{"schema_version": 1, "id": "little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 258, "label": "Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR MSA", "slug": "little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:16:36.003849+00:00", "headline": "Little Rock IT pay splits: operations surge, security stalls.", "headline_summary": "Systems Administrator pay climbed to a metro median of $85,619 while Cybersecurity Analyst pay held flat at $88,658, trailing the national median of $106,790 by a widening margin.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Pulaski County unemployment", "value": "4.3%", "context": "vs 3.9% Arkansas, 4.1% U.S. (Aug 2026)"}, {"label": "Systems Administrator pay growth", "value": "$85,619 metro median", "context": "Significant increase; national median $101,168"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap", "value": "$88,658 vs $106,790", "context": "Metro flat while national climbs, ~$18K gap"}, {"label": "Metro labor force", "value": "400,000+", "context": "Record high, July 2026"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is repricing faster than the role's strategic value.", "body": "Metro median pay jumped to $85,619, a significant increase, even as national commentary treats traditional IT operations as a compressing category. This likely reflects acute local scarcity rather than rising strategic importance \u2014 a signal to benchmark this role against local supply, not national skill-demand narratives."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay is stalling locally while the national market accelerates.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay sits flat at $88,658 against a national median of $106,790 that continues climbing alongside senior security roles reportedly reaching $400K nationally. A widening $18,000+ gap raises real retention exposure for any analyst with remote-work mobility."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer pay now outpaces the national figure \u2014 a rare local premium.", "body": "Metro median of $154,753 exceeds the national median of $153,652, an unusual inversion given Arkansas's broader wage trends. This may reflect intense local competition for a thin advanced-manufacturing and tech-adjacent talent pool rather than a durable structural premium."}, {"headline": "Thin engineering pipelines are quietly forcing outsourcing decisions.", "body": "Arkansas produced only 1,313 engineering bachelor's degrees in 2024-25, and Northwest Arkansas firms are reportedly hiring offshore rather than locally due to skill gaps. IT leaders planning headcount in infrastructure or security should treat local build options as supply-constrained, not just cost-constrained."}], "local_conditions": "Little Rock metro employment reached historic highs in mid-2026 with civilian employment surpassing 385,000 and labor force topping 400,000 for the first time, yet Pulaski County unemployment still ticked up to 4.3% as labor force growth outpaced job creation. Growth is concentrating in manufacturing, logistics and tech-adjacent trade roles rather than core technology occupations, while statewide engineering degree production (just 1,313 bachelor's awarded in 2024-25) continues to constrain the local pipeline for infrastructure and security talent.", "implications": "Systems Administrator pay rising sharply locally (up to $85,619 median) while Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer pay sit flat suggests employers are bidding aggressively for scarce operational talent even as specialized security roles lag national trend lines by $18,000 or more. Thin local engineering pipelines mean build-vs-buy decisions for cybersecurity and advanced infrastructure functions increasingly favor managed services or regional/remote hires over local permanent headcount. Consider reviewing whether current Cybersecurity Analyst compensation reflects genuine local scarcity or simply lags the national repricing of security talent documented this quarter.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Pulaski County unemployment rose to 4.3% even as metro labor force hit record highs \u2014 watch whether this reflects new entrants still job-searching or early softening in local tech-adjacent hiring."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "The widening gap between flat local Cybersecurity Analyst pay and rising national rates may accelerate remote-work attrition; monitor whether competing offers from out-of-state employers start appearing in exit interviews."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Northwest Arkansas's shift toward offshore hiring for AI and tech roles, driven by local skill shortages, may foreshadow similar build-vs-buy pressure reaching Little Rock's infrastructure and security functions."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Arkansas's new consolidated WIOA workforce board structure, approved September 3, redirects funding toward training \u2014 watch for early signals of state-subsidized upskilling programs targeting IT or engineering pipelines."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 111385.0, "metro_p50": 133172.8, "metro_p75": 147037.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 69561.0, "metro_p50": 85619.0, "metro_p75": 89710.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 65000.0, "metro_p50": 96415.0, "metro_p75": 111783.5, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 118653.25, "metro_p50": 154752.8, "metro_p75": 170568.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 38575.0, "metro_p50": 45482.0, "metro_p75": 52783.5, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74535.25, "metro_p50": 88658.0, "metro_p75": 107115.5, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 103929.0, "metro_p50": 125203.0, "metro_p75": 129853.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "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": "little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:32:19.804231+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/little-rock-north-little-rock-conway-ar-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}