{"schema_version": 1, "id": "cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 192, "label": "Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN MSA", "slug": "cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:01:21.654095+00:00", "headline": "Cincinnati IT pay splits sharply toward security, away from support.", "headline_summary": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay jumped to $97,835 locally while Help Desk pay fell to $47,217, as Cincinnati's 3.5% unemployment rate holds well below the 4.2% national figure.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Cincinnati metro unemployment", "value": "3.5%", "context": "vs. 4.2% national rate, Q3 2026"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay", "value": "$97,835", "context": "Up significantly; outpaces $107,327 national figure"}, {"label": "Help Desk advertised pay", "value": "$47,217", "context": "Down significantly, metro and national both declining"}, {"label": "Ohio technician shortage ratio", "value": "5:1", "context": "Open technician jobs per qualified candidate statewide"}, {"label": "Regional industrial vacancy", "value": "4.6%", "context": "Lowest since 2023, signals infrastructure buildout"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Security pay is pulling away from general IT support.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose sharply to $97,835 locally while Help Desk pay dropped to $47,217, a widening gap that suggests Cincinnati employers are concentrating retention spend on risk-exposed roles. Budget pressure on commodity support functions may accelerate interest in managed services or tiered support models."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer demand tracks the metro's industrial buildout.", "body": "Local Network Engineer pay climbed to $106,571, outpacing the metro's flat Systems Administrator and Software Engineer trends, consistent with Amazon's new Monroe/Middletown lease and falling industrial vacancy (4.6%, lowest since 2023). Infrastructure hiring tied to physical facilities may compete with cloud teams for the same budget line."}, {"headline": "Ohio's technician shortage reaches into IT infrastructure roles.", "body": "Five open technician jobs per qualified candidate statewide, paired with JobsOhio's new $10,000-per-worker training subsidy, point to a labor gap that extends beyond manufacturing into networking and systems support. Employers betting on internal development over external recruiting have a funding mechanism, but it requires 1:1 matching."}, {"headline": "Data Scientist pay softening locally diverges from stable national demand.", "body": "Metro Data Scientist pay moved down moderately to $134,319 against a stable $145,881 national figure, a gap worth watching given AI-related postings now represent 7.3% of all U.S. postings. Local demand for applied data roles may be lagging the national AI hiring surge."}], "local_conditions": "Cincinnati metro unemployment held at 3.5% in Q3 2026, well below the 4.2% national rate, while Ohio's technician shortfall \u2014 five open roles for every qualified candidate statewide \u2014 extends into IT infrastructure and support functions as data center and manufacturing-adjacent employers compete for the same technical labor pool. Industrial vacancy falling to 4.6%, its lowest since 2023, alongside Amazon's 538,525 SF Monroe/Middletown lease, signals continued regional infrastructure buildout that is pulling network and systems talent toward facilities and logistics employers as well as traditional IT departments.", "implications": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay rising sharply locally (Metro Median $97,835, up significant) while Help Desk pay falls (Metro Median $47,217, down significant) indicates Cincinnati employers are reallocating compensation toward risk-critical functions and away from commoditized support roles that are increasingly candidates for outsourcing or automation. Network Engineer advertised pay climbing to $106,571 locally tracks the metro's data center and industrial expansion, suggesting infrastructure roles tied to physical buildout now compete directly with cloud-native positions for budget. Consider reviewing whether current help desk staffing models still match advertised pay trends, or whether offshore or managed-service support has become the more defensible economics.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Help Desk and IT Support pay fell significantly both locally and nationally this month. Watch whether this reflects demand softening or a shift toward outsourced and offshore support models, which would change headcount planning for Tier 1 functions."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "TechCred's fiscal-year credential reimbursement budget is exhausted statewide, removing a subsidy IT leaders have used to fund technical upskilling. Expect tighter internal training budgets until the program resets, with employers prioritizing security and infrastructure credentials over general IT certifications."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Industrial vacancy at a multi-year low and continued large-footprint leasing (Amazon's Monroe/Middletown deal) suggest sustained demand for network and infrastructure talent tied to logistics and data center buildout. IT leaders competing for the same network engineering talent pool should expect continued upward pressure on advertised pay."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded all of 2025 (133,417 through October 21), yet Cincinnati's unemployment rate remains tight at 3.5%. Monitor whether released tech talent from national layoffs begins surfacing in the local candidate pool over the next two months."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 113895.0, "metro_p50": 134319.0, "metro_p75": 156000.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 71217.75, "metro_p50": 87125.0, "metro_p75": 96500.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84768.25, "metro_p50": 106570.6, "metro_p75": 117435.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 101375.0, "metro_p50": 135435.0, "metro_p75": 148873.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41326.0, "metro_p50": 47217.2, "metro_p75": 52040.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 82578.0, "metro_p50": 97835.0, "metro_p75": 110100.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 95051.0, "metro_p50": 117291.0, "metro_p75": 126324.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:00.717128+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/cincinnati-middletown-oh-ky-in-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}