Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Wichita Falls, TX 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
Metro unemployment rate at 4.5% (preliminary) as of August 2026
Texas Workforce Commission — Preliminary metro unemployment data
This Month's Takeaways
Texas added 159,400 jobs over the year, 1.1% growth outpacing national rate
Texas Workforce Commission — Statewide nonfarm payroll data, August 2026
Local Economic Conditions
Wichita Falls MSA nonfarm employment at 58,800, down 1.2% year-over-year
Texas Workforce Commission — Labor Market Review, September 2026
5,341 open positions listed in Wichita Falls MSA as of September 2026
Indeed — Job posting count, September 2026
Looking Ahead
Texas manufacturing wage growth of 4.8% over past year, strongest since December 2023
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — Dallas Fed mid-year employer survey
National wage growth fell to 3.0% annual, below 3.2% forecast, against 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — September 2026 employment situation report
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