{"schema_version": 1, "id": "winston-salem-nc-msa/finance/2026-08", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 483, "label": "Winston-Salem, NC MSA", "slug": "winston-salem-nc-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "finance", "slug": "finance", "label": "Finance"}, "period": "2026-08", "public_after": "2026-08-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T16:27:32.663431+00:00", "headline": "Winston-Salem Finance pay splits: analysts lose ground, credit roles gain.", "headline_summary": "Financial Analyst advertised pay fell significantly in Winston-Salem even as the national median held near $82,905, while local Credit Analyst pay climbed to $81,150 against a $72,000 national median.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Forsyth County unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "April 2026, below 4.1% national rate"}, {"label": "NC labor force change", "value": "-0.5%", "context": "Year-over-year through June 2026"}, {"label": "Financial Analyst pay (metro)", "value": "$61,288", "context": "vs national median $82,905"}, {"label": "Credit Analyst pay (metro)", "value": "$81,150", "context": "up significantly vs $72,000 national"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Local pay is falling for some roles while national pay rises.", "body": "Financial Analyst advertised pay dropped significantly in the metro even as the national median held near $82,900 \u2014 a widening gap that risks losing analysts to remote or relocation offers. Tax Specialist shows a similar pattern, down significantly locally against a national median up moderately."}, {"headline": "Credit Analyst and FP&A Manager pay are moving the opposite direction.", "body": "Both roles show local advertised pay rising faster than national medians, with Credit Analyst up significantly to $81,150 against a national $72,000. This suggests employers are actively competing for credit risk and planning talent even as other Finance roles cool \u2014 a signal to prioritize retention budgets there first."}, {"headline": "A shrinking state labor force is quietly tightening recruiting timelines.", "body": "North Carolina's labor force shrank 0.5% year-over-year through June 2026, even as Forsyth County unemployment stayed low. Fewer available workers statewide means longer time-to-fill for Controller and Senior Accountant vacancies, directly affecting close-cycle staffing contingencies."}, {"headline": "Finance-sector expansion in Charlotte is a poaching risk, not just a growth story.", "body": "North Carolina's financial services sector has grown roughly 30% since 2018, with Schwab, JPMorgan, and Coinbase all expanding Charlotte footprints. Winston-Salem employers competing for the same specialist talent pool should expect wage pressure to spill over from that larger, higher-paying market."}], "local_conditions": "Forsyth County's core labor market held tight through early 2026, with unemployment tracking below the national 4.1% rate even as North Carolina's statewide labor force contracted 0.5% year-over-year, narrowing the local candidate pool for Finance and accounting talent. Statewide financial services expansion \u2014 driven by Charlotte-anchored growth at firms like Charles Schwab and JPMorgan \u2014 is pulling specialist finance talent toward larger metros, a gravitational pull Winston-Salem employers must budget against even as advertised pay for several local Finance roles has softened.", "implications": "Divergence between metro and national advertised pay is the story this cycle: Financial Analyst, Tax Specialist, and Billing Specialist roles show significant local pay declines while national medians hold stable or rise, suggesting Winston-Salem employers may be under-pricing roles relative to where national demand \u2014 and mobile talent \u2014 is heading. Meanwhile Credit Analyst and FP&A Manager pay is climbing locally, pointing to concentrated demand in credit risk and planning functions that outpaces the broader softening. Consider reviewing role-level pay positioning against national medians before assuming metro softness applies uniformly across the Finance function.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Statewide wage growth has slowed from a 6%-plus peak in 2022 to roughly 4% year-over-year, with bottom-quartile wage growth cooling even faster. Watch whether Winston-Salem's Financial Analyst and Tax Specialist pay declines stabilize or continue tracking below the statewide trend."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "NC WARN notices affected 5,753 workers in 2026, down 24% from 2025, with manufacturing and transportation leading filings \u2014 not core Finance functions, but a source of displaced accounting and finance support staff who may enter the local candidate pool."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National F&A hiring managers report 74% plan permanent headcount increases and 82% pay AI-skill premiums; watch whether Winston-Salem employers begin advertising AI or automation skill premiums for FP&A and controller-track roles, which would signal the national trend reaching this metro."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Credit Analyst and FP&A Manager advertised pay is rising locally against a backdrop of flat state wage growth. Track whether this divergence widens into Q4, which would confirm targeted demand rather than a one-month data anomaly."}], "roles": [{"role": "Controller", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 96613.0, "metro_p50": 112700.0, "metro_p75": 118444.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 112500.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Senior Accountant", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 72084.0, "metro_p50": 74834.2, "metro_p75": 79987.75, "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": 58257.75, "metro_p50": 61288.0, "metro_p75": 72956.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 82905.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Billing Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 34369.75, "metro_p50": 41600.0, "metro_p75": 43720.75, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 49700.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Tax Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 31762.0, "metro_p50": 45207.0, "metro_p75": 45939.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 66725.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "significant"}, {"role": "Credit Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 61176.0, "metro_p50": 81150.0, "metro_p75": 93980.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 72000.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "FP&A Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 117286.0, "metro_p50": 135200.0, "metro_p75": 135200.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 127341.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "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": "September 2026", "files": {"html": "winston-salem-nc-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "pdf": "winston-salem-nc-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T16:36:36.103287+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/winston-salem-nc-msa/finance/2026-08.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/winston-salem-nc-msa/finance/2026-08.pdf"}