{"schema_version": 1, "id": "bloomington-in-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 144, "label": "Bloomington, IN MSA", "slug": "bloomington-in-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T05:03:44.438690+00:00", "headline": "Bloomington finance pay splits from state trend as wages fall.", "headline_summary": "Bloomington wages fell 6.2% in 2025 and unemployment is forecast to hit 4.0% in 2026, even as Indiana's statewide rate holds at 3.4% and Controller pay locally climbs to $120,311.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Bloomington employment decline", "value": "-5.9%", "context": "Largest YoY drop of any Indiana MSA, Oct. 2026 BLS release"}, {"label": "Bloomington 2025 wage change", "value": "-6.2%", "context": "Vs. state and national wage growth, per IBRC"}, {"label": "Indiana unemployment", "value": "3.4%", "context": "Vs. 4.2% national rate, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Bloomington 2026 unemployment forecast", "value": "4.0%", "context": "Up from 3.7% in Sept. 2026, per IBRC forecast"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Bloomington's wage decline is a local story.", "body": "Indiana unemployment sits at 3.4% with tight statewide labor supply, yet Bloomington wages fell 6.2% in 2025 and employment is down nearly 2%. Compensation benchmarking built on state or national data will systematically overstate what it takes to hire or retain in this metro."}, {"headline": "Controller pay is climbing locally while FP&A Manager pay is falling.", "body": "Metro Controller advertised pay rose to $120,311 (up moderate) and now exceeds the national median of $115,420, while FP&A Manager advertised pay dropped to $112,269 against a national figure climbing to $130,000. Divergent trajectories for adjacent finance roles suggest employers are prioritizing close and reporting oversight over forward-looking planning capacity."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay signals a national talent reallocation Bloomington hasn't matched.", "body": "National Tax Specialist advertised pay rose significantly to $69,556 while Bloomington's median sits at $57,296, a gap of more than $12,000. Metro employers may be exposed to out-migration of tax talent toward markets paying closer to the national rate."}, {"headline": "University-sector softness is the metro's structural wage drag.", "body": "Indiana Business Research Center attributes Bloomington's 6.2% wage decline to university-sector reductions, a dynamic absent from statewide manufacturing and healthcare gains. Finance leaders tied to education-adjacent revenue should model slower compensation recovery than state forecasts imply."}], "local_conditions": "Bloomington's labor market diverged sharply from the state this month: the metro posted the largest over-the-year employment decline of any Indiana MSA at -5.9%, while area wages fell 6.2% in 2025 on university-sector reductions, even as Indiana's unemployment held near historic lows at 3.4%. Local forecasters expect Bloomington's jobless rate to climb to 4.0% in 2026, driven by durable goods and financial services softness that is only partially offset by 4.1% growth in private health and education services.", "implications": "Metro-specific contraction alongside state-level tightness creates a bifurcated planning environment \u2014 Finance teams budgeting on statewide wage trend data risk overstating local cost pressure, since Bloomington's compensation trajectory runs counter to Indiana's broader 3.4% unemployment story. Declining FP&A Manager advertised pay locally ($112,269, down moderate) against rising national rates ($130,000, up moderate) signals Bloomington employers are competing on a different cost basis than peer metros, which complicates retention for finance leadership roles during a period when CFO turnover nationally sits at 18.3%. Consider reviewing whether Bloomington-specific compensation data should anchor FP&A and controller-level offers, ahead of state or national benchmarks, given the metro's documented wage contraction.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "IBRC forecasts Bloomington unemployment rising to 4.0% in 2026 from the current 3.7%. Watch whether this shift loosens candidate supply for Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst roles, both currently showing flat-to-declining advertised pay."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "CFO turnover nationally is projected at 18.3% for 2026 with external hiring rates up to 37.5%, the highest since the pandemic. Bloomington's below-median FP&A and Controller pay relative to national figures may widen vacancy risk during Q4 close and audit cycles."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Private health and education services employment grew 4.1% locally, the one bright spot offsetting university and manufacturing softness. Track whether this growth generates measurable demand for finance support roles in that sector, such as billing and credit analyst functions."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Indiana's labor force shrank roughly 18,900 over the past year even as unemployment stayed low. If Bloomington mirrors this contraction, retention during year-end close may matter more than new hiring for finance cost planning."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 115795.0, "metro_p50": 120311.0, "metro_p75": 120311.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115420.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 73336.0, "metro_p50": 80605.0, "metro_p75": 85000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74343.0, "metro_p50": 89965.0, "metro_p75": 94117.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38241.5, "metro_p50": 47840.0, "metro_p75": 47840.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 49000.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 35360.0, "metro_p50": 57296.0, "metro_p75": 71000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 49767.0, "metro_p50": 62267.2, "metro_p75": 68275.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 91024.0, "metro_p50": 112268.8, "metro_p75": 124994.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bloomington posted the largest over-the-year employment decline among Indiana metros at -5.9%"}, {"source_name": "Indiana Business Research Center", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bloomington area wages fell 6.2% in 2025 driven by university-sector reductions"}, {"source_name": "Indiana Business Research Center", "source_url": null, "statement": "Bloomington unemployment forecast to rise to 4.0% in 2026"}, {"source_name": "Crist|Kolder Associates", "source_url": null, "statement": "CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, external hiring rate at 37.5%"}, {"source_name": "Indiana Department of Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Indiana unemployment at 3.4% in September 2026 versus 4.2% national rate"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / Indiana DWD", "source_url": null, "statement": "Indiana labor force shrank approximately 18,900 over the past year"}], "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": "bloomington-in-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "bloomington-in-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:18:53.633085+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/bloomington-in-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/bloomington-in-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}