Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Kokomo, IN MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Kokomo MSA unemployment rate was 5.5% in September 2025
Indiana Department of Workforce Development — State labor market data release
Indiana unemployment held at 3.3% in August, lowest since May 2023
Indiana Department of Workforce Development — State unemployment announcement, September 2026
This Month's Takeaways
Kokomo posted 10.6% average hourly earnings growth, strongest among Indiana metros
Indiana University In Context — Metro-level wage growth data, April 2025-April 2026
StarPlus Energy's $6B investment expected to add 2,800 jobs, second plant by 2027
Indiana University Kokomo Forecast — Regional economic development forecast
Local Economic Conditions
Howard County unemployment rose since April 2026 amid tariff uncertainty and EV credit removal
Indiana University Kokomo Economic Forecast — Regional economic forecast commentary
Looking Ahead
National wage growth slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National wage and CPI data, September 2026
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison