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Labor Market Pulse
Green Bay, WI Metro Edition
Focus: IT
Green Bay IT pay splits: security up, infrastructure down.
3.1%
Green Bay MSA unemployment
vs 4.56% long-run metro average
$129,326
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay
vs $106,790 national median
$79,522
Systems Administrator advertised pay
down significant vs $101,168 national
56 notices / 3,914 workers
Wisconsin WARN notices, 2026
down 7% from 2025
This Month's Takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling while national rates climb.
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrator dropped significantly to $79,522 even as the national median rose to $101,168, a gap wide enough to signal local demand compression rather than noise. Current conditions suggest this function is a strong outsourcing candidate rather than a role to defend with local pay increases.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay now outpaces the national figure.
Local advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst hit $129,326, above the $106,790 national median, an unusual inversion that may reflect a thin regional bench competing against national remote-work offers. Organizations should evaluate whether current internal pay bands can hold against this premium before losing incumbents to counteroffers.
Help Desk pay decline tracks a national flattening, not a local anomaly.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay fell moderately to $53,245 while the national median held flat near $53,644, consistent with AI-driven compression of entry-tier support work cited by Addison Group. Consider shifting hiring volume in this tier toward contract or managed-service arrangements rather than permanent headcount.
Data Scientist pay growth outruns the metro's thin tech base.
Wisconsin projects 43% growth in data scientist roles statewide even as the metro's Information sector shrinks, and local advertised pay for the role rose significantly to $107,372. Mismatch between projected demand and current local supply suggests build-vs-buy decisions should lean toward contracted analytics capacity while internal pipelines mature.
Local Labor Conditions
Green Bay MSA unemployment held at 3.1% in May 2026 against a long-run metro average of 4.56%, a tightness consistent with manufacturing and healthcare employers continuing to post roles even as statewide hiring has turned low-hire, low-fire. Brown County nonfarm employment rose to roughly 180,800 jobs by May, but Wisconsin's Information sector contracted 0.4% over the trailing year, suggesting the metro's tightness is concentrated in production and clinical labor rather than technology headcount.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Divergence between falling advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($79,522, down significant) and Network Engineer ($88,957, down moderate) against rising Cybersecurity Analyst ($129,326, up significant) and Data Scientist ($107,372, up significant) roles indicates Green Bay employers are reallocating IT budgets away from traditional infrastructure maintenance toward specialized risk and analytics capability, mirroring the national skill-deprecation pattern CompTIA flagged for 2026. With Wisconsin's structural shortfall of roughly 1,500 college-educated arrivals annually limiting external pipelines for advanced roles, retention economics for cybersecurity and data talent now outweigh recruiting economics. Consider evaluating whether commodity infrastructure and support functions are better suited to outsourced or contract staffing while reserving premium internal compensation for security and analytics headcount.
