Brought to you by:
Powered by wagescape.com
Labor Market Pulse
Topeka, KS Metro Edition
Focus: IT
Topeka unemployment rises while specialized IT pay sprints ahead.
5.0%
Topeka MSA unemployment rate
Up from 4.6% in April 2026 (preliminary)
+5.4%
Shawnee County wage growth
Largest increase among KS's largest counties, Q3 2025
7.4% YoY
KC metro tech postings growth
vs 1.6% nationally — regional poaching risk
3.8%
Kansas statewide unemployment
Flat May–August 2026; Topeka metro runs hotter
This Month's Takeaways
Network Engineer pay is outrunning the national market.
Metro median of $133,407 now exceeds the national figure of $114,400, even as both trend upward — a reversal from the historical pattern of metro roles trailing national pay. This may reflect genuine local scarcity tied to cloud migration projects like the Kansas Department of Labor's infrastructure modernization, and warrants benchmarking against current openings, not legacy pay bands.
Systems Administrator roles look structurally underpriced locally.
Metro median sits nearly $16,500 below the national figure and has stayed stable while every other tracked role moved. Flat advertised pay alongside rising metro unemployment suggests employers face less pressure to compete for this skill set locally — a candidate for outsourcing or managed-service delivery rather than continued in-house investment.
Cybersecurity pay gap signals a local talent export problem.
Metro median of $79,810 trails the national figure of $106,790 by roughly 25%, even as national cybersecurity demand accelerates (CompTIA ranks it 346% above average growth). Topeka employers risk losing security talent to remote national postings or the Kansas City market unless advertised rates close this gap.
Rising IT Project Manager pay may track KC's leadership squeeze.
Metro median climbed to $102,467, a significant year-over-year move that mirrors Kansas City's shift toward management-heavy postings (22% of KC tech postings versus 13% in 2019). Competition for scarce technical leadership appears to be spilling into Topeka's smaller labor pool.
Local Labor Conditions
Topeka MSA unemployment climbed to a preliminary 5.0% in July 2026, up from 4.6% in April, even as core Shawnee County posted the strongest wage growth (+5.4%) among Kansas's largest counties in Q3 2025, suggesting a labor market bifurcating between broad softening and tight, high-demand technical segments. Kansas City tech job postings growing nearly five times the national rate is likely pulling Topeka-area talent toward a larger regional market, compounding local hiring difficulty despite a 8,063-opening candidate pool in Topeka alone.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Divergence between rising metro unemployment and sharply higher advertised pay for Network Engineer (+significant) and Software Engineer (+significant) roles indicates skills-based scarcity rather than a loosening market — generalist headcount may be easier to fill while specialized infrastructure and development talent remains genuinely contested. Proximity to Kansas City's faster-growing tech postings raises retention risk for mid-career technical staff who can command better offers without relocating, while flat Systems Administrator pay ($84,671 metro vs. $101,168 national) signals that commodity infrastructure roles are increasingly rational candidates for outsourcing or managed services. Consider reviewing which infrastructure functions are being priced below national market and evaluate whether those gaps reflect genuine local labor supply or a signal to shift toward contract or managed-service delivery.
