{"schema_version": 1, "id": "manchester-nashua-nh-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 283, "label": "Manchester-Nashua, NH MSA", "slug": "manchester-nashua-nh-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:19:55.568112+00:00", "headline": "Nashua infrastructure pay surges as entry-level pipeline thins.", "headline_summary": "Systems Administrator pay climbed to a $120,000 metro median against $102,503 nationally, even as Hillsborough County's unemployment held near 3.0% and recent graduate joblessness hit 5.6%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Hillsborough County unemployment", "value": "3.0%", "context": "vs 2.6% NH statewide, Sept 2026"}, {"label": "Hillsborough avg weekly wage growth", "value": "6.1%", "context": "Highest of any NH county, $1,719/week"}, {"label": "Systems Administrator pay premium", "value": "$120,000 metro", "context": "vs $102,503 national median"}, {"label": "Tech sector layoffs (national, YTD)", "value": "133,417 workers", "context": "Already exceeds full-year 2025 total"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national market.", "body": "Metro median hit $120,000 versus $102,503 nationally, a gap that has widened this month. Current conditions suggest local infrastructure roles are being bid up faster than comparable positions elsewhere, likely reflecting Hillsborough County's sub-3% unemployment and competition for on-prem/hybrid expertise."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer and IT Project Manager pay softened even as talent stays scarce.", "body": "Both roles saw moderate local declines in advertised pay while national figures held stable or rose, an unusual divergence given the tight labor market. This may signal employers shifting these functions toward managed service providers or consolidating project oversight instead of raising pay to compete."}, {"headline": "The NH wage discount is becoming a build-vs-buy lever.", "body": "Computer systems design pay in New Hampshire runs roughly 18% below the national average, even as advertised IT systems wages grew 4.7% year-over-year. Organizations should evaluate whether this gap justifies expanding in-state hybrid infrastructure teams versus outsourcing to higher-cost coastal markets."}, {"headline": "Entry-level collapse threatens the pipeline behind senior infrastructure hires.", "body": "Recent graduate unemployment reached 5.6% nationally and New Hampshire's under-35 workforce share is shrinking, a combination that limits the junior talent organizations would normally promote into scarce Systems Administrator and Network Engineer roles. Internal training investment may matter more here than external recruiting in 2027 planning."}], "local_conditions": "Hillsborough County's unemployment rate held near 3.0% through August 2026 while average weekly wages climbed 6.1% year-over-year to $1,719 \u2014 the strongest wage growth among New Hampshire counties \u2014 reflecting a labor pool still too tight to meet employer demand despite national tech layoffs totaling 133,417 workers through October. Demographic contraction among workers age 20-34 is colliding with a national IT entry-level pipeline collapse (recent grad unemployment at 5.6%), narrowing the metro's bench for infrastructure and support roles even as data center and specialized engineering hiring accelerates nationally.", "implications": "Local Systems Administrator pay rose to a $120,000 median against a national figure of $102,503 \u2014 a premium that signals intense competition for infrastructure talent even as Network Engineer and IT Project Manager advertised pay softened locally, suggesting employers are concentrating scarce compensation dollars on roles tied to on-prem and hybrid buildout and holding pay flat elsewhere. With NH computer systems design salaries running 18% below national averages, the metro offers a credible cost arbitrage for outsourcing routine cloud operations or Tier 1/2 support while reserving premium local pay for infrastructure and security roles that resist remote delivery. Consider reviewing which IT functions require Nashua-based talent versus which could shift to outsourced or remote delivery models given the regional pay discount.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Hillsborough County's 6.1% wage growth rate persists into Q4 data or cools toward the state's 4.7% average \u2014 a deceleration would suggest employers are reaching the limit of what they can pay for scarce infrastructure talent."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "National tech layoffs of 133,417 workers through October have not yet shown up as released talent entering the Nashua-Manchester candidate pool; monitor whether displaced remote-capable engineers begin appearing in local applications, which could ease Systems Administrator and Cybersecurity Analyst scarcity."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Data center job postings grew 20% nationally in three months while Seattle and San Francisco pull back hiring \u2014 track whether this buildout reaches secondary New England markets and shifts local demand toward infrastructure over cloud-native roles."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "October metro unemployment data has not yet published; a move away from the 3.0% plateau in either direction would reshape how much leverage IT leaders have on 2027 compensation planning for scarce technical roles."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 80702.0, "metro_p50": 124558.0, "metro_p75": 150040.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 94970.5, "metro_p50": 120000.0, "metro_p75": 136030.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84200.0, "metro_p50": 116881.0, "metro_p75": 139039.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 114022.25, "metro_p50": 153544.0, "metro_p75": 161511.75, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 46800.0, "metro_p50": 56347.0, "metro_p75": 62896.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84858.0, "metro_p50": 106943.0, "metro_p75": 106943.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86143.0, "metro_p50": 121527.0, "metro_p75": 134497.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "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": "November 2026", "files": {"html": "manchester-nashua-nh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "manchester-nashua-nh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:25:37.893551+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/manchester-nashua-nh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/manchester-nashua-nh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}