{"schema_version": 1, "id": "savannah-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 395, "label": "Savannah, GA MSA", "slug": "savannah-ga-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:18:28.440713+00:00", "headline": "Savannah IT postings cool, but scarce-skill pay keeps climbing.", "headline_summary": "Metro Software Engineer pay jumped to $139,551 and IT Project Manager pay to $121,736, even as Georgia IT postings fell 28.1% year-over-year and Savannah unemployment held near a multi-year low of 2.9%.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "2.9%", "context": "March 2026, vs 3.2% statewide"}, {"label": "Georgia IT postings, YoY", "value": "-28.1%", "context": "Through July 2026, despite low unemployment"}, {"label": "Chatham County wage growth", "value": "+5.7%", "context": "Fastest among GA's 12 largest counties"}, {"label": "Software Engineer advertised pay (metro)", "value": "$139,551", "context": "Up significantly, nears $153,652 national"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Software Engineer pay is surging locally while postings cool statewide.", "body": "Metro median advertised pay for Software Engineers climbed to $139,551, a significant increase that nearly closes the gap with the $153,652 national figure, even as Georgia IT postings overall fell 28.1% year-over-year. This divergence suggests Savannah employers are competing hard for a narrower band of engineering talent rather than hiring broadly."}, {"headline": "Network Engineer and Cybersecurity pay are falling locally against a rising national tide.", "body": "Metro Network Engineer pay dropped to $81,440 and Cybersecurity Analyst pay to $84,027, both moving down while national medians for the same roles continue to rise moderately. Local employers advertising below national trend risk losing mid-career specialists to remote-eligible roles paying national rates, particularly as nearshore and remote cybersecurity alternatives gain traction."}, {"headline": "IT Project Manager demand looks like the clearest growth signal in the metro.", "body": "Advertised pay for IT Project Managers rose significantly to $121,736, outpacing even the national median of $117,530. Rising PM compensation amid falling postings elsewhere may signal that Savannah organizations are prioritizing governance and delivery oversight for complex, resource-constrained IT initiatives rather than expanding technical headcount."}, {"headline": "Help Desk compression signals a structural, not cyclical, shift.", "body": "Metro Help Desk pay fell significantly to $49,920, well below the stable national median of $53,644, consistent with national commentary that AI tooling and offshoring are compressing demand for entry-level IT support. Budget planning should treat this as a longer-term reallocation of resources toward higher-value tiers rather than a temporary dip."}], "local_conditions": "Savannah's labor market holds near full employment with the metro unemployment rate at 2.9% in March 2026, tightened further by Chatham County's 5.7% year-over-year employment gain and port-driven growth that continues to outpace most of Georgia's large counties. Statewide IT and programming postings fell 28.1% year-over-year through July even as Georgia's unemployment sits at a multi-year low of 3.2%, producing a local paradox: fewer open IT requisitions, but little slack in the talent pool to absorb demand when hiring resumes.", "implications": "Falling posting volumes alongside a historically tight regional labor pool suggest many Savannah IT organizations are optimizing existing headcount rather than expanding it, which raises retention stakes for scarce cloud, security, and senior engineering talent even as commodity roles like help desk see advertised pay compress (down significantly to $49,920 locally). Build-vs-buy decisions are shifting in favor of contract and nearshore staffing for infrastructure and support functions, freeing budget to protect permanent headcount in cybersecurity and platform engineering where national pay is still accelerating. Consider reviewing which roles in your current IT org chart are commodity-level versus scarcity-driven, and reallocate retention budget toward the latter before competitors do.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Georgia's 28.1% year-over-year drop in IT postings has not yet shown up as layoffs locally, but watch whether Savannah's low 2.9% unemployment rate holds if information-sector softness (Georgia lost 1,000 information jobs in August) spreads to coastal employers."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Nearshore Latin American staffing at 30-50% cost savings is gaining traction statewide for senior engineering roles; Savannah IT leaders competing for scarce cybersecurity and cloud talent should expect this option to shape counteroffers and internal budget conversations over the next quarter."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Chatham County's 5.7% wage growth, the fastest among Georgia's largest counties, could pull more IT compensation upward if port and logistics expansion continues absorbing adjacent technical labor, tightening competition for infrastructure and support staff."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Atlanta's rise to the nation's second-largest data center market may increasingly draw Savannah-based cloud and infrastructure talent north; monitor whether advertised pay for Systems Administrator and Network Engineer roles locally needs to adjust to compete with Atlanta's gravitational pull."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 68024.0, "metro_p50": 97345.6, "metro_p75": 113587.75, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 77947.0, "metro_p50": 90000.0, "metro_p75": 97689.25, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 66337.5, "metro_p50": 81440.2, "metro_p75": 93773.75, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 70000.0, "metro_p50": 139551.0, "metro_p75": 160371.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 39104.0, "metro_p50": 49920.0, "metro_p75": 50571.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 75784.0, "metro_p50": 84027.0, "metro_p75": 115422.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 91164.0, "metro_p50": 121736.0, "metro_p75": 125684.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 117530.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}], "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": "October 2026", "files": {"html": "savannah-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "savannah-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:36:11.288885+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/savannah-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/savannah-ga-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}