{"schema_version": 1, "id": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 358, "label": "Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC MSA", "slug": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T05:39:36.697174+00:00", "headline": "Myrtle Beach finance pay slips as national rates climb.", "headline_summary": "Metro Controller pay fell to $100,000 against a national median rising to $115,420, even as metro employment grew 3.6% year-over-year \u2014 one of the strongest rates in the country.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro employment growth (YoY)", "value": "3.6%", "context": "Among strongest of any U.S. metro, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Horry County unemployment", "value": "4.8%", "context": "vs 4.0% SC statewide, Aug. 2026"}, {"label": "Controller pay, metro vs. national", "value": "$100,000 vs $115,420", "context": "Metro down significantly; national up moderately"}, {"label": "Horry County avg. weekly wage", "value": "$974", "context": "Lowest among SC's largest counties, Q1 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Finance leadership pay is losing ground nationally.", "body": "Controller advertised pay fell to a $100,000 metro median while the national figure rose to $115,420, and FP&A Manager pay dropped to $118,125 locally against a national climb to $130,000. A widening gap at the leadership tier, against a national backdrop of 18.3% CFO turnover, raises real flight risk for finance leaders with remote or relocation options."}, {"headline": "Headline job growth conceals a softening wage story.", "body": "Metro employment grew 3.6% year-over-year, among the strongest in the country, yet Horry County's average weekly wage of $974 remains the lowest among South Carolina's largest counties. Fast headcount growth without matching wage growth is consistent with a labor market absorbing workers into lower-paying tourism and hospitality roles ahead of finance and professional positions."}, {"headline": "Financial Analyst pay is moving the opposite direction of the rest of finance.", "body": "Metro Financial Analyst pay rose to $73,151, a moderate increase, while Controller and FP&A Manager pay both declined. Divergence within the finance function suggests employers are prioritizing analytical and FP&A support talent even while leadership compensation lags, worth factoring into internal pay equity reviews."}, {"headline": "Tax Specialist pay gap may complicate seasonal and close-cycle staffing.", "body": "Metro Tax Specialist pay fell significantly to $58,692 against a national median climbing to $69,556 \u2014 an 15%-plus spread. Combined with national findings that 61% of finance hiring managers report harder-than-expected searches, this gap could extend time-to-fill for tax and compliance roles heading into year-end close."}], "local_conditions": "Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach posted 3.6% year-over-year employment growth in September, among the strongest rates of any U.S. metro, even as Horry County unemployment rose to 4.8% in August \u2014 a divergence that points to a labor force expanding faster than payrolls can absorb it. Tourism-driven seasonal hiring patterns, continued in-migration, and construction and healthcare demand are pulling workers into the metro, but wage growth has lagged: Horry County's $974 average weekly wage remains the lowest among South Carolina's major counties, even after a 3.4% year-over-year gain.", "implications": "Strong headline job growth masks a compensation structure under pressure \u2014 Controller pay locally has fallen to $100,000 against a rising national median of $115,420, and FP&A Manager pay dropped to $118,125 even as national pay climbed to $130,000, a gap that threatens the metro's ability to retain finance leadership during a year when CFO turnover nationally is running at 18.3%. Close-cycle and audit-readiness risk compounds this: national data shows 70% of finance and accounting leaders leaning harder on contract talent, and a metro where local FP&A and Controller pay is falling behind national benchmarks is poorly positioned to compete for that same contract talent pool. Current conditions suggest reviewing retention risk for finance leadership roles specifically, where local-to-national pay gaps have widened the most this cycle.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "Horry County's 4.8% unemployment against 4.0% statewide suggests continued labor force growth outpacing job creation in professional and finance roles. Watch whether this spread narrows as fourth-quarter seasonal hiring in tourism absorbs additional workers, or whether it signals broader slack reaching finance and accounting."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Local Controller and FP&A Manager pay both declined this cycle while national figures rose, a divergence uncommon across comparable metros. Finance leaders should monitor whether this reflects a temporary advertised-pay dip or a structural repricing that could affect retention of senior finance staff through year-end close and audit cycles."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National CFO turnover at 18.3%, the highest since the pandemic, combined with a 37.5% external hire rate, raises the odds that Myrtle Beach-area finance leadership vacancies get filled externally ahead of through internal promotion. Watch succession pipelines for Controller and FP&A roles specifically, where local pay has softened relative to the national market."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "South Carolina's finance and insurance sector ranks among the state's highest-wage industries, which could put additional pressure on Myrtle Beach employers competing for the same pool of accounting and finance talent as Charleston and Columbia, both of which carry materially lower unemployment rates."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 67510.5, "metro_p50": 100000.0, "metro_p75": 109875.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115420.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 69709.0, "metro_p50": 82500.0, "metro_p75": 87634.0, "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": 65442.0, "metro_p50": 73151.0, "metro_p75": 82500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 33546.25, "metro_p50": 37363.0, "metro_p75": 40570.0, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 38978.0, "metro_p50": 58692.0, "metro_p75": 74714.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 45100.0, "metro_p50": 65544.0, "metro_p75": 70862.75, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 97625.0, "metro_p50": 118124.8, "metro_p75": 130000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:26:45.978894+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/myrtle-beach-conway-north-myrtle-beach-sc-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}