Labor Market Pulse

Greeley, CO Metro Edition

Focus: IT

Greeley cyber pay falls as national rates climb — a retention gap opens.

$80,000

Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay

Down significantly vs. $106,790 national, up moderate

~5,600

Colorado information-sector jobs lost

August 2026, per state labor data

4.3%

Greeley MSA unemployment rate

December 2025, vs. 4.1% national (Aug 2026)

5,059

Statewide WARN-affected workers

2026 YTD, down 11% from 2025

This Month's Takeaways

01

Cybersecurity pay is falling locally while rising nationally.

Metro advertised median for Cybersecurity Analyst sits at $80,000, down significantly, versus a national median of $106,790 trending up. Current conditions suggest Greeley-area employers are pricing risk roles below the talent's outside options, a gap that widens retention exposure as national cyber demand stays structurally elevated.

02

Information-sector contraction masks underlying demand for specialists.

Colorado's information sector lost about 5,600 jobs in August, yet CompTIA data show cybersecurity and data roles growing far above national averages nationally. Layoffs concentrated in generalist or legacy positions may be freeing specialized talent that local employers could recruit opportunistically.

03

Systems Administrator pay looks resilient against a shrinking role category.

Metro Systems Administrator pay holds stable at $91,200, close to the rising national figure, even as traditional IT operations roles face demand compression nationally. This stability may reflect Weld County's manufacturing and logistics base, where on-prem infrastructure support remains harder to outsource than in software-heavy markets.

04

Software Engineer pay softening locally diverges from a flat national trend.

Metro median fell to $120,044 (moderate decline) while the national figure held stable at $153,652, a wider gap than typical for this role. Consider whether this reflects genuine local demand softness or a thinner, less competitive local posting pool skewing the median down.

Local Labor Conditions

Greeley MSA unemployment held near 4.3% through year-end 2025 while Colorado's information sector shed roughly 5,600 jobs in August 2026, a contraction that appears to reflect statewide tech hiring restraint rather than a Weld County-specific downturn. Labor supply remains structurally tight — Weld County's labor force expanded 22% over the past decade, yet slower population growth and reduced international migration are narrowing the pipeline of qualified technical candidates just as advertised pay for several core IT roles softens locally.

Leadership & Talent Implications

Falling metro advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst and Help Desk roles, against rising national medians for both, suggests Greeley-area employers are either under-benchmarking specialized risk functions or substituting contract and remote talent for local hires — a gap that compounds retention risk once regional information-sector job losses stabilize and competition for scarce candidates resumes. Build-vs-buy decisions should weigh Colorado's statewide pattern of compensation drift — state government IT pay sits 11.6-13.7% below market — against the reality that 45% of technologists already received raises without it stopping departures, meaning total rewards alone will not solve retention. Consider reviewing cybersecurity and systems administration pay positioning against national trend lines now, before information-sector hiring reaccelerates and local advertised rates look stale.

Advertised Pay Indicators

Role	P25	Median	P75	Local Trend	National	Nat. Trend
Data Scientist	$80,338	$102,500	$119,756	↑ Significant increase	$148,250	↑ Moderate increase
Systems Administrator	$80,375	$91,200	$95,982	→ Stable	$101,168	↑ Moderate increase
Network Engineer	$79,689	$81,041	$82,400	→ Stable	$114,400	↑ Moderate increase
Software Engineer	$96,355	$120,044	$139,654	↓ Moderate decline	$153,652	→ Stable
Help Desk/IT Support Specialist	$44,179	$59,424	$62,400	↓ Moderate decline	$53,644	→ Stable
Cybersecurity Analyst	$80,000	$80,000	$80,500	↓ Significant decline	$106,790	↑ Moderate increase
IT Project Manager	$90,857	$102,609	$115,586	→ Stable	$117,530	↑ Moderate increase

Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days

Worth watching

Whether Colorado's three consecutive months of statewide job losses extend into Weld County payrolls, or whether the county's manufacturing and healthcare base continues to insulate it from the broader information-sector contraction.

Emerging pressure point

Cybersecurity and Help Desk advertised pay are falling locally against rising national trends — watch whether this gap triggers visible attrition to remote or out-of-state roles over the next hiring cycle.

Early indicator

Statewide WARN filings are down 11% year over year, suggesting fewer displaced tech workers entering the Front Range candidate pool than in 2025 — a signal that sourcing difficulty for specialized infrastructure and security talent may persist.

Potential inflection point

National Indeed Job Postings Index turned positive year-over-year for the first time in nearly four years; if that momentum reaches Colorado's information sector, local advertised pay for software and cloud roles could reverse its current softening trend.

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