{"schema_version": 1, "id": "mt-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 334, "label": "MT NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "mt-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:23:01.435910+00:00", "headline": "Nonmetro Montana tech wages catch up as talent pool stays tight.", "headline_summary": "Montana computer systems design pay has closed a 35% gap to U.S. peers since 2018 even as nonmetro job counts fell 1.5% in 2025, leaving IT leaders to compete for scarce specialists instead of counting on a cost advantage.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Montana unemployment rate", "value": "3.1%", "context": "vs 4.2% national rate, September 2026"}, {"label": "Nonmetro job change, 2025", "value": "-1.5%", "context": "Rest-of-state counties, outside 4 urban hubs"}, {"label": "Montana IT/tech job growth", "value": "+28%", "context": "2025, against flat overall state employment"}, {"label": "Montana tech wage level", "value": "$146K avg", "context": "2.4x state average wage, 2025"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Nonmetro Montana's tech wage advantage has disappeared.", "body": "Computer systems design pay was 35% below U.S. peers in 2018 and closed that gap entirely by 2024-2025, with tech wages now averaging $146K \u2014 2.4 times the state average. Budget assumptions built on a Montana discount for technical roles are now out of date."}, {"headline": "Sector growth and overall job losses are happening at once.", "body": "Information and technology jobs grew 28% while nonmetro counties outside the four urban hubs lost 1.5% of total employment in 2025. Current conditions suggest tech hiring plans should be built independent of broader local economic signals, which are pointing in the opposite direction."}, {"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is diverging from the national trend.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay for Systems Administrator sits at $92,558 and stable, against a national median of $102,503 that is trending up. Widening gap may reflect lower local demand pressure for this role relative to more specialized infrastructure and security positions, and is worth tracking before it becomes a retention risk."}, {"headline": "Remote flexibility is becoming a key retention lever alongside pay.", "body": "53% of Montana tech workers already work remotely part-time and 30% fully remote, consistent with national data showing 41% of technologists would trade salary for flexibility. Organizations competing for scarce local talent may get more retention value from flexibility policy than from matching wage increases role-for-role."}], "local_conditions": "Montana's nonmetro counties sit inside a state unemployment rate of 3.1% in September, well below the national 4.2%, even as the rest of the state outside its four urban counties shed 1.5% of jobs through 2025 \u2014 a split that points to tight labor supply as the binding constraint. Information and technology employment grew 28% against that stagnant backdrop, while statewide payrolls fell 1,300 in September on losses concentrated in hospitality and finance, reinforcing that tech hiring in nonmetro Montana is running counter to the broader local economy.", "implications": "Scarce local tech labor combined with rapid wage convergence \u2014 Montana computer systems design pay closed a 35% gap to U.S. peers between 2018 and 2025 \u2014 means nonmetro IT leaders can no longer assume a cost advantage over larger markets when building infrastructure, security, or support teams locally. With 53% of Montana tech workers remote part-time and 30% fully remote, distributed and outsourced delivery models carry less execution risk than they once did, while local headcount growth faces a structural ceiling on available talent. Consider evaluating which infrastructure and support functions can shift to remote or outsourced delivery models before committing to local headcount expansion that the candidate pool may not support.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected data release", "body": "October metro-level employment data for nonmetro Montana will not publish until December 2, 2026. IT leaders making near-term headcount decisions should treat current figures as a September-dated baseline that predates live conditions."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Computer/math occupations already rank among the hardest-to-fill categories in Montana, and national tech layoffs \u2014 over 133,000 through October 21 \u2014 have not yet shown up as a meaningful release of talent into the nonmetro Montana candidate pool. Watch whether laid-off cloud or AI talent begins relocating or going remote-for-hire into the state."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Montana's minimum wage rises to $11.20 on January 1, 2027, a modest move unlikely to touch IT roles directly but worth monitoring for its effect on entry-level support and help desk wage floors as employers manage compression up the pay scale."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Montana's designation as a Regional Technology/Innovation Hub, paired with advanced manufacturing investment, signals coming demand for infrastructure and operations roles. Structural labor shortages suggest this will intensify competition for a limited specialist pool without triggering broad-based hiring."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 119373.0, "metro_p50": 152600.0, "metro_p75": 164187.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 75172.0, "metro_p50": 92558.2, "metro_p75": 105393.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 74497.5, "metro_p50": 114193.2, "metro_p75": 131294.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 120368.5, "metro_p50": 156000.0, "metro_p75": 174194.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 40486.5, "metro_p50": 52320.0, "metro_p75": 59570.75, "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": 85000.0, "metro_p50": 105000.0, "metro_p75": 125782.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 107327.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 80644.75, "metro_p50": 115629.2, "metro_p75": 125670.25, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Montana Governor's Office", "source_url": null, "statement": "Montana unemployment fell to 3.1% in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Nonmetro Montana counties lost 1.5% of jobs in 2025"}, {"source_name": "Missoula Current / Daily Montanan", "source_url": null, "statement": "Montana computer systems design wages closed 35% gap to U.S. peers"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER)", "source_url": null, "statement": "Montana IT/technology jobs grew 28% in 2025"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "October 2026 metro-level BLS data delayed to December 2, 2026"}, {"source_name": "Montana Department of Labor & Industry", "source_url": null, "statement": "Montana minimum wage rises to $11.20 effective January 1, 2027"}], "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": "mt-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "mt-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:26:39.723379+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/mt-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/mt-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}