{"schema_version": 1, "id": "clarksville-tn-ky-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 151, "label": "Clarksville, TN-KY MSA", "slug": "clarksville-tn-ky-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:02:12.388271+00:00", "headline": "Clarksville IT pay splits sharply: engineers up, infrastructure down.", "headline_summary": "Software Engineer advertised pay jumped to $154,152 \u2014 nearly matching the national median \u2014 while Network Engineer pay fell to $78,948, well below the $115,757 national figure.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Montgomery County unemployment", "value": "3.6%", "context": "Down from 4.0% in August 2026"}, {"label": "Software Engineer pay vs. national", "value": "$154,152", "context": "Within $251 of $154,403 national median"}, {"label": "Network Engineer pay vs. national", "value": "$78,948", "context": "$36,809 below $115,757 national median"}, {"label": "Tennessee unemployment rate", "value": "3.4%", "context": "Vs. 4.2% national rate, Sept-Oct 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Software Engineer pay is converging with national rates fast.", "body": "Metro median hit $154,152, up significantly and now essentially matching the $154,403 national figure \u2014 a compression that erases Clarksville's historical cost advantage for this role. Retention budgets built on a discount assumption need revisiting."}, {"headline": "Infrastructure roles are quietly losing local pricing power.", "body": "Network Engineer advertised pay fell significantly to $78,948, nearly $37,000 below the national median, while Systems Administrator pay dropped to $87,795. Falling local demand signals for these roles may create room to shift routine infrastructure work toward managed services and reduce competition to fill seats."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay has outgrown its traditional discount tier.", "body": "Metro median reached $70,000, up significantly and now $17,000 above the national figure of $53,129 \u2014 an unusual inversion for frontline IT support. This likely reflects Fort Campbell-adjacent demand and logistics-sector support needs competing for the same labor pool."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay is holding flat while national rates climb.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay sits stable at $89,988 against a national median of $107,327 that continues rising. A widening gap in a scarce-skill category suggests employers may need to budget catch-up increases before attrition forces the issue."}], "local_conditions": "Montgomery County's unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in September, down from 4.0% in August and consistent with a metro that has outperformed its own 2026 job-growth trend despite averaging 75 net job losses per month earlier in the year. Fort Campbell activity, logistics expansion, and residential development continue to anchor labor demand even as statewide IT occupational growth projections (2.69% through the decade) signal structurally limited local technical talent supply relative to employer need.", "implications": "Local advertised pay data shows a split market: Software Engineer pay rose sharply to $154,152 (near national parity), while Network Engineer ($78,948) and Systems Administrator ($87,795) advertised rates fell and sit well below national medians, suggesting infrastructure roles face softer local demand or a deeper regional candidate pool than cloud-adjacent engineering talent. This divergence favors concentrating build-and-retain investment in differentiated engineering roles while evaluating managed services or regional staffing partners for commodity infrastructure functions where Clarksville's rates already trail national benchmarks by 20-30%. Organizations should evaluate whether the Network Engineer pay decline reflects easing local competition or a thinning advertiser pool before resetting offer ranges downward.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Montgomery County's unemployment improvement (3.6% in September) continues or reverses, given the metro's documented 2026 pattern of underperforming its five-year job-growth average. A reversal would tighten an already thin technical labor pool further."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers for 2026, concentrated in tech hubs, with secondary markets like Clarksville seeing less direct impact. Monitor whether displaced talent from Nashville's Oracle or Amazon hiring cycles begins appearing in the local candidate pool."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Network Engineer and Systems Administrator advertised pay both declined significantly this month even as national rates rose. Track whether this reflects demand softening or a temporary dip in local advertiser volume before adjusting compensation ranges."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Nashville's Oracle buildout (targeting 8,500 jobs by 2031) continues drawing regional IT compensation upward. Clarksville employers competing for the same commuter-shed talent may face upward pay pressure even without local demand changes."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 95331.0, "metro_p50": 104296.2, "metro_p75": 144358.5, "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": 71916.75, "metro_p50": 87795.0, "metro_p75": 97665.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 71541.0, "metro_p50": 78948.0, "metro_p75": 95188.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 117191.0, "metro_p50": 154152.0, "metro_p75": 168705.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 47336.0, "metro_p50": 70000.0, "metro_p75": 70853.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 78414.5, "metro_p50": 89988.0, "metro_p75": 101715.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74980.0, "metro_p50": 103448.0, "metro_p75": 129266.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Montgomery County unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "USA Facts/BLS State and Local Employment Report", "source_url": null, "statement": "Clarksville metro averaged 75 net job losses per month in 2026"}, {"source_name": "Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tennessee computer/math occupations projected to grow 2.69% statewide"}, {"source_name": "Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tennessee unemployment held at 3.4% for third consecutive month"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi tracker", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tech layoffs exceeded 133,417 workers across 325 companies through Oct. 21, 2026"}, {"source_name": "State of Tennessee economic development announcement", "source_url": null, "statement": "Oracle's Nashville initiative targets 8,500 jobs by 2031"}], "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": "clarksville-tn-ky-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "clarksville-tn-ky-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:20:03.270898+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/clarksville-tn-ky-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/clarksville-tn-ky-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}