{"schema_version": 1, "id": "cheyenne-wy-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 184, "label": "Cheyenne, WY MSA", "slug": "cheyenne-wy-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T06:22:09.731530+00:00", "headline": "Cheyenne restaurant managers see sharp pay gains amid tight labor supply.", "headline_summary": "Restaurant Manager/GM pay hit a $75,000 metro median versus $59,724 nationally, even as Cheyenne's 3.0% unemployment rate keeps hiring pressure elevated across front-of-house roles.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Cheyenne MSA unemployment", "value": "3.0%", "context": "vs 4.2% national rate, Sept 2026"}, {"label": "Restaurant Manager/GM pay", "value": "$75,000", "context": "vs $59,724 national median, up significant"}, {"label": "Leisure/hospitality avg annual wage", "value": "$29,520", "context": "Lowest of any WY industry sector"}, {"label": "National restaurant turnover rate", "value": "~80%", "context": "Up from 72% pre-pandemic"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Cheyenne management pay is outrunning the national market.", "body": "Restaurant Manager/GM advertised pay hit $75,000 locally versus $59,724 nationally, and Assistant Manager pay rose to $44,510 against a flat $39,211 national figure. This gap suggests Cheyenne operators are paying a premium to secure scarce leadership talent in a sub-3% unemployment labor market, a sign of local wage pressure that exceeds national trends."}, {"headline": "Crew wages are falling even as front-of-house pay climbs.", "body": "Metro Crew pay dropped to $29,120 while Server pay rose to $36,157, widening the spread between entry-level and tipped front-of-house roles. Operators may be deprioritizing entry-level wage competitiveness, a risk given leisure/hospitality already carries the lowest average annual wages statewide at $29,520."}, {"headline": "Tipped wage rule change creates near-term cost flexibility.", "body": "DOL's October withdrawal of the 80/20 rule lets operators apply the $2.13 tipped cash wage to non-tip-producing duties without threshold limits, reducing direct wage exposure during slower shifts. Wyoming's frozen $7.25 minimum and $2.13 tipped floor mean this federal change is the primary lever available to adjust labor cost structure this cycle."}, {"headline": "Catering Manager demand signals banquet and event growth.", "body": "Catering Manager pay jumped to a $70,000 metro median against $50,076 nationally, a significant divergence that points to expanding event and institutional catering activity tied to Cheyenne's government and convention-adjacent economy. Worth benchmarking this role separately from core restaurant management given its distinct and accelerating pay trajectory."}], "local_conditions": "Cheyenne MSA unemployment held near 3.0% in September, well below the national 4.2% rate, keeping restaurant operators competing for workers against a State of Wyoming employment base that offers higher pay stability and benefits. Elimination of the federal 80/20 rule for tipped wages in October gives operators more flexibility on side-work compensation just as leisure and hospitality continues to post the lowest average annual wages in the state at $29,520, compounding recruitment difficulty in a market already short on labor supply.", "implications": "Advertised pay for Restaurant Manager/General Manager roles in Cheyenne rose sharply to a $75,000 median, well above the $59,724 national figure, signaling that operators are bidding up leadership compensation to retain scarce management talent in a 3.0% unemployment market where turnover already runs near 80% nationally. Front-of-house roles like Server ($36,157, up moderately) are also seeing upward pressure while Crew pay in the metro actually declined, suggesting operators are concentrating retention investment in roles that stabilize operations. Consider reviewing whether entry-level pay compression against rising management and server compensation is creating internal equity gaps that accelerate turnover at the crew level.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "BLS October unemployment data for Wyoming and the Cheyenne MSA publishes November 15 and 23 respectively; watch whether the 3.0% rate holds or tightens further heading into the holiday hiring push."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Entry-level Crew pay declines against rising Server and management pay could widen internal equity gaps; monitor whether this drives measurable turnover upticks at the crew level over the next two pay cycles."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Federal 80/20 rule withdrawal takes effect broadly in October; track whether Cheyenne operators adjust side-work scheduling and tipped-wage documentation to capture the cost flexibility, and whether this affects server take-home pay enough to influence retention."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Accommodation and food services statewide is projected to add only 800 jobs (2.4% growth) through 2027, a pace that may not keep up with turnover-driven churn; watch local job ad volume, a signal of hiring demand where one ad often covers several openings, for signs of sustained unfilled demand."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38551.5, "metro_p50": 44510.0, "metro_p75": 50960.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 39211.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Catering Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 50000.0, "metro_p50": 70000.0, "metro_p75": 70000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 50076.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 26856.0, "metro_p50": 29120.0, "metro_p75": 29120.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 30066.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Line Cook", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31200.0, "metro_p50": 34293.0, "metro_p75": 36859.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 37421.4, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 56517.0, "metro_p50": 75000.0, "metro_p75": 75000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 59724.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 29041.0, "metro_p50": 36157.0, "metro_p75": 37440.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 35024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31072.0, "metro_p50": 33280.0, "metro_p75": 34685.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 33024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Wyoming Department of Workforce Services", "source_url": null, "statement": "Cheyenne MSA/Laramie County unemployment rate near 3.0% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "DOL withdrew the 80/20 tipped wage rule in October 2026"}, {"source_name": "National Restaurant Association", "source_url": null, "statement": "Restaurant annual turnover reached approximately 80% nationally"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "National unemployment rate at 4.2% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Research & Planning", "source_url": null, "statement": "Leisure and hospitality average annual wage of $29,520 in Wyoming"}, {"source_name": "Wyoming Department of Workforce Services", "source_url": null, "statement": "Accommodation and food services projected to add 800 jobs through 2027"}], "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": "cheyenne-wy-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "pdf": "cheyenne-wy-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:19:54.844232+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cheyenne-wy-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cheyenne-wy-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}