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Labor Market Pulse
Waco, TX Metro Edition
Focus: IT
Waco network pay collapses as system admin rates spike sharply.
$76,528
Waco network engineer pay
vs $114,400 national median, down significantly
$114,400
Waco systems administrator pay
vs $101,168 national, up significantly
4.2%
Metro unemployment rate
vs 4.1% U.S., 4.0% Texas
$1,213
Metro average weekly wage
down $49 vs Q4 2025, up $19 YoY
This Month's Takeaways
Network engineer pay cratered while national rates rose.
Metro network engineer pay dropped significantly to $76,528 even as the national median climbed to $114,400 — a $38K gap that was far narrower historically. Local demand for standalone networking expertise appears to be softening faster than the national market, raising the case for outsourcing routine network administration rather than competing on pay for a shrinking local talent pool.
Systems administrator demand looks like consolidation, not growth.
Local systems administrator pay rose significantly to $114,400, now exceeding the national median of $101,168 — unusual for a secondary metro. This likely reflects employers folding network and support duties into broader infrastructure roles, meaning headcount planning should favor fewer, more highly compensated generalists over multiple narrow specialists.
Cybersecurity pay gains are modest locally but structurally important.
Waco cybersecurity analyst pay rose moderately to $103,212, trailing the national figure of $106,790 but still outpacing most other local IT roles. With Texas security analyst roles projected to grow 29% through 2034, this looks like early positioning rather than catch-up — a role worth protecting from flat raise cycles even amid metro-wide wage softness.
Help desk pay decline mirrors broader entry-level compression.
Metro help desk pay fell significantly to $42,322 against a stable national median of $53,644, a gap consistent with national reporting on AI-driven reductions in lower-level IT positions. Organizations should evaluate whether entry-level support work is being absorbed by automation or simply priced down, since the strategic response differs sharply between the two.
Local Labor Conditions
Waco's labor market held steady in September at 4.2% unemployment with 29,000 nonfarm jobs added and only 0.8% annual job growth, reflecting an economy still anchored by Education and Health Services rather than tech-driven expansion. Manufacturing's 8.1% quarterly decline and a $49 drop in average weekly wages from Q4 2025 point to broader wage softness that is compounding, not offsetting, the divergence already visible across local IT roles.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Local IT pay signals are pulling in opposite directions — systems administrator pay up significantly while network engineer pay fell sharply — suggesting Waco employers are consolidating infrastructure responsibilities into higher-value generalist roles rather than maintaining narrow specialist tracks. This is consistent with the national pattern of commodity infrastructure work facing demand compression while cloud- and security-adjacent skills command premiums, and it has direct implications for build-vs-buy decisions on networking support. Consider evaluating whether network engineering functions can be right-sized toward managed service providers while redirecting retained headcount budget toward systems administration and security capacity.
