{"schema_version": 1, "id": "san-angelo-tx-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 456, "label": "San Angelo, TX MSA", "slug": "san-angelo-tx-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "restaurant_industry", "slug": "restaurant-industry", "label": "Restaurant Industry"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T07:08:18.785308+00:00", "headline": "San Angelo cook pay trails the nation as the labor pool tightens further.", "headline_summary": "San Angelo's 3.5% unemployment rate \u2014 among the lowest in Texas \u2014 coincides with Line Cook pay of $29,120, nearly $8,300 below the $37,421 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "San Angelo unemployment rate", "value": "3.5%", "context": "vs 4.4% Texas, 4.2% U.S. (Sept 2026)"}, {"label": "Texas leisure/hospitality payrolls", "value": "-1,700 jobs", "context": "October 2026, signals unresolved seasonal staffing gap"}, {"label": "Line Cook pay gap", "value": "$29,120 metro", "context": "vs $37,421 national median"}, {"label": "Restaurant industry turnover", "value": "~80% annual", "context": "up from 72% pre-pandemic"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Back-of-house pay lags national benchmarks by a wide margin.", "body": "Metro Line Cook median pay of $29,120 trails the national figure of $37,421 by over 22%, even as BLS projects cook demand to grow six times faster than server demand through 2035. Operators recruiting cooks in a 3.5%-unemployment metro may be competing on a pay gap that national peers have already closed."}, {"headline": "Tipped-wage flexibility arrives just as hospitality hiring stalls.", "body": "Texas's withdrawal of the 80/20/30 rule lets operators pay the $2.13 tipped base for more non-tip-producing work, but statewide leisure and hospitality payrolls fell 1,700 in October. The policy change may ease labor cost pressure on paper without resolving the staffing shortfall driving that payroll decline."}, {"headline": "Crew and Server pay is flat or falling against a tightening labor pool.", "body": "Metro Crew pay dropped to $26,000 (moderate decline) and Server pay held flat at $27,016, both trailing national medians by $4,000 or more, even as San Angelo's labor market sits near its tightest point in the Texas Workforce Commission series. Flat advertised pay in a 3.5%-unemployment metro is consistent with employers absorbing turnover costs rather than raising entry wages to compete for scarce workers."}, {"headline": "Assistant Manager pay is rising while GM pay holds flat.", "body": "Assistant Restaurant Manager pay climbed to $40,404 (significant increase, above the $39,211 national figure), while Restaurant Manager/GM pay stayed flat at $49,466, below the $59,724 national median. Rising pay at the assistant tier may signal operators are building bench strength for promotion rather than competing for GM talent in the open market."}], "local_conditions": "San Angelo's 3.5% unemployment rate in September, among the lowest of any Texas metro, reflects a labor pool tight enough that restaurant operators compete directly with healthcare, construction and government for entry-level and hourly workers. Statewide tipped-wage policy shifted materially this month \u2014 Texas dropped the 80/20/30 rule, letting operators pay the $2.13 tipped base for more non-tip duties \u2014 even as leisure and hospitality payrolls statewide fell 1,700 in October, suggesting Q4 seasonal hiring has not yet closed the gap left by turnover.", "implications": "Metro Line Cook pay at $29,120 sits far below the national median of $37,421, a gap that likely compounds hiring difficulty in a labor pool this tight \u2014 BLS projects cook demand to grow 12% through 2035 against flat demand for servers, meaning back-of-house compensation may need to move independent of front-of-house budgets. Texas's elimination of the 80/20/30 rule gives operators room to reallocate side-work hours without raising base pay, but in a 3.5%-unemployment market that flexibility may matter less than closing the BOH pay gap outright. Consider evaluating whether Line Cook and prep pay structures reflect the role's tightening labor supply rather than historical FOH-BOH pay ratios.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Policy follow-through", "body": "Texas's removal of the 80/20/30 rule just took effect; watch whether San Angelo operators actually restructure tipped-role duties and pay mix over the next pay cycle or hold current practices through the holiday season."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Statewide leisure and hospitality payrolls fell 1,700 in October even as San Angelo unemployment sits at 3.5%; a widening gap between seasonal demand and available labor could push Crew and Server advertised pay upward heading into Q4 peak season."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Manufacturing added 4,700 jobs statewide in September and construction remains a top local employer; continued competition from these sectors for entry-level labor may keep upward pressure on Line Cook and Crew wages regardless of restaurant-specific demand."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Assistant Restaurant Manager pay rose significantly this month while GM pay held flat; watch whether this gap narrows or widens, as it may indicate operators are near-term solving turnover through internal promotion rather than external GM recruitment."}], "roles": [{"role": "Assistant Restaurant Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 29191.0, "metro_p50": 40404.4, "metro_p75": 48500.0, "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": 35334.0, "metro_p50": 51994.0, "metro_p75": 56706.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 50076.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Crew", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 22880.0, "metro_p50": 26000.0, "metro_p75": 28686.0, "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": 25119.0, "metro_p50": 29120.0, "metro_p75": 30303.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 37421.4, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Restaurant Manager/General Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 43679.0, "metro_p50": 49466.2, "metro_p75": 56590.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 59724.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Server", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 24618.0, "metro_p50": 27015.6, "metro_p75": 30158.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 35024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Shift Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 25694.75, "metro_p50": 28805.0, "metro_p75": 29120.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 33024.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Texas Workforce Commission", "source_url": null, "statement": "San Angelo MSA unemployment rate at 3.5% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "U.S. Department of Labor", "source_url": null, "statement": "Texas 80/20/30 tipped-wage rule withdrawal in October 2026"}, {"source_name": "Texas Workforce Commission", "source_url": null, "statement": "Texas leisure and hospitality employment declined 1,700 in October 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "BLS projects cook employment to grow 12% 2025-2035 vs 2% for waiters"}, {"source_name": "National Restaurant Association", "source_url": null, "statement": "Restaurant annual turnover near 80%, up from 72% pre-pandemic"}, {"source_name": "Texas Workforce Commission", "source_url": null, "statement": "Texas statewide unemployment rate at 4.4% in September 2026"}], "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": "san-angelo-tx-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "pdf": "san-angelo-tx-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:29:33.616633+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/san-angelo-tx-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/san-angelo-tx-msa/restaurant-industry/2026-10.pdf"}