Byline: Renee Lawson, labor-market reporter covering regional banks and financial-services work for 12 years
Last reviewed: June 28, 2026
FirstMerchants is best understood as First Merchants Corporation and First Merchants Bank, a regional banking employer with more than 111 banking centers and $21.1 billion in assets as of March 31, 2026. The cleanest employment read is not one salary number: BLS May 2024 data put tellers at $39,340, loan officers at $74,180, and business and financial occupations overall at $80,920.
That gap explains the work. FirstMerchants jobs sit in several labor markets at once, and each one has a different pay ceiling, outlook, and retention problem.
What FirstMerchants is as an employer
First Merchants Corporation is the public financial holding company behind First Merchants Bank. Its investor profile describes it as the largest financial holding company based in Central Indiana, with banking centers across Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, plus a wealth management company.
The 2025 Form 10-K workforce summary reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025. The same summary reported a 2025 turnover rate of 18 percent, against a company goal of 20 percent or lower.
That scale matters. FirstMerchants is large enough to have formal training, succession planning, engagement surveys, public-company compensation disclosures, and benefit-plan filings. It is also regional enough that job experience can be shaped by local labor markets in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
One company. Four job economies.
A service associate in a branch, a financial clerk in support work, a loan officer, and a risk or compliance professional are not competing in the same labor market. A useful employment article should not mash them together.
Labor market 1: branch service
Branch service is the visible front door of a regional bank. This lane includes teller-style work, service associate work, cash handling, basic account help, branch traffic, customer questions, and transaction support.
BLS May 2024 data reported a median annual wage of $39,340 for tellers. BLS projected teller employment to decline 13 percent from 2024 to 2034.
That projection is the clearest pressure signal around entry-level bank work. It reflects the way digital banking, ATMs, mobile deposits, online transfers, debit-card usage, and branch efficiency reduce some routine transaction work. It does not mean every branch role disappears. It does mean routine teller work is not the strongest long-term wage lane.
For FirstMerchants, branch service may still be useful as an entry point. It can teach bank systems, cash discipline, customer behavior, fraud awareness, compliance habits, and account basics. The public labor data, though, says the role needs movement to become a stronger career.
This is the first analytical point: branch service is valuable as exposure to banking, but weak as a destination if the job remains mostly transactional.
Labor market 2: account support and financial clerks
The second lane is account-support work. This may include new-account help, loan support, document handling, financial clerical work, operations support, account maintenance, and some personal banker-adjacent tasks.
BLS May 2024 data reported a median annual wage of $48,650 for financial clerks, and the broader BLS business and financial occupations page reported a $80,920 median annual wage for that occupational group.
That spread shows why job classification matters. A clerical banking role is not the same as a professional financial role. A financial clerk sits above the teller benchmark, but below the broader business-and-financial occupation median.
The account-support lane can be a bridge. It moves work away from simple transactions and toward documents, account rules, systems, customer workflow, and internal process. It may also expose employees to lending, operations, compliance, or business banking.
But the wage signal is still modest compared with loan officers, analysts, financial examiners, or management. The role gains value when it becomes a stepping-stone into more judgment-heavy work.
A narrow move can help. It may not be enough.
Labor market 3: lending and credit
Lending and credit form the first clear break from branch-service economics. BLS May 2024 data reported a median annual wage of $74,180 for loan officers.
That is $34,840 higher than the teller median of $39,340. It is also a different kind of work. Loan officers and credit employees may deal with borrower evaluation, financial statements, credit quality, collateral, underwriting support, documentation, production goals, customer relationships, and compliance.
For FirstMerchants, this lane can include consumer lending, mortgage work, commercial banking, credit analysis, portfolio support, treasury-adjacent relationships, and small-business banking. Exact duties depend on title and unit.
This is the second analytical point: FirstMerchants’ stronger pay logic likely begins when work shifts from processing to judgment. Lending and credit roles use risk evaluation and relationship knowledge that are harder to automate or replace than basic transactions.
The risk is different, too. Lending and credit can be affected by interest rates, loan demand, credit quality, borrower stress, and incentive design. Higher upside does not mean simpler work.
Labor market 4: risk, compliance, management, and specialized banking
The fourth lane is professional and leadership work. That includes risk, compliance, financial examination, treasury, wealth, technology, branch leadership, operations leadership, and corporate finance.
BLS May 2024 data reported a median annual wage of $90,400 for financial examiners, with employment projected to grow 19 percent from 2024 to 2034. That category is not a perfect match for every bank risk or compliance job, but it shows the higher labor-market value of regulatory and analytical financial work.
This lane is where FirstMerchants’ regional-bank structure can matter most. A bank with more than 111 banking centers, wealth operations, commercial relationships, acquisition activity, and public-company reporting needs controls, risk management, operations, audit readiness, compliance, cybersecurity, technology support, and managers who can run teams through change.
The wage ceiling is likely higher here than in branch transaction work, but job requirements rise with it. Professional credentials, experience, supervisory judgment, systems knowledge, regulatory awareness, and client-management ability can matter more than general customer-service experience.
The strongest long-term labor signal in the public data is not branch traffic. It is specialized financial judgment.
What the SEC workforce data adds
The First Merchants 2025 Form 10-K workforce summary reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees, 18 percent turnover, and employee development details tied to engagement and retention. Other FirstMerchants workforce summaries previously disclosed engagement and required-training metrics, and the 2026 Proxy Statement says the company reviewed a pay-ratio employee population of 2,011 employees after excluding the CEO.
Those company-level numbers do not reveal the pay of a teller, credit analyst, or risk manager. They do reveal scale and structure.
A company with roughly 2,000 employees has to manage hiring, training, compliance learning, benefits, turnover, internal movement, and succession planning. That gives workers more possible internal routes than a tiny bank might offer. It also means the employee experience can be uneven: a branch-service role may feel very different from a risk, credit, or treasury role.
The 18 percent turnover figure is especially important. It means hiring pressure is not only about expansion. Replacement hiring is part of the workforce cycle.
Acquisition activity changes the labor picture
First Merchants’ Q1 2026 earnings release said net income available to common stockholders was $27.7 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, compared with $56.6 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company said the current quarter included acquisition costs related to its First Savings acquisition.
A separate filing summary reported that those acquisition costs totaled $17.0 million and primarily consisted of employee retention bonuses and severance, contract termination charges, and professional fees.
That labor detail matters because merger periods can reshape jobs. Some employees may receive retention bonuses. Some roles may be duplicated. Some teams may be integrated into new systems. Some positions may be eliminated with severance.
Do not treat acquisition costs as ordinary wages.
For FirstMerchants, acquisition activity makes the 2026 job picture more complicated than a salary page can show. It creates both employment need and employment uncertainty.
Benefits and retirement fit differently by role
First Merchants’ SEC filings page lists an 11-K filing in June 2026, the type of annual report used for employee stock purchase, savings, and similar plans. Public benefit-plan materials previously described a 401(k)-style match of up to 4.5 percent of eligible compensation, based on a 100 percent match on the first 3 percent of employee contributions and 50 percent on contributions above 3 percent and below 6 percent.
The formula matters because percentage benefits are not felt equally. At the BLS teller median of $39,340, a 4.5 percent match equals about $1,770 if the employee is eligible and contributes enough. At the BLS loan officer median of $74,180, the same percentage equals about $3,338. At the BLS financial examiner median of $90,400, it equals about $4,068.
The benefit may be the same percentage. The dollar value rises with pay.
That is why benefit comparisons should be role-adjusted. A branch service worker, a lender, and a risk professional may all see the same benefit category on paper, but the real compensation value differs.
| Labor lane | Best public benchmark | Source year | Public figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Branch service | BLS tellers | May 2024 | $39,340 median wage |
| Account support | BLS financial clerks | May 2024 | $48,650 median wage |
| Lending | BLS loan officers | May 2024 | $74,180 median wage |
| Risk / compliance | BLS financial examiners | May 2024 | $90,400 median wage |
| Business/finance professional work | BLS business and financial occupations | May 2024 | $80,920 median wage |
| FirstMerchants workforce | 2025 Form 10-K summary | Dec. 31, 2025 | 2,086 FTE employees |
Where one-number salary articles mislead
A single FirstMerchants salary figure fails because it hides role segmentation. Branch service sits close to teller economics. Account support sits closer to financial clerks. Lending belongs near loan officer data. Risk and compliance can be compared with financial examiner or business-financial benchmarks. Management and executive roles belong in different disclosures.
The proxy statement has its own use. The 2026 Proxy Statement identified a pay-ratio population of 2,011 employees after omitting the CEO. That type of disclosure is useful for company-wide compensation context, but it is not a job-level pay scale.
Glassdoor and similar sources can add role-specific self-reported estimates, but those figures are not official wage schedules. BLS is stronger for occupational baselines, while SEC filings are stronger for company facts.
The clean reading is segmented. That is the only way the numbers make sense.
Data limits
BLS reports national occupational data, not FirstMerchants payroll. SEC filings and filing summaries provide company-level facts, but they do not publish wage bands by title, state, tenure, branch, incentive plan, or department. Public benefits materials may name benefit categories without showing premiums, deductibles, PTO accrual, eligibility timing, or full plan rules. Glassdoor-style pay figures are self-reported and can shift.
Data reflects BLS May 2024 wages and outlook, First Merchants 2025 workforce reporting, and 2026 investor and earnings disclosures. Local market conditions, acquisition integration, branch staffing needs, and interest-rate cycles may change hiring and pay conditions.
FAQ
What is FirstMerchants?
FirstMerchants usually refers to First Merchants Corporation and First Merchants Bank, a regional banking company operating across Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.
How many people work at FirstMerchants?
A 2025 Form 10-K workforce summary reported 2,086 full-time equivalent employees as of December 31, 2025.
What is the closest pay benchmark for branch service jobs?
BLS teller data is the closest broad benchmark. BLS May 2024 data put teller median pay at $39,340 and projected teller employment to decline 13 percent from 2024 to 2034.
What is the benchmark for account-support roles?
BLS financial clerk data is the better broad comparison for some account-support and document-heavy banking roles. BLS May 2024 data reported $48,650 median annual pay for financial clerks.
What roles have stronger pay signals?
Lending, credit, risk, compliance, treasury, wealth, technology, and management roles have stronger public wage signals than routine branch transaction work. BLS May 2024 data reported $74,180 for loan officers and $90,400 for financial examiners.
What does turnover show?
The 2025 Form 10-K workforce summary reported 18 percent turnover for 2025. It does not break turnover down by department, branch, state, or role family.
Why do acquisition costs matter for jobs?
First Merchants’ Q1 2026 results included acquisition-related costs, and a filing summary reported $17.0 million of costs tied partly to employee retention bonuses and severance. Those are transition costs, not normal wages.
What is the cleanest employment takeaway?
FirstMerchants jobs should be read by labor-market segment. Branch service, account support, lending, risk, compliance, wealth, technology, and management roles carry different pay benchmarks, outlooks, and retention risks.