{"schema_version": 1, "id": "roanoke-va-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 405, "label": "Roanoke, VA MSA", "slug": "roanoke-va-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:29:05.359027+00:00", "headline": "Salem IT pay climbs as regional labor pool tightens.", "headline_summary": "Salem-area Systems Administrator pay jumped to a 'significant' upward trend this month while metro unemployment held near 3.2%-3.7%, well below the 4.1% national rate.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Salem metro unemployment", "value": "3.2%-3.7%", "context": "vs. 4.1% national rate, Oct 2026"}, {"label": "Systems Administrator pay trend", "value": "Up, significant", "context": "Metro $92,274 vs. national $102,503"}, {"label": "VA tech-sector WARN filings", "value": "10 notices, 796 workers", "context": "Trailing manufacturing's 15 notices, 2,115 workers"}, {"label": "VA IT postings open 60+ days", "value": "21.1%", "context": "Of 4,601 tracked postings, median $135,000"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is accelerating faster than peer roles.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators rose significantly this month even as the role's national median sits meaningfully higher at $102,503 versus $92,274 locally. Convergence toward the national figure appears likely if data center and manufacturing-driven infrastructure demand in the metro persists."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer pay gains locally while national pay holds flat.", "body": "Metro Software Engineer advertised pay moved up significantly against a stable national median, a reversal of the usual pattern where secondary metros lag. This may reflect employers competing against Richmond and national remote postings for a thin local senior engineering bench."}, {"headline": "Low regional unemployment compounds scarcity in support and network roles.", "body": "Salem-area unemployment near 3.2%-3.7% versus 4.1% nationally leaves fewer idle technical workers to recruit from, even as Help Desk pay rose moderately locally while falling nationally. Local support role pay now diverges from national trend, a signal that regional competition \u2014 not national softness \u2014 is setting the local price."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity and IT Project Manager pay gains track national patterns closely.", "body": "Both roles show moderate upward movement locally and nationally, suggesting these functions are pricing off a national market rather than metro-specific scarcity. Benchmarking these roles against national postings may be more reliable than relying on local ad volume alone."}], "local_conditions": "Salem metro unemployment held near 3.2%-3.7% through mid-2026, tracking well below the 4.1% national rate, as manufacturing and biotech capital investment \u2014 including the $85 million Ringana buildout at Blue Ridge Commerce Park projected to add 435 positions over five years \u2014 continues to pull workers out of the broader Roanoke-area labor pool. Statewide IT job postings open over 60 days at a 21.1% rate signal a market where specialized technical talent remains scarce even as Virginia's overall job-to-job movement sits at multi-year lows.", "implications": "Tight regional labor supply combined with national data center hiring growth of 20% in three months puts upward pressure on infrastructure and systems administration compensation locally \u2014 Systems Administrator advertised pay is already up significantly in Salem metro, outpacing the national trend direction. IT leaders weighing build-vs-buy decisions for infrastructure roles face a widening gap between scarce, well-compensated cloud-native talent and more available support-tier candidates, a split that favors hybrid staffing models over full on-prem buildouts in this metro. Consider reviewing infrastructure headcount plans against the Systems Administrator pay trajectory before committing to multi-year on-prem expansion.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Ringana's phased hiring at Blue Ridge Commerce Park will begin drawing technical and logistics talent from the same regional pool IT employers compete in. Watch whether IT infrastructure and support postings see slower fill times as manufacturing absorbs skilled labor."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Technology sector WARN filings account for 10 notices and 796 affected workers statewide over the past 90 days, trailing only manufacturing. Monitor whether any of these filings originate near the Roanoke-Salem corridor and release infrastructure or security talent into the local market."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Virginia's 21.1% rate of IT postings open beyond 60 days suggests persistent friction in filling specialized roles; track whether this rate narrows or widens locally as data center postings statewide continue climbing from their June 2024 baseline."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "National AI-related postings now exceed 7% of all job ads, well past the 2022 peak, while mid-level AI engineers see 9.2% salary growth. Watch whether this national premium begins pulling Salem-area engineering talent toward remote AI roles, raising local retention costs."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 114338.5, "metro_p50": 141628.0, "metro_p75": 160000.0, "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": 77939.5, "metro_p50": 92274.4, "metro_p75": 104291.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 80000.0, "metro_p50": 112264.2, "metro_p75": 126800.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 113726.0, "metro_p50": 149410.0, "metro_p75": 152112.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 42656.0, "metro_p50": 51978.0, "metro_p75": 54475.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 87654.0, "metro_p50": 106943.0, "metro_p75": 125140.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 84896.0, "metro_p50": 117272.0, "metro_p75": 126020.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "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": "roanoke-va-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "roanoke-va-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:29:05.831760+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/roanoke-va-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/roanoke-va-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}