{"schema_version": 1, "id": "sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa/finance/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 354, "label": "Sioux City, IA-NE-SD MSA", "slug": "sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T05:57:51.657198+00:00", "headline": "Sioux City Controller pay slides as mid-level finance roles surge.", "headline_summary": "Metro Controller advertised pay fell to $84,321 against a national median of $115,420, even as Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst pay rose sharply locally.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "3.2%", "context": "vs 4.1% national rate, June 2026"}, {"label": "Controller advertised pay gap", "value": "$84,321 vs $115,420", "context": "Metro vs national median, down significant locally"}, {"label": "CFO turnover rate", "value": "18.3%", "context": "Highest since pandemic, Crist|Kolder 2026"}, {"label": "Iowa finance sector weekly wage", "value": "$1,534", "context": "Highest of any Iowa industry sector, Sept 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Controller pay gap with the national market is widening.", "body": "Metro advertised Controller pay sits at $84,321 versus a national median of $115,420, a spread wide enough to push experienced candidates toward remote or out-of-metro roles. Replacing a departing Controller locally may require scope changes, interim coverage, or pay above historical metro norms."}, {"headline": "Mid-level finance pay is moving faster locally than nationally.", "body": "Senior Accountant ($85,000) and Financial Analyst ($92,500) advertised pay rose significantly in the metro this month while national figures for both roles stayed flat. Current conditions suggest local employers are competing hard for a narrow bench of mid-career finance talent, with entry-level capacity drawing less of that pressure."}, {"headline": "CFO turnover nationally raises local succession stakes.", "body": "CFO turnover is projected at 18.3% in 2026, the highest since the pandemic, with external hiring filling 37.5% of vacancies. A metro already showing a wide Controller pay gap may face a longer, costlier search if a finance leadership vacancy opens unexpectedly."}, {"headline": "Contract staffing shift complicates audit documentation planning.", "body": "70% of finance and accounting leaders report increasing contract talent use in H2 2026, a trend that eases headcount cost pressure but introduces control and documentation gaps during close and audit cycles. Workforce plans built around contract capacity may need added review steps before year-end audit work begins."}], "local_conditions": "Sioux City metro unemployment held near 3.2% through mid-2026, tighter than both the Iowa average and the national 4.1% rate, reflecting a labor force that has not expanded enough to meet employer demand even as statewide labor force participation slipped to 66.9%. Iowa's financial activities sector posted the state's highest average weekly earnings at $1,534, a signal that finance talent competition in this metro is intensifying even where overall hiring volume stays modest.", "implications": "Metro-level Controller advertised pay dropping to $84,321 against a national median of $115,420 points to either a shrinking local applicant pool for senior finance leadership or employers recalibrating scope for the role \u2014 both carry audit-readiness and succession-planning risk if a Controller departure hits during close season. Senior Accountant and Financial Analyst pay climbing sharply in this metro, even as national figures hold flat, suggests local employers are bidding up mid-level finance talent faster than the broader market moves. Consider reviewing succession depth for Controller-level roles now, before a vacancy forces a rushed external search against a national pay gap exceeding $31,000.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Sioux City MSA unemployment data for October has not yet posted; watch for confirmation of whether the 3.2% trend held or tightened further, which would sharpen competition for mid-level finance talent heading into year-end close."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Iowa's financial activities sector already commands the state's top average weekly wage at $1,534; continued compression in metro Controller advertised pay alongside this suggests a bifurcated local market worth tracking role by role."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Wells Fargo's West Des Moines layoffs bringing 2026 Iowa job cuts to 460 workers could release finance and accounting talent into the broader Iowa labor pool, though Sioux City's distance from Des Moines limits direct spillover."}, {"category": "Expected", "body": "National Employment Cost Index growth of 3.4% with inflation-adjusted compensation costs down 0.4% points toward moderating wage budgets for 2027 planning cycles, even as local mid-level finance roles buck that trend."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 79458.0, "metro_p50": 84321.0, "metro_p75": 97247.0, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 75366.0, "metro_p50": 85000.0, "metro_p75": 97500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 87731.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Financial Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 68122.0, "metro_p50": 92500.0, "metro_p75": 98201.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 94646.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35538.0, "metro_p50": 37133.0, "metro_p75": 38086.0, "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": 42637.5, "metro_p50": 71000.0, "metro_p75": 81354.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 69556.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 57069.0, "metro_p50": 63135.0, "metro_p75": 63522.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 71397.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 103775.0, "metro_p50": 125992.6, "metro_p75": 136259.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 130000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics / Iowa Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Sioux City MSA unemployment near 3.2% through mid-2026"}, {"source_name": "Iowa Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Iowa financial activities sector highest average weekly earnings at $1,534"}, {"source_name": "Iowa Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Iowa labor force participation fell to 66.9%"}, {"source_name": "Crist|Kolder Associates", "source_url": null, "statement": "CFO turnover projected at 18.3% in 2026, highest since pandemic"}, {"source_name": "AFP FP&A Forum", "source_url": null, "statement": "70% of finance leaders increasing contract talent use in H2 2026"}, {"source_name": "Rolling Out", "source_url": null, "statement": "Wells Fargo West Des Moines layoffs bring 2026 Iowa cuts to 460 workers"}], "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": "sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "pdf": "sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:30:35.477815+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa/finance/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/sioux-city-ia-ne-sd-msa/finance/2026-10.pdf"}