{"schema_version": 1, "id": "wa-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 520, "label": "WA NONMETROPOLITAN AREA", "slug": "wa-nonmetropolitan-area"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-10", "public_after": "2026-10-01", "frozen_at": "2026-11-03T03:40:22.299415+00:00", "headline": "Nonmetro Washington's IT pay splits: security up, networking down.", "headline_summary": "Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay climbed to $111,842 locally even as Network Engineer pay fell significantly to $103,189, a reversal of their usual relationship to national medians.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Nonmetro unemployment range", "value": "3.6%\u20135.6%", "context": "Skamania 3.6% to Wahkiakum 5.6%, Sept. 2026"}, {"label": "Network Engineer advertised pay", "value": "$103,189", "context": "Down significantly vs. $115,757 national, rising"}, {"label": "Washington tech WARN filings (YTD)", "value": "12,336 workers", "context": "43 notices, largest sector after agriculture"}, {"label": "Northwest WA job growth forecast", "value": "0.81%", "context": "2024\u20132029, below state average"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network Engineer pay is falling locally while national demand firms up.", "body": "Metro advertised pay for Network Engineers dropped significantly to $103,189, a $12,500 gap below the rising national median of $115,757. Widening disparity suggests local employers face less competitive pressure for this role than their national peers, an opening to recruit from outside the metro instead of bidding up local pay."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity and IT Project Manager roles buck the metro's soft trend.", "body": "Cybersecurity Analyst ($111,842) and IT Project Manager ($119,600) advertised pay both moved up moderately and now exceed their national medians. These are the metro's clearest signal that specialized and governance-adjacent roles command premiums even in a market with broader downward pay pressure on technical roles."}, {"headline": "Statewide tech layoffs may expand the nonmetro remote talent pool.", "body": "Washington tech WARN filings total 12,336 workers year-to-date, including Oracle's 359-worker Seattle-area notice effective mid-November. Falling nonmetro unemployment alongside this displacement suggests remote-eligible infrastructure roles could draw applicants willing to trade Seattle-scale pay for stability outside the metro core."}, {"headline": "Software Engineer and Network Engineer softness signals room to renegotiate build-vs-buy.", "body": "Both roles show moderate-to-significant pay declines locally while national medians hold stable or climb, widening the metro discount. Organizations weighing in-house infrastructure buildout against outsourced or offshore delivery now have more room to source locally at a discount before premium national rates apply."}], "local_conditions": "Nonmetropolitan Washington counties posted declining unemployment in September \u2014 Grays Harbor at 4.3%, Skamania at 3.6%, Cowlitz at 4.0% \u2014 even as the broader economy adds jobs at a rate well below the 15,400 Washington lost statewide that month. Rural IT demand remains thin relative to Seattle and Tacoma, but the state's year-to-date WARN tally shows technology accounting for 43 notices and 12,336 affected workers, a pool that could reach nonmetro candidates willing to relocate or work remote.", "implications": "Falling nonmetro unemployment alongside statewide tech layoffs \u2014 Oracle's 359-worker WARN notice, Amazon's 121, Qualtrics' 117 \u2014 creates a window where displaced Seattle-area infrastructure and support talent may consider remote or relocated roles at nonmetro pay levels, which run materially below metro benchmarks. For build-vs-buy decisions, this favors sourcing cloud and infrastructure talent displaced from contracting tech hubs over competing head-to-head for scarce local specialists, particularly given Network Engineer advertised pay in this metro has dropped significantly to $103,189 against a national median of $115,757. Consider evaluating remote-eligible infrastructure and support postings as a lower-cost channel to absorb talent exiting Seattle's contracting tech sector.\n\n", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Expected", "body": "County-level October unemployment data releases November 24 via Washington ESD. Watch whether the three-month decline in nonmetro rates (Grays Harbor, Lewis, Cowlitz) holds or reverses as statewide job losses continue."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Washington sits atop the national WARN registry with 16,776 workers affected as of early October, concentrated in agriculture and technology. Monitor whether Seattle-area tech separations \u2014 Oracle's 359 workers effective November 13 \u2014 begin surfacing in nonmetro remote-role applicant pools."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Northwest Washington's projected 0.81% job growth through 2029 trails the state average sharply, pointing to structural softness in nonmetro demand. IT leaders planning multi-year infrastructure headcount should weight this against metro growth assumptions."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Network Engineer advertised pay has fallen significantly while Cybersecurity Analyst pay keeps climbing \u2014 a divergence worth tracking monthly. If the gap widens further, it may indicate employers are substituting security-focused hires for traditional network roles instead of expanding both."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 119335.5, "metro_p50": 138979.4, "metro_p75": 155150.0, "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": 79695.0, "metro_p50": 97895.4, "metro_p75": 105715.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 102503.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 86320.0, "metro_p50": 103189.0, "metro_p75": 114420.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 115757.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 121050.0, "metro_p50": 142820.0, "metro_p75": 156557.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 154403.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 41600.0, "metro_p50": 61903.6, "metro_p75": 70175.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 53129.0, "national_trend_direction": "down", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 91149.0, "metro_p50": 111842.0, "metro_p75": 129500.0, "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": 96911.0, "metro_p50": 119600.0, "metro_p75": 132214.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 118149.8, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}], "industry_snapshot": [], "citations": [{"source_name": "Washington Employment Security Department / The Daily World", "source_url": null, "statement": "Nonmetro county unemployment rates for September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Washington Office of Financial Management", "source_url": null, "statement": "Washington statewide job loss of 15,400 in September 2026"}, {"source_name": "Washington OFM WARN Notice Database", "source_url": null, "statement": "Oracle, Amazon, Qualtrics WARN notices in Washington"}, {"source_name": "Washington OFM WARN Notice Database", "source_url": null, "statement": "Washington technology sector WARN filings totaling 12,336 workers YTD"}, {"source_name": "Washington state WARN tracker", "source_url": null, "statement": "Washington leads national WARN registry with 16,776 affected workers"}, {"source_name": "Washington Employment Security Department / MyBellinghamNow", "source_url": null, "statement": "Northwest Washington projected 0.81% job growth 2024-2029"}], "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": "wa-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "pdf": "wa-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-11-03T08:32:01.861619+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/wa-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/wa-nonmetropolitan-area/information-technology/2026-10.pdf"}