{"schema_version": 1, "id": "ogden-clearfield-ut-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 7, "label": "Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA", "slug": "ogden-clearfield-ut-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:29:17.635101+00:00", "headline": "Ogden's cybersecurity pay premium breaks from the national pattern.", "headline_summary": "Ogden-Clearfield cybersecurity analyst pay hit $128,111 against a $107,327 national median, even as Utah's information sector kept shedding jobs through every 2026 report.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "3.5%", "context": "vs 4.1% national rate, Oct 2026"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay", "value": "$128,111", "context": "vs $107,327 national median"}, {"label": "Utah information-sector job change", "value": "-2,300 jobs", "context": "12 months through August 2026, every month negative"}, {"label": "Network Engineer advertised pay movement", "value": "Up, significant", "context": "$109,017 metro vs $115,757 national"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network engineer pay is outrunning the national trend.", "body": "Metro advertised pay of $109,017 is up significantly this month versus moderate national movement, consistent with data-center and hybrid infrastructure buildout drawing scarce local talent. Budgeting against stale national figures risks underpricing these roles in Ogden specifically."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay has flipped the usual metro-national relationship.", "body": "Ogden's $128,111 median now sits roughly $21,000 above the $107,327 national figure, an unusual premium for a secondary market. This may reflect defense, aerospace and financial-services employers in the region competing hard for compliance-grade security talent."}, {"headline": "A shrinking information sector still shows strong IT demand.", "body": "Utah's information-sector job losses have run through every 2026 report even as construction, healthcare and data-center-adjacent roles expand statewide. IT leaders should separate sector-classification data from actual function-level hiring need when reading state labor reports."}, {"headline": "National tech layoffs offer a sourcing opportunity alongside the risk signal.", "body": "With over 133,000 tech layoffs nationally through October, displaced specialists in AI, security and cloud infrastructure may be more open to secondary metros like Ogden, especially with 41% of technologists willing to trade salary for remote flexibility."}], "local_conditions": "Ogden-Clearfield's 3.5% unemployment rate continues to run roughly 70 basis points below the national average, but Utah's information sector has shed jobs in every monthly report of 2026, a contraction that cuts against the metro's broader 1,000-jobs-added pace in July and August. Statewide data-center expansion plans \u2014 projected at 700% growth in the Salt Lake region by 2030 \u2014 are pulling infrastructure demand toward hybrid and on-prem roles even as cloud-native talent concentrates in costlier coastal markets experiencing hiring pullbacks.", "implications": "Shrinking information-sector headcount alongside tight overall labor supply means IT leaders in Ogden are competing for a smaller local talent pool while advertised pay for cybersecurity analysts ($128,111, up moderately) and network engineers ($109,017, up significantly) climbs faster locally than nationally. Data-center buildout nearby favors organizations that can offer hybrid infrastructure career paths, particularly as national tech layoffs exceeding 133,000 workers create a pool of specialized candidates open to secondary markets; this matters most for employers unable to compete purely on cloud-native comp. Consider evaluating whether infrastructure and security headcount plans account for this local wage premium before assuming parity with national benchmarking figures.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Watch whether Utah's information-sector job losses stabilize or deepen in November reporting \u2014 a continued slide would tighten the local technical labor pool further even as overall metro employment grows."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Data-center construction announcements in the Salt Lake corridor are likely to intensify competition for network engineering and infrastructure talent in Ogden over the next two quarters, given the metro's already-significant upward pay movement in that role."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "National tech WARN activity, including Intel's 1,509-worker filing, may push displaced infrastructure and security talent toward Utah's lower-cost labor market \u2014 track whether local applicant volume for cybersecurity and network roles shifts in coming weeks."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay has now diverged meaningfully from the national median; sustained divergence over another reporting cycle would confirm a structural regional premium worth building into multi-year compensation planning."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 95801.0, "metro_p50": 136973.4, "metro_p75": 152590.0, "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": 74919.0, "metro_p50": 99743.0, "metro_p75": 105919.5, "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": 78961.0, "metro_p50": 109017.2, "metro_p75": 127664.0, "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": 115300.0, "metro_p50": 149179.0, "metro_p75": 164523.0, "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": 40256.5, "metro_p50": 50960.0, "metro_p75": 54737.0, "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": 88885.75, "metro_p50": 128110.6, "metro_p75": 138845.5, "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": 95000.0, "metro_p50": 118625.0, "metro_p75": 125842.0, "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": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "Ogden-Clearfield unemployment rate at 3.5%"}, {"source_name": "Utah Department of Workforce Services", "source_url": null, "statement": "Utah information sector lost 2,300 jobs over 12 months"}, {"source_name": "Gardner Policy Institute", "source_url": null, "statement": "Salt Lake region data-center growth projection of 700% by 2030"}, {"source_name": "Layoffs.fyi", "source_url": null, "statement": "Tech layoffs exceeded 133,000 workers through October 2026"}, {"source_name": "Bureau of Labor Statistics", "source_url": null, "statement": "National unemployment rate at 4.1% in October 2026"}], "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": "ogden-clearfield-ut-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "ogden-clearfield-ut-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:27:29.964592+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/ogden-clearfield-ut-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/ogden-clearfield-ut-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}