specific contraction is producing an unusual local pattern: scarce talent, but fewer open requisitions in core finance functions than the broader labor market would predict.
What it means
National F&A hiring intent remains aggressive — 74% of finance leaders plan to grow permanent headcount in the second half of 2026 — even as the sector sheds jobs overall, suggesting employers are reallocating headcount toward higher-value roles like FP&A and controllership rather than transactional functions such as billing and tax support, a pattern the metro's own advertised pay divergence confirms. Controllers and FP&A leaders building 2027 headcount plans should treat this as a bifurcation, not a slowdown: budget for continued scarcity-driven premiums on analytical and managerial finance talent while expecting continued softening in transactional-role pay. Consider reviewing headcount requests by role tier rather than function-wide, since Financial Activities' aggregate job losses may mask genuine upward pressure in specific high-value positions.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: North Carolina's Finance and Insurance sector is projected to grow 0.74% annually through 2034, adding 17,800 jobs — a slow-build trend that could gradually tighten the local Controller and FP&A talent pool even as near-term sector payrolls contract.
Emerging pressure point: North Carolina logged 13 WARN notices in the last 90 days affecting 1,336 workers, concentrated in manufacturing and healthcare rather than finance. Watch whether any displaced talent with transferable financial operations skills enters the Winston-Salem candidate pool.
Early indicator: National F&A leaders report nearly half expect direct labor rate increases above 4% given scarcity — a figure not yet reflected in this metro's flat Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst pay. A shift toward that national benchmark would signal budget cycles need faster recalibration.
Potential inflection point: Business and Financial Operations occupations statewide are projected to grow 7.02% through 2034 with a $78,660 median wage, well above current metro Financial Analyst pay of $74,256. Widening gap between projected demand and current local pay could pressure budgets if talent competition intensifies.
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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