{"schema_version": 1, "id": "waco-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 364, "label": "Waco, TX MSA", "slug": "waco-tx-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:18:47.129239+00:00", "headline": "Waco network pay collapses as system admin rates spike sharply.", "headline_summary": "Metro network engineer pay fell to $76,528 against a national median of $114,400, even as systems administrator pay climbed to $114,400 locally \u2014 a split that signals uneven demand across infrastructure roles, not broad-based IT wage growth.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Waco network engineer pay", "value": "$76,528", "context": "vs $114,400 national median, down significantly"}, {"label": "Waco systems administrator pay", "value": "$114,400", "context": "vs $101,168 national, up significantly"}, {"label": "Metro unemployment rate", "value": "4.2%", "context": "vs 4.1% U.S., 4.0% Texas"}, {"label": "Metro average weekly wage", "value": "$1,213", "context": "down $49 vs Q4 2025, up $19 YoY"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Network engineer pay cratered while national rates rose.", "body": "Metro network engineer pay dropped significantly to $76,528 even as the national median climbed to $114,400 \u2014 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."}, {"headline": "Systems administrator demand looks like consolidation, not growth.", "body": "Local systems administrator pay rose significantly to $114,400, now exceeding the national median of $101,168 \u2014 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."}, {"headline": "Cybersecurity pay gains are modest locally but structurally important.", "body": "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 \u2014 a role worth protecting from flat raise cycles even amid metro-wide wage softness."}, {"headline": "Help desk pay decline mirrors broader entry-level compression.", "body": "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_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.", "implications": "Local IT pay signals are pulling in opposite directions \u2014 systems administrator pay up significantly while network engineer pay fell sharply \u2014 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.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Manufacturing's 5.8% year-over-year decline in Waco may push displaced technical workers, including plant IT and OT support staff, into the broader IT candidate pool over the next quarter. Watch whether this eases hiring pressure for infrastructure-adjacent roles."}, {"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Statewide software developer demand remains strong at 10,843 open Texas postings in September, but Waco's weak 0.8% annual job growth suggests the metro is not capturing a proportional share. A widening gap would strengthen the case for remote-first hiring strategies rather than local-only recruiting for developer roles."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Texas's Information sector is down 5.3% over the year statewide, a trend that could deepen if national information-industry job losses reported in August persist. If this reaches Waco employers directly, expect further downward pressure on network and support role pay rather than stabilization."}, {"category": "Expected", "body": "Weekly wages across the Waco MSA fell $49 quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026 despite a modest year-over-year gain. If this pattern continues into Q3 reporting, total rewards planning should assume continued softness in base pay growth across non-specialist IT functions."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 101494.0, "metro_p50": 119192.8, "metro_p75": 143002.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 76422.0, "metro_p50": 114400.0, "metro_p75": 124800.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 60861.0, "metro_p50": 76528.0, "metro_p75": 92281.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 104475.0, "metro_p50": 140113.2, "metro_p75": 158433.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 35818.25, "metro_p50": 42321.8, "metro_p75": 50612.0, "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": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 85765.0, "metro_p50": 103212.0, "metro_p75": 118888.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 106790.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "IT Project Manager", "data_scope": "state_rollup", "metro_p25": 88412.0, "metro_p50": 115230.0, "metro_p75": 127284.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "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": "waco-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "waco-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:37:40.909010+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/waco-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/waco-tx-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}