{"schema_version": 1, "id": "nh-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 333, "label": "NH NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "nh-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:26:27.600376+00:00", "headline": "Infrastructure and security pay surge while support roles slide.", "headline_summary": "Network Engineer advertised pay hit $152,718 locally \u2014 well above the $115,757 national figure \u2014 while Help Desk pay fell to $52,213 amid New Hampshire's tightest-in-the-nation regional labor market.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "NH unemployment rate", "value": "2.6%", "context": "Third-lowest nationally, down from 2.8% in September"}, {"label": "NH tech pay discount", "value": "18%", "context": "$145,491 NH vs $176,274 national, systems design"}, {"label": "Statewide wage vs inflation gap", "value": "-1.6 pts", "context": "Jan-July 2026, wage growth trailing inflation"}, {"label": "Ongoing unemployment claims", "value": "+23%", "context": "vs same period two years prior"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network Engineer pay is repricing faster than any other local IT role.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay of $152,718 now runs well above the $115,757 national figure, a significant upward move that outpaces Systems Administrator and Software Engineer gains. This suggests infrastructure buildout demand is driving the increase, a signal to benchmark infrastructure roles separately from the broader IT pay structure."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay gains point to a defensive hiring posture.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose significantly to $115,669 locally against a more modest national gain, consistent with tightening compliance and risk pressure that is distinct from headcount growth. Organizations may be paying up to retain existing security staff without adding net-new positions."}, {"headline": "Help desk pay erosion signals where outsourcing economics are strongest.", "body": "Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay fell moderately both locally ($52,213) and nationally ($53,129), the only role in decline this month. Combined with NH's statewide discount on technical pay relative to national figures, this strengthens the case for shifting routine support functions to lower-cost or offshore delivery given the scarcity of local hires."}, {"headline": "IT Project Manager pay climbing faster than Data Scientist pay is a tell.", "body": "IT Project Manager advertised pay rose significantly to $132,414 while Data Scientist pay held flat at $131,753 \u2014 unusual given the national AI hiring premium. Local demand appears weighted toward delivery and infrastructure coordination roles ahead of specialized data science, worth confirming before assuming AI-driven headcount plans locally."}], "local_conditions": "New Hampshire's unemployment rate fell to 2.6% in September, the third-lowest in the nation, while the Lebanon-Claremont micropolitan area posted the tightest labor market conditions in the country \u2014 a dynamic that puts direct upward pressure on IT compensation even as statewide job postings have softened since summer. Wage growth continues to lag inflation statewide by roughly 1.6 percentage points through July, meaning IT employers face a market where talent is scarce and flexibility and role-specific pay increases are the primary retention levers workers are responding to this month.", "implications": "Advertised pay for Network Engineer, Cybersecurity Analyst, and IT Project Manager roles has moved up sharply this month, signaling employers are concentrating compensation increases on infrastructure, security, and delivery functions \u2014 a pattern consistent with the national split between data center/infrastructure hiring growth and pullbacks in traditional tech-hub roles. New Hampshire's 18% discount on computer systems design pay relative to the national average, combined with a tight regional labor pool, creates a build-vs-buy inflection point: competing head-on for scarce local infrastructure and security talent is getting more expensive, while routine support and systems administration work is increasingly exportable to lower-cost regions or specialist vendors. Consider evaluating which infrastructure and security roles require local retention investment versus which support functions could shift to outsourced or hybrid delivery models given the regional pay discount.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Job postings statewide have fallen since summer even as unemployment keeps dropping \u2014 a combination that can mask softening demand behind a tight headline labor market. Watch whether IT-specific postings follow the broader statewide pullback over the next two months."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Ongoing unemployment claims are running 23% above year-ago levels statewide, reflecting low hiring and low turnover alongside an absence of mass layoffs. For IT leaders, this points toward a market where lateral moves are scarce \u2014 current staff have fewer outside options, which may ease retention pressure on mid-level infrastructure and support roles."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Entry-level unemployment among recent graduates reached 5.6% statewide, well above 2023 levels, while AI adoption at larger employers is reducing entry-level hiring further. IT leaders relying on junior pipeline hires for help desk or junior infrastructure roles should watch whether this translates into a larger, more available entry-level candidate pool locally."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "December's BLS release of October metro-level employment data (scheduled Dec. 2) will be the first official confirmation of whether the Lebanon-Claremont tightness is spreading regionally or remains isolated. This matters for infrastructure and security hiring plans tied to secondary-market expansion."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 107969.0, "metro_p50": 131753.0, "metro_p75": 149352.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 145881.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 80000.0, "metro_p50": 101664.8, "metro_p75": 108678.0, "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": 107459.5, "metro_p50": 152718.0, "metro_p75": 166086.75, "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": 134912.0, "metro_p50": 163472.0, "metro_p75": 173870.5, "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": 44346.0, "metro_p50": 52213.0, "metro_p75": 58517.25, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 78101.0, "metro_p50": 115669.0, "metro_p75": 124989.0, "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": 102717.0, "metro_p50": 132413.8, "metro_p75": 149698.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "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": "nh-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "nh-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:27:09.664993+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/nh-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/nh-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}