{"schema_version": 1, "id": "jefferson-city-mo-msa/finance/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 263, "label": "Jefferson City, MO MSA", "slug": "jefferson-city-mo-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:25:49.433010+00:00", "headline": "Jefferson City finance pay splits: analysts up, controllers flat.", "headline_summary": "Financial Analyst advertised pay climbed to $90,864 in Jefferson City \u2014 nearly $8,000 above the national median \u2014 even as Controller pay eased to $110,049 against a 3.2% metro unemployment rate well below the national 4.1%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "3.2%", "context": "vs 3.5% Missouri, 4.1% national"}, {"label": "Financial Analyst advertised pay", "value": "$90,864", "context": "vs $82,905 national median"}, {"label": "Controller advertised pay", "value": "$110,049", "context": "down moderately vs $112,500 national"}, {"label": "Missouri WARN-affected workers", "value": "2,935 in 2026", "context": "down 43% vs 2025"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Financial Analyst pay is outrunning the national market locally.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay of $90,864 sits nearly $8,000 above the national figure, a significant local premium that suggests employers are bidding up mid-level analytical talent faster than they are national peers. Budget cycles built on national compensation assumptions likely understate true local cost for this role."}, {"headline": "Controller compensation is softening while analyst pay climbs.", "body": "Controller advertised pay in the metro slipped to $110,049, moderately below the $112,500 national median, even as Financial Analyst and FP&A Manager pay rose. This divergence may reflect employers substituting deeper analytical capacity for senior oversight headcount \u2014 worth testing against actual org design plans before finalizing FY27 department budgets."}, {"headline": "Billing Specialist demand looks like a quiet cost driver.", "body": "Advertised pay for Billing Specialists rose significantly to $50,000, outpacing the moderate national increase to $49,700. Transaction-processing and AR/AP roles appear to be absorbing wage pressure typically associated with more senior finance functions, a signal worth flagging in close-cycle staffing cost projections."}, {"headline": "Missouri's low unemployment insurance risk buys planning stability.", "body": "State UI Trust Fund balance held at $1.27 billion as of August 31, a solid cushion that limits near-term employer tax rate increases. Finance leaders can likely treat benefit-cost assumptions as stable through year-end, freeing attention for the more volatile wage-line items above."}], "local_conditions": "Jefferson City's labor market stayed structurally tighter than both state and national benchmarks, with the metro's 3.2% unemployment rate (latest available, December 2025) sitting well below Missouri's 3.5% and the national 4.1% mark, reflecting the stabilizing weight of state government employment in the capital economy. Financial Analyst and Billing Specialist advertised pay both moved up significantly locally this month, a signal that Finance and operations support roles are absorbing disproportionate wage pressure even as broader hiring activity across Missouri slowed to 2,100 net jobs in August.", "implications": "Tight local labor supply combined with sharp advertised pay increases for Financial Analyst ($90,864, above the national median of $82,905) suggests Jefferson City employers are competing hard for mid-level analytical talent even as Controller pay softened, indicating budget owners are reallocating compensation dollars toward execution-level roles rather than senior oversight. This divergence complicates standard headcount cost planning, since a flat or declining Controller market can mask real inflation building at the analyst and specialist tiers where close, forecasting, and billing work actually gets done. Consider reviewing FP&A and Financial Analyst pay bands against current advertised rates before Q4 budget finalization, rather than relying on prior-year Controller-level assumptions to set the full department cost curve.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Missouri payroll revisions have shown volatility \u2014 July's total was revised down 1,300 jobs after initial reporting. Controllers should build in a margin for employment tax accrual adjustments tied to state-level data revisions through year-end close."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National F&A hiring managers report AI-skill premiums running as high as 56% and technical accounting roles commanding 6\u201315% AI-related pay premiums. Watch whether this pressure reaches Jefferson City's smaller finance talent pool, where FP&A Manager pay already moved up moderately this month."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Manufacturing lost 1,000 jobs statewide in August while mining, logging and construction gained 2,200 \u2014 a sector rotation that could shift available finance and accounting talent supply if manufacturing-adjacent finance roles are affected locally. Monitor whether this loosens or tightens the local analyst candidate pool."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Missouri WARN notices fell 43% year over year with only 29 filings in 2026, suggesting limited displaced-talent supply entering the market. A metro this reliant on government and healthcare employment is unlikely to see meaningful finance-talent slack open up before Q1 2027."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 92341.25, "metro_p50": 110049.4, "metro_p75": 125437.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 112500.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 72000.0, "metro_p50": 79950.0, "metro_p75": 80364.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70412.5, "metro_p50": 90864.0, "metro_p75": 105752.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 82905.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38210.0, "metro_p50": 50000.0, "metro_p75": 54677.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 49700.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 47119.5, "metro_p50": 65000.0, "metro_p75": 65000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 66725.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 55107.0, "metro_p50": 63259.0, "metro_p75": 70543.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 72000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 99801.0, "metro_p50": 123745.0, "metro_p75": 129853.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 127341.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [], "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "jefferson-city-mo-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "pdf": "jefferson-city-mo-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:34:23.360250+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jefferson-city-mo-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/jefferson-city-mo-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}