{"schema_version": 1, "id": "macon-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 275, "label": "Macon, GA MSA", "slug": "macon-ga-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:16:46.758919+00:00", "headline": "Macon IT pay splits sharply: infrastructure up, software down.", "headline_summary": "Network Engineer advertised pay in Macon has climbed to $129,016 against a national median of $114,400, even as Software Engineer pay fell to $143,242 while the national figure held flat at $153,652.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Bibb County unemployment", "value": "4.3%", "context": "vs 3.4% broader Bibb Area, 3.2% Georgia"}, {"label": "Georgia IT job postings", "value": "-28.1%", "context": "Year-over-year through July 2026"}, {"label": "Bibb County payroll change", "value": "-3,629 jobs", "context": "Year-over-year, 2025 vs 2024"}, {"label": "Georgia unemployment rate", "value": "3.2%", "context": "Lowest since Feb 2024; 0.9pp below US rate"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network Engineer pay is pulling away from the national rate.", "body": "Metro median has climbed to $129,016 against a national figure of $114,400 \u2014 a reversal of the usual metro discount. This is consistent with data center and infrastructure buildout pressure spilling south from Atlanta into Macon's labor shed."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer compensation is falling locally while holding flat nationally.", "body": "Metro median dropped significantly to $143,242 even as the national figure stayed essentially flat at $153,652. Falling local postings volume statewide may be suppressing competitive pressure on this role specifically, raising retention risk if staff benchmark against national or remote offers."}, {"headline": "Help desk compensation is eroding, consistent with AI-driven skill compression.", "body": "Metro median fell to $46,131, moderately down, while the national figure held stable \u2014 widening an already large metro discount. This tracks national signals that AI tooling is compressing demand for entry-tier support work, making this a logical candidate for outsourcing or contract conversion rather than permanent backfill."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay is flat locally despite a national uptick.", "body": "Metro median sits at $98,040, stable, against a national median of $106,790 that is trending up. Supply-constrained security talent nationally hasn't yet translated into local bidding pressure, which may reflect smaller local security teams or slower adoption of specialized security hiring in Macon employers."}], "local_conditions": "Bibb County unemployment has drifted up to 4.3% even as the broader Bibb Area labor market reads 3.4% and Georgia's statewide rate holds at a near-record-low 3.2%, a split that suggests localized softening layered on top of a tight regional labor supply. Year-over-year payroll decline of 3,629 jobs in Bibb County, alongside a 28.1% statewide drop in IT/programming job postings through July, points to employers filling fewer net-new seats while existing technical staff face less external competition for their roles than the headline tightness implies.", "implications": "Falling posting volume paired with still-low regional unemployment signals that Macon IT leaders are less likely to be outbid for talent in the open market but more exposed to quiet attrition if internal pay and career paths stagnate during a hiring pause. Divergent metro moves \u2014 Network Engineer pay up significantly while Software Engineer pay has fallen just as sharply \u2014 indicate employers are reallocating scarce budget toward infrastructure-critical skills rather than raising pay broadly, a signal worth testing against your own role mix. Consider reviewing retention risk specifically among software engineering staff, where local advertised pay has moved against the national trend and may be narrowing the gap recruiters use to poach.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Bibb County's rise to 4.3% unemployment (against a healthier 3.4% Bibb Area reading) persists through the next GDOL release \u2014 a sustained gap would suggest county-specific softening rather than statistical noise, with implications for local candidate supply."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Georgia's 28.1% year-over-year drop in IT postings through July may continue to suppress competitive offers for software engineering talent; track whether Macon employers use this window to hold salaries flat on annual reviews."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Atlanta's continued rise as a national data center hub (now second only to Northern Virginia) is a plausible driver behind Macon's Network Engineer pay surge \u2014 monitor whether this spreads further into cloud architecture and DevOps postings over the next two months."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National nearshoring of senior engineering talent to Latin America at 30-50% cost savings is gaining traction; Macon IT leaders weighing build-vs-buy on specialized roles should watch whether regional staffing firms begin marketing nearshore options locally."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74549.25, "metro_p50": 102044.0, "metro_p75": 121738.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 72384.0, "metro_p50": 99280.0, "metro_p75": 99280.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 129015.0, "metro_p50": 129016.0, "metro_p75": 129016.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 119258.0, "metro_p50": 143242.0, "metro_p75": 147250.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "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": 38105.5, "metro_p50": 46130.6, "metro_p75": 50142.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 85498.0, "metro_p50": 98040.0, "metro_p75": 114543.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 81309.0, "metro_p50": 114290.0, "metro_p75": 128461.0, "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": "macon-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "macon-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:32:35.682588+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/macon-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/macon-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}