Byline: Marissa Vale, business and labor reporter covering regional banks and financial-sector employment for 12 years
Last reviewed: June 28, 2026
FirstMerchants is best read as First Merchants Corporation, the Nasdaq-listed holding company behind First Merchants Bank. Its 2025 Form 10-K reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025, while BLS May 2024 data put the national median wage for tellers at $39,340 and loan officers at $74,180.
The central story is not one pay number. It is the gap between branch-level work, lending roles, corporate banking jobs, and executive compensation inside a profitable regional bank.
What FirstMerchants is
First Merchants Corporation is a financial holding company based in Muncie, Indiana, and its investor profile says it is the largest financial holding company based in Central Indiana. The company reported more than 111 banking center locations in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, and a wealth management company, with total assets of $21.1 billion as of March 31, 2026.
The company expanded again through First Savings. In the First Merchants Corporation 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K, the company said First Savings was headquartered in Jeffersonville, Indiana, had 16 banking centers in southern Indiana, and had unaudited total assets of $2.4 billion, total loans of $1.9 billion, and total deposits of $1.7 billion as of December 31, 2025.
That makes FirstMerchants a regional-bank employer, not a national megabank. The job mix is likely to lean toward banking centers, commercial lending, operations, technology, wealth, risk, and customer-facing support rather than the Wall Street trading profile some readers associate with finance.
What the 2025 filing says about headcount
The best workforce source is the First Merchants Corporation 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed February 25, 2026. It says the corporation and its subsidiaries had 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025.
The same filing gives a rare look at internal people metrics. First Merchants reported that 65 percent of employees were considered “highly engaged” in its biennial Employee Engagement Survey, with an 85 percent response rate. It also reported an overall turnover rate of 18 percent in 2025.
That 18 percent turnover number is the figure to watch. It is not catastrophic by service-sector standards, but it signals that First Merchants still operates in the same labor market as other banks: customer-facing roles turn over, lending talent moves, and branch networks need a constant bench of trained employees.
The company also said more than 55 employees participated in education assistance in 2025, required training completion was 99.7 percent, and more than 1,500 employees participated in its annual calibration process, a 9-box talent assessment used for succession and career planning.
What BLS pay data actually shows
BLS data does not report FirstMerchants-specific pay. It reports occupation-level pay across employers, which makes it useful as a baseline rather than a company paycheck estimate.
The most relevant BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook categories are tellers, financial clerks, and loan officers. BLS May 2024 data showed a $39,340 median annual wage for tellers, with the lowest 10 percent below $31,270 and the highest 10 percent above $48,270. In credit intermediation and related activities, the teller median was $39,230.
For financial clerks, BLS May 2024 data showed a $48,650 median annual wage, with credit intermediation and related activities at $48,550. The same BLS page listed new accounts clerks at $46,610 and loan interviewers and clerks at $48,950.
Loan officers sit in a different band. BLS May 2024 data showed a $74,180 median annual wage for loan officers, and BLS projected loan officer employment to grow 2 percent from 2024 to 2034, slower than the average for all occupations.
Small branch job. Different ceiling.
The interpretation is straightforward: FirstMerchants branch-service jobs should be compared to teller and financial-clerk benchmarks, while commercial, mortgage, and credit roles should be compared to loan-officer or financial-specialist benchmarks. Blending them together creates a fake average.
| Role family | Best public benchmark | Public pay figure |
|---|---|---|
| Teller / branch transaction role | BLS May 2024 OOH, Tellers | $39,340 median annual wage |
| Credit-intermediation teller work | BLS May 2024 OOH, Tellers | $39,230 median annual wage |
| Financial clerk / new accounts work | BLS May 2024 OOH, Financial Clerks | $48,650 median annual wage |
| Loan officer | BLS May 2024 OOH, Loan Officers | $74,180 median annual wage |
| First Merchants employee population | 2025 Form 10-K | 2,086 full-time equivalent employees |
Where Glassdoor fills gaps, and where it does not
Glassdoor is useful because it gives role-specific self-reported pay tied to First Merchants, but it is weaker than BLS for labor-market benchmarking because sample sizes vary by job title.
Glassdoor’s 2026 First Merchants salary page reported that annual salaries typically ranged from $39,108 for a Service Associate to $174,116 for a Vice President, based on 452 salaries submitted by First Merchants employees in the United States. Glassdoor also showed a Banking Center Manager estimate of $111,108 per year, with a typical range between $88,322 and $141,990, based on 12 submitted salaries. For Credit Analyst I, Glassdoor showed an estimated average of $69,850 per year, with a typical range between $58,512 and $84,389, based on 7 submitted salaries.
Those numbers fit the broader pattern. Service roles cluster near the BLS teller range, credit analyst roles sit closer to professional finance work, and manager or vice president roles move into a much wider compensation band.
The data limit is important. Glassdoor figures are self-reported and may include base pay, bonus estimates, and uneven job-title matching. BLS figures are occupation averages and not company-specific. SEC filings are official but do not publish teller pay, banker pay, or credit analyst pay by title.
Where the headline number misleads
The biggest misleading number is the median employee compensation in the proxy statement. First Merchants Corporation’s 2025 Proxy Statement reported median employee total compensation of $115,951 for 2024, CEO total annual compensation of $2,939,929, and a CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio of 25 to 1.
That median employee figure is far above the BLS May 2024 teller median of $39,340 and above the BLS May 2024 loan officer median of $74,180. The explanation is in the proxy methodology. The proxy says the company used base salary, commissions, cash bonuses, cash incentive awards, equity incentive awards, and employer contributions to the 401(k) plan and ESOP to determine total compensation. It also used a roster of 665 employees as of December 31, 2024.
That does not describe a typical branch teller. It describes a proxy-rule median employee calculation for a specific employee roster and compensation method.
This is the article’s main analytical point: the proxy median is real, but it should not be used as a promise of ordinary branch pay. It includes incentive and retirement contribution components, and the employee population used in the proxy calculation was 665, while the 2025 Form 10-K later reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees after a different reporting date and company structure.
Benefits: what First Merchants publishes
First Merchants’ own benefits page lists a broad package but does not publish premium amounts, deductibles, PTO accrual schedules, or eligibility waiting periods on the public page reviewed.
The published benefits include a Retirement Income & Savings Plan 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plan, educational assistance, health insurance, prescription drug insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, a wellness program, and a health savings account. The same page lists life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, voluntary life and AD&D coverage, long-term disability, short-term disability, critical care insurance, accident insurance, flexible spending accounts, PTO for vacation and sick time, holidays, and bereavement.
The 2025 Form 10-K gives more detail on retirement. It says the Savings Plan, a Section 401(k) qualified defined contribution plan, matches employee contributions at 100 percent for the first 3 percent of base salary contributed and 50 percent of the next 3 percent of base salary contributed.
That is a concrete benefit number. It means the public filing supports a potential 4.5 percent employer match if an eligible employee contributes at least 6 percent of base salary, though the exact eligibility and plan terms would need to be read in the formal plan document.
The same Form 10-K says the company’s defined-benefit pension plans cover approximately 9 percent of employees, and that no additional pension benefits have been earned by employees who had not met certain age and service requirements as of March 1, 2005.
Career path: what the numbers imply
First Merchants says more than 1,500 employees participated in its annual calibration process in 2025, and that development plans are captured in a documented Career Growth Plan for all employees. The careers page also lists tuition reimbursement, career development, mentorship, training, leadership opportunities, paid parental leave, medical and dental plans, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and paid volunteer time.
The stronger story is the combination of formal process and turnover. A company can have career-development systems and still report 18 percent turnover in the same year. Those facts do not cancel each other out. They describe a bank trying to retain and promote employees while competing in a regional labor market where branch and support roles can be replaceable and mobile.
That is the second analytical point: FirstMerchants appears to have a structured internal development system, but the turnover number shows the employment proposition still has pressure points.
For entry-level applicants, the likely ladder is from service associate or teller-style work into banker, new accounts, lending support, credit, operations, or management. For experienced finance workers, the more relevant track is commercial lending, credit analysis, treasury, wealth, risk, or technology.
How FirstMerchants compares to the bank labor market
The BLS outlook is mixed for bank-adjacent jobs. BLS projected teller employment to decline 13 percent from 2024 to 2034, while loan officer employment was projected to grow 2 percent over the same period. BLS projected financial clerk employment to decline 5 percent from 2024 to 2034, even though it still projected about 102,200 financial-clerk openings per year on average due to replacement needs.
This is not a simple “bank jobs are disappearing” story. It is more specific. Routine transaction and clerical work is under pressure from digital banking and productivity tools, while lending, relationship, compliance, technology, and advisory work remains more durable.
For FirstMerchants, that matters because it operates a branch network and a wealth-management business while also reporting growth through acquisition. The bank had more than 111 banking centers as of March 31, 2026, and the First Savings transaction added 16 southern Indiana banking centers. Branches still need people, but the growth path inside banking is less likely to come from transaction volume alone.
Data limits
The public record leaves gaps. First Merchants does not publish a full wage scale for tellers, service associates, relationship bankers, credit analysts, loan officers, or branch managers in the sources reviewed. BLS data is national occupational data, not FirstMerchants payroll. Glassdoor data is self-reported, and sample sizes vary by role. Proxy compensation uses SEC rules and does not equal ordinary advertised wage data.
Data reflects 2024 and 2025 reporting; 2026 hiring, acquisitions, pay adjustments, and local labor conditions may shift the picture.
FAQ
Is FirstMerchants a public company?
First Merchants Corporation is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker FRME, according to the company’s investor materials.
How many people work at First Merchants?
The First Merchants Corporation 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025.
What do First Merchants branch jobs pay?
The company does not publish a public branch wage scale in the sources reviewed. As a benchmark, BLS May 2024 data reported a $39,340 median annual wage for tellers and $48,650 for financial clerks.
What does Glassdoor say about First Merchants pay?
Glassdoor’s 2026 First Merchants salary page reported typical annual salaries ranging from $39,108 for a Service Associate to $174,116 for a Vice President, based on 452 submitted salaries. Because Glassdoor is self-reported, it should be treated as directional rather than definitive.
What benefits does First Merchants list?
First Merchants’ benefits page lists 401(k), Employee Stock Purchase Plan, educational assistance, medical, prescription, dental, vision, wellness, HSA, life insurance, disability coverage, flexible spending accounts, PTO, holidays, and bereavement.
Does First Merchants offer a 401(k) match?
The First Merchants Corporation 2025 Form 10-K says the Savings Plan matches 100 percent of the first 3 percent of base salary contributed and 50 percent of the next 3 percent.
Is the median employee really paid $115,951?
The First Merchants Corporation 2025 Proxy Statement reported median employee total compensation of $115,951 for 2024. That figure used a proxy compensation methodology and should not be treated as a typical teller or branch-service salary.
What is the clearest employment takeaway?
FirstMerchants looks like a regional-bank employer with formal development programs, a published benefits package, and a 2025 turnover rate of 18 percent. The strongest career economics appear to be above routine branch transaction work, especially in lending, credit, management, treasury, wealth, risk, and technology.