Hagerstown holds steadier than Maryland's statewide slowdown
4.0%
Metro unemployment rate
June 2026, vs 4.1% Maryland statewide
4.8%
Washington County unemployment
March 2026, above metro and state rates
63.7%
Maryland labor force participation
10-year low, down from 63.8% in July
+4.2%
Maryland average weekly wage growth
Year-over-year, Aug 2026, vs 3.4% national CPI
This Month's Takeaways
01
Metro unemployment undercuts the statewide deterioration narrative.
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's 4.0% June rate sits below Maryland's 4.1% and below the metro's own March Washington County reading of 4.8%, suggesting local conditions may be more resilient than state headlines on job losses and contractor cuts imply. Commerce leaders should treat statewide softness as context, not a direct read on this metro.
02
Healthcare pay strength looks like the metro's clearest bright spot.
Registered nurse pay (up significantly to $111,634 locally) and CNA/home health aide pay (up significantly to $43,680) both outpace national medians, consistent with Maryland's statewide bright spots in leisure/hospitality and state/local government employment. Meritus Health's position as the metro's largest employer gives this sector outsized weight in local economic stability.
03
Professional and technical pay softness tracks the statewide contractor pullback.
Financial analyst pay (down significantly to $69,614) and software engineer pay (down significantly to $120,613) diverge sharply from stable-to-rising national medians, a pattern consistent with Maryland's broader loss of federal-contractor-linked professional services jobs. This may signal a local labor pool increasingly available for white-collar roles even as demand elsewhere stays firm.
04
Logistics sector pay is softening despite the region's distribution-hub identity.
Warehouse/fulfillment pay is down moderately and delivery driver pay down significantly locally, even as the metro's economic identity rests heavily on logistics employers like FedEx Ground, Dot Foods, and Staples Distribution. Commerce leaders tracking the health of this traditional growth sector should watch whether softening pay reflects slower volume or simply a stabilizing, less competitive hiring environment.
Local Economic Conditions
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's 4.0% June unemployment rate, the most recent MSA-level figure, continues to run below Maryland's 4.1% statewide rate even as Washington County posted a higher 4.8% reading in March, pointing to a widening gap between the metro's two states and counties that merit watching as newer data arrives. Local wage movement is mixed and sector-specific rather than broad-based: advertised pay for nursing assistants and registered nurses is up sharply while electricians, financial analysts, and software engineers have pulled back significantly, a pattern consistent with Maryland's statewide divergence between healthcare/hospitality gains and professional-services softness tied to federal contractor pullback.
Open Threads in the Data
Divergent sector performance locally mirrors the state's broader split: healthcare and public-sector-adjacent roles are strengthening even as professional and technical pay cools, which is consistent with Maryland's 11,500-job decline in professional/scientific/technical services since January 2025. For commerce leaders weighing expansion timing, the metro's sub-state unemployment rate and large regional employers (Meritus Health, Washington County Public Schools, FedEx Ground, Volvo Group) suggest more underlying stability than the statewide headline implies, though Maryland's falling labor force participation rate (63.7%, a 10-year low) warrants caution about assuming abundant available labor capacity. Current conditions suggest reviewing expansion or investment plans against the metro's specific sector mix rather than extrapolating from statewide softness alone.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$32,734 |
→ Stable |
1,195 |
| Retail Cashier |
$33,280 |
↑ Moderate increase |
404 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$38,563 |
↓ Moderate decline |
431 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$83,590 |
→ Stable |
2,827 |
| Delivery Driver |
$33,195 |
↓ Significant decline |
1,134 |
| Warehouse Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$38,480 |
→ Stable |
84 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$67,665 |
↓ Significant decline |
213 |
| HVAC Technician |
$65,520 |
↑ Significant increase |
48 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$38,480 |
↓ Moderate decline |
255 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$37,440 |
↓ Moderate decline |
193 |
| Operations Manager |
$95,900 |
→ Stable |
101 |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$34,902 |
↓ Significant decline |
35 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$43,680 |
↑ Significant increase |
528 |
| Registered Nurse |
$111,634 |
↑ Significant increase |
2,755 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$42,602 |
↓ Moderate decline |
184 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$120,613 |
↓ Significant decline |
106 |
| Data Engineer |
$145,000 |
→ Stable |
15,268 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$67,951 |
→ Stable |
77 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$70,000 |
↑ Moderate increase |
32 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$67,817 |
↑ Moderate increase |
1,920 |
| Business Analyst |
$101,777 |
→ Stable |
29 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$69,614 |
↓ Significant decline |
29 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$56,602 |
↑ Significant increase |
1,026 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$89,247 |
↑ Significant increase |
76 |
Industry Snapshot · Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↓ −14.8% |
↑ +63.0% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +17.9% |
↑ +218.3% |
| Retail Trade |
→ 0.0% |
↑ +89.6% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↓ −13.8% |
↑ +118.0% |
| Information |
↑ +26.6% |
↑ +93.3% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +10.6% |
↑ +267.9% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +22.9% |
↑ +115.3% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +25.6% |
↑ +46.3% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
↓ −7.7% |
↑ +26.5% |
| Government |
↑ +89.6% |
↑ +1151.0% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Data gap to watch
September MSA-level unemployment won't publish until mid-October, and Washington County unemployment data lags to March; commerce leaders making near-term decisions should treat current metro figures as directionally useful but dated.
Emerging pressure point
Maryland's labor force participation rate fell to a 10-year low of 63.7% in August; if this trend extends to Washington and Berkeley counties, it could tighten effective labor supply even where unemployment appears moderate.
Worth watching
Statewide WARN filings dropped 48% year-over-year in affected workers, but recent notices (PepsiCo's Hyattsville facility, Amentum's Prince George's County cuts) show federal- and contractor-linked sectors remain exposed; any similar filing touching Washington or Berkeley counties would be a meaningful local signal.
Potential inflection point
National wage growth has slipped to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, the weakest pace since May 2021; if local wage trends in logistics and professional services follow this national erosion, it would pressure household purchasing power across the metro's retail and consumer-facing business base.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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