{"schema_version": 1, "id": "albuquerque-nm-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 64, "label": "Albuquerque, NM MSA", "slug": "albuquerque-nm-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T04:55:44.699557+00:00", "headline": "Albuquerque finance pay splits \u2014 leadership up, entry roles down.", "headline_summary": "FP&A Manager advertised pay hit $130,681, topping the national median, while Senior Accountant pay fell to $75,000 against a flat 4.8% metro unemployment rate.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment (Aug, prelim)", "value": "4.8%", "context": "Down from 5.5% in July, up from 4.3% in April"}, {"label": "FP&A Manager advertised pay", "value": "$130,681", "context": "Above $130,000 national median"}, {"label": "Metro nonfarm job growth, YoY", "value": "0.1%", "context": "vs 1.3% statewide growth rate"}, {"label": "NM Finance & Insurance job growth", "value": "0.3%", "context": "Annualized, trails 1.3% statewide total"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "FP&A Manager pay has overtaken the national median locally.", "body": "Metro advertised pay of $130,681 now exceeds the $130,000 national figure, a reversal from the typical 10-20% New Mexico discount. This appears to reflect finance teams bidding up scarce planning talent, with broader metro wages remaining soft."}, {"headline": "Senior Accountant pay is falling as the role softens locally.", "body": "Metro median dropped to $75,000, moderate decline, while the national figure held stable at $87,731 \u2014 a widening 14% metro discount. Controllers relying on local benchmarks for this role risk underpricing against a national talent pool that contract and remote staffing models increasingly draw from."}, {"headline": "Flat finance employment growth masks a thin bench for leadership roles.", "body": "Finance & Insurance sector growth of 0.3% statewide trails the 1.3% overall job growth rate, even as CFO external hiring hits 37.5% nationally. Thin local supply for senior finance roles raises the odds that Albuquerque employers increasingly compete nationally for Controller and FP&A leadership talent."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay surges locally and nationally in tandem.", "body": "Metro median climbed to $58,783 and national median to $69,556, both tagged significant increases \u2014 a rare case where local and national demand are moving together. Compensation plans built on last year's tax-role benchmarks are likely already stale."}], "local_conditions": "Albuquerque MSA unemployment eased to a preliminary 4.8% in August after peaking at 5.5% in July, yet total nonfarm employment grew just 0.1% over the year \u2014 effectively flat hiring against a softer jobless rate, a combination consistent with employers managing headcount cautiously. Finance & Insurance employment statewide grew only 0.3% annualized, underscoring that finance and accounting hiring in this metro is lagging the broader 1.3% statewide job growth driven by healthcare and construction.", "implications": "Flat finance-sector headcount growth against elevated CFO turnover (18.3% nationally) and an 85% finance-talent-shortage rate among CFOs suggests Albuquerque Controllers and FP&A leaders face vacancy risk precisely when local labor supply isn't expanding to backfill it. Metro FP&A Manager pay climbing to $130,681 \u2014 now above the national median \u2014 signals employers are already competing on cash for scarce finance leadership talent even as broader metro wages stay soft; organizations should evaluate whether budget cycles account for longer time-to-fill on finance leadership roles given this supply-demand mismatch.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Albuquerque unemployment swung from 4.3% in April to 5.5% in July to a preliminary 4.8% in August \u2014 unusual month-to-month volatility. Finance leaders building headcount cost forecasts should treat any single month's rate with caution until a clearer trend emerges."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "CFO turnover sits at an 18.3% national high with 70% of finance leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026. Watch whether Albuquerque finance teams follow this shift toward contract staffing, which complicates fixed-cost headcount planning and audit documentation trails."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "New Mexico's federal government sector cut 2,100 jobs through mid-2026, and Albuquerque carries meaningful federal and federal-contractor employment exposure. Monitor whether any further federal workforce reductions push finance and accounting talent into the local private-sector candidate pool."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "FP&A Manager pay crossing above the national median locally is a notable reversal for a metro that typically runs 10-20% below national compensation levels. If this persists into Q4, it may signal a structural repricing of finance leadership roles beyond a one-month anomaly."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 92500.0, "metro_p50": 112343.0, "metro_p75": 114928.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115420.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 69691.0, "metro_p50": 75000.0, "metro_p75": 79609.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 66702.0, "metro_p50": 86731.0, "metro_p75": 97843.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 36997.0, "metro_p50": 45103.0, "metro_p75": 47840.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 37660.0, "metro_p50": 58782.8, "metro_p75": 74714.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60509.0, "metro_p50": 71293.0, "metro_p75": 71293.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 104873.0, "metro_p50": 130681.0, "metro_p75": 135895.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions / BLS", "source_url": null, "statement": "Albuquerque MSA unemployment rate trajectory April-August 2026"}, {"source_name": "New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions", "source_url": null, "statement": "Albuquerque MSA nonfarm employment grew 0.1% year over year"}, {"source_name": "Crist|Kolder Associates", "source_url": null, "statement": "CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic"}, {"source_name": "MAVI", "source_url": null, "statement": "85% of CFOs report finance talent shortages affecting operations"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "New Mexico Finance & Insurance sector employment growth of 0.3%"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "New Mexico federal government employment cut 2,100 jobs"}], "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.", "edition_label": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "albuquerque-nm-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "albuquerque-nm-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:17:33.287754+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/albuquerque-nm-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/albuquerque-nm-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}