San Francisco-Oakland Trendlines

Tuesday, November 3, 2026·Charts every weekday

Skip to main content

San Francisco-metro finance jobs, September 2026

economy
employment
Published

October 27, 2026

Financial activities payroll employment in the San Francisco metro, thousands of jobs, NSA, 1990 to September 2026: from 160k to a peak of 163k in July 1990, now 119k.

Financial activities as a percent of all San Francisco-metro payroll jobs, NSA, 1990 to September 2026: from 8.9% to 4.9%, with a high of 8.9% in July 1990.

San Francisco-metro financial activities employers had 119,300 people on payroll in September 2026, down 4.8% from a year earlier. That is 4.9% of all payroll jobs in the metro, against 5.2% a year before.

Finance and insurance plus real estate, rental and leasing — banks, insurers, mortgage lenders, brokers and property managers. Real estate and lending also make it sensitive to interest rates in a way most sectors are not.

The two charts answer different questions. The count peaked at 163,200 in July 1990 and says whether the sector is hiring. The share — from 8.9% in January 1990, with a high of 8.9% in July 1990 and a low of 4.9% in September 2026 — says whether it is growing faster or slower than the rest of the economy.

Not seasonally adjusted, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The share is computed at read time from two series in the same BLS release, so it stays consistent when the levels are revised.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State & Area Employment, financial activities and total nonfarm payrolls, San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont MSA, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED (SANF806FIREN, SANF806NAN). The share is derived at read time. Auto-generated each build.