{"schema_version": 1, "id": "toledo-oh-msa/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 461, "label": "Toledo, OH MSA", "slug": "toledo-oh-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:37:50.194479+00:00", "headline": "Toledo's cybersecurity pay gap widens as infrastructure roles tighten.", "headline_summary": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay has fallen to $64,314 against a national median of $107,327, even as Network Engineer pay climbed significantly to $97,500 amid Ohio's five-to-one technician shortage.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Ohio technician shortage ratio", "value": "5:1", "context": "Open technician jobs per qualified candidate statewide"}, {"label": "Toledo MSA employment growth forecast", "value": "1.87%", "context": "Projected six-month growth, as of April 2026"}, {"label": "Ohio unemployment rate", "value": "3.4%", "context": "vs 4.1% national rate, September 2026"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap", "value": "$43,013", "context": "Metro $64,314 vs national $107,327 median"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Cybersecurity pay gap in Toledo looks increasingly indefensible.", "body": "Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay sits at $64,314 against a national median of $107,327 \u2014 a 40% gap that has widened as national cybersecurity pay rose while local pay fell significantly. Retention risk here is structural: analysts can access national remote postings at nearly double local rates."}, {"headline": "Infrastructure pay strength signals where hiring competition is real.", "body": "Network Engineer ($97,500) and Systems Administrator ($90,951) advertised pay both moved up significantly locally, outpacing national trend magnitude. This tracks Ohio's broader data-center buildout and five-to-one technician shortage, making these roles the metro's clearest points of hiring friction."}, {"headline": "Help desk compression may free budget for upskilling over headcount growth.", "body": "Help Desk/IT Support pay fell significantly to $44,720, well below the national $53,129 median. Falling entry-level cost combined with JobsOhio's $10,000-per-worker training subsidy (requiring 1:1 employer match) creates a rare window to convert support staff into infrastructure talent, reducing the need for external backfill."}, {"headline": "Manufacturing displacement has not yet reached the IT candidate pool.", "body": "Recent WARN filings \u2014 The Blade, Perstorp Polyols, Lourdes University \u2014 are concentrated in manufacturing, media, and healthcare functions, with little overlap into technology roles. IT leaders should not expect these layoffs to meaningfully ease local technical hiring pressure."}], "local_conditions": "Toledo MSA employment growth remains sluggish, projected at just 1.87% over six months, even as Ohio's 3.4% unemployment rate signals tighter overall labor supply than the national 4.1%. Manufacturing contraction continues to dominate regional WARN activity \u2014 including The Blade's 116-job closure and recent filings from Perstorp Polyols and Michigan Sugar \u2014 while statewide demand for technical and data-center talent pulls skilled workers toward infrastructure roles, creating a split labor market between legacy industry displacement and technology-adjacent hiring.", "implications": "Divergent advertised pay trends \u2014 Network Engineer and Systems Administrator roles up significantly locally while Cybersecurity Analyst pay has fallen to $64,314, nearly $43,000 below the national median \u2014 suggest Toledo-area employers are underpricing security talent relative to risk exposure, even as infrastructure and support roles tighten. Ohio's five-to-one technician-to-candidate ratio and the JobsOhio Technician Path subsidy make internal development of infrastructure and network talent more economically attractive than external recruiting in this metro, particularly where data center-adjacent skills command six-figure premiums statewide. Consider reviewing whether current cybersecurity compensation reflects actual regional risk and competitive exposure, accounting for the national 4.7% wage growth in IT systems roles that has outpaced historical local benchmarks.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst pay has moved in opposite directions locally (down significantly) and nationally (up moderate) this month. Watch whether this gap triggers visible attrition to remote national employers over the next quarter."}, {"category": "Policy to monitor", "body": "TechCred reimbursement funds are exhausted mid-fiscal-year while JobsOhio's Technician Path program remains active with 1:1 matching requirements. Organizations planning 2027 upskilling budgets should confirm funding status before committing training spend."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Toledo MSA employment growth of 1.87% projected over six months is sluggish relative to Ohio's broader tightening. Watch whether slow metro-wide job growth begins pulling adjacent talent \u2014 administrative, operations \u2014 into IT support pipelines."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "The Blade's 116-job WARN closure and other media/services layoffs could release workers with digital or support-adjacent skills into the local market by year-end. Track whether applicant volume for entry-level IT roles increases without a corresponding pay recovery."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 81838.0, "metro_p50": 135762.8, "metro_p75": 145986.5, "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": 71572.5, "metro_p50": 90951.4, "metro_p75": 97654.75, "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": 85000.0, "metro_p50": 97500.0, "metro_p75": 130000.0, "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": 90381.0, "metro_p50": 127847.0, "metro_p75": 143529.0, "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": 36400.0, "metro_p50": 44720.0, "metro_p75": 57500.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 62563.0, "metro_p50": 64314.0, "metro_p75": 120534.25, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "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": 110292.5, "metro_p50": 117765.0, "metro_p75": 117765.5, "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": "toledo-oh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "toledo-oh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:31:23.064348+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/toledo-oh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/toledo-oh-msa/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}