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Labor Market Pulse
OK NONMETROPOLITAN AREA Edition
Focus: IT
Oklahoma nonmetro counties split 4.4 points on unemployment.
4.4 pts
County unemployment spread
Love County 7.0% vs Dewey County 2.6%, May 2026
4.3%
Oklahoma unemployment rate
vs 4.1% national rate, August 2026
33%+
Firms planning no 2026 wage increase
up from 15% in 2023, Kansas City Fed
$1,478
Dewey County avg weekly wage
highest of 74 smaller OK counties
This Month's Takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is rising while Cybersecurity Analyst pay is falling.
Metro Systems Administrator advertised pay climbed significantly to $78,300 even as Cybersecurity Analyst pay dropped to $77,940 — a reversal of the national pattern where cybersecurity commands a $106,790 median. This may signal local employers are backfilling infrastructure gaps faster than they're building security capacity, a build-vs-buy signal worth testing against outsourced SOC pricing.
Help Desk pay compression looks like a leading indicator, not noise.
Metro Help Desk pay fell significantly to $51,870 against a flat national median of $53,644, consistent with CompTIA and Motion Recruitment data showing AI-driven compression in commodity IT operations roles nationally. Nonmetro Oklahoma employers appear to be testing how far entry-tier support pay can fall before candidate supply dries up.
County unemployment spread of 4.4 points complicates single-rate hiring plans.
Love County's 7.0% unemployment versus Dewey County's 2.6% means labor availability for infrastructure and support roles varies dramatically by county even within the same nonmetro designation. Headcount plans built on a single statewide 4.3% assumption risk under- or over-estimating local candidate pools depending on exact site location.
Data Scientist pay gap to national median signals a sourcing decision, not a pay gap to fix.
Metro Data Scientist pay sits at $124,173 against a $148,250 national median — a 16% discount consistent with broader AI/ML talent scarcity in non-metro markets. Current conditions suggest remote-first sourcing or contractor arrangements may close capability gaps faster than local pay increases alone.
Local Labor Conditions
Oklahoma's nonmetropolitan counties continue trading on a wide dispersion story — Love County's unemployment rate sits at 7.0% against Dewey County's 2.6%, while statewide unemployment drifted to 4.3% in August, above the 4.1% national rate. Weekly wages in 73 of 74 smaller counties remain below the national average even as Dewey's $1,478 average signals energy-sector wage strength is pulling select pockets of nonmetro Oklahoma upward while most lag.
Leadership & Talent Implications
County-level wage dispersion this wide means a single metro-area compensation strategy will systematically misprice talent in either high-cost energy-adjacent counties or lower-wage rural ones, directly affecting whether infrastructure and support roles get filled locally or require remote/hybrid sourcing from Oklahoma City or Tulsa labor pools. Softening statewide wage intentions — over a third of Oklahoma firms now plan no 2026 raises per the Kansas City Fed — collide with Systems Administrator pay up significantly in the broader metro comparison set, suggesting organizations that freeze support-tier pay risk losing exactly the roles seeing the sharpest advertised increases. Consider reviewing county-level pay differentials before finalizing 2026 compensation bands for infrastructure and support hires sourced from nonmetro counties.
