{"schema_version": 1, "id": "el-paso-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 138, "label": "El Paso, TX MSA", "slug": "el-paso-tx-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:14:58.952958+00:00", "headline": "El Paso software engineering pay surges while security talent drains out.", "headline_summary": "El Paso's software engineer median jumped to $140,063 \u2014 nearly closing the gap with the $153,652 national figure \u2014 while cybersecurity analyst pay lags the national median by $18,700, a gap that widens further against Texas's $170K-$230K senior security pay.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "4.8%", "context": "vs 3.9% Texas statewide (August 2026)"}, {"label": "Software engineer pay gap", "value": "$13,589", "context": "Metro $140,063 vs national $153,652, narrowing fast"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity pay gap", "value": "$18,688", "context": "Metro $88,102 vs national $106,790 median"}, {"label": "Texas software developer openings", "value": "10,843", "context": "Statewide, TWC September 2026 data"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Software engineering pay is converging with national rates fast.", "body": "Metro median pay for software engineers jumped to $140,063, a significant move that narrows the gap with the $153,652 national figure. This compresses the traditional cost advantage of hiring locally and raises the real question of whether El Paso-based development headcount still pencils out versus remote or contract alternatives."}, {"headline": "Infrastructure roles remain the metro's quiet value play.", "body": "Systems administrator ($80,823) and network engineer ($94,274) pay rose only moderately, both still well below national medians. Organizations anchoring infrastructure and support functions in El Paso retain a genuine cost edge even as premium technical roles get more expensive."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay gap signals building retention risk.", "body": "Local cybersecurity analyst pay sits at $88,102 against a $106,790 national median \u2014 an $18,700 gap that widens further against Texas's statewide senior security compensation of $170K-$230K. As security analyst roles project 29% growth nationally through 2034, that spread gives mobile security talent a clear financial reason to leave for Austin, Dallas, or remote national employers."}, {"headline": "Metro unemployment slack hasn't reached the IT labor pool.", "body": "El Paso's 4.8% unemployment rate sits a full point above the state average, but nearly every IT role tracked locally shows upward pay pressure. Broader metro softness is concentrated in retail, logistics, and government \u2014 not translating into easier or cheaper technical hiring."}], "local_conditions": "El Paso's unemployment rate held at 4.8% in August, a full percentage point above the Texas rate of 3.9%, as the metro's heavy reliance on retail, government, and logistics employment keeps overall labor demand soft relative to tech-forward Texas metros like Austin and Dallas. Statewide data center and AI-related expansion is pulling specialized IT talent toward Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth, leaving El Paso employers competing for a thinner bench of cloud, security, and infrastructure candidates without the wage leverage those larger metros can offer.", "implications": "El Paso's software engineering pay has moved up significantly to a $140,063 metro median, closing much of the gap with the $153,652 national figure and signaling that local employers are paying premium rates to compete for scarce development talent rather than relying on geographic discount. Meanwhile, systems administrator and network engineer pay are climbing at a more moderate pace, suggesting infrastructure roles still offer relative cost advantage for organizations willing to build rather than buy in this market. Current conditions suggest organizations evaluate whether rising software engineering costs justify continued local hiring versus shifting discretionary development work to contract or nearshore arrangements while preserving in-house headcount for infrastructure and security functions.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Texas Workforce Commission reports 10,843 open software developer positions statewide as of September \u2014 watch whether El Paso's share of that demand continues pulling local advertised pay higher or whether Austin/Dallas absorb most of the growth."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "The $18,700 cybersecurity pay gap versus national median, layered against Dallas Fed data showing Texas security leaders earning $170K-$230K, creates a retention watch item for any El Paso organization with even one or two security specialists approaching market."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "September's Fall into a New Job Fair drew employers like Teleperformance and Allied Universal rather than tech-sector names \u2014 a signal that local hiring volume is concentrated outside IT, meaning technical talent pools may stay thin regardless of broader metro employment gains."}, {"category": "Expected", "body": "Statewide information-sector employment is down 5.3% year-over-year even as software development demand grows nationally, a divergence worth tracking locally to see whether El Paso's IT job postings follow the statewide information-sector contraction or the national developer demand trend."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 102615.0, "metro_p50": 109442.8, "metro_p75": 113895.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70098.0, "metro_p50": 80823.0, "metro_p75": 86755.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 71568.0, "metro_p50": 94273.6, "metro_p75": 105336.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 91284.0, "metro_p50": 140062.8, "metro_p75": 149950.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 40841.0, "metro_p50": 56201.0, "metro_p75": 67362.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 79667.0, "metro_p50": 88102.4, "metro_p75": 128600.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 88412.0, "metro_p50": 115230.0, "metro_p75": 127284.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 117530.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "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": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "el-paso-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "el-paso-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T13:50:18.640282+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/el-paso-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/el-paso-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}