{"schema_version": 1, "id": "wenatchee-wa-msa/information-technology/2026-09", "product": "Labor Market Pulse", "metro": {"geography_id": 534, "label": "Wenatchee, WA MSA", "slug": "wenatchee-wa-msa"}, "focus_area": {"key": "information_technology", "slug": "information-technology", "label": "Information Technology"}, "period": "2026-09", "public_after": "2026-09-01", "frozen_at": "2026-10-09T13:18:40.335425+00:00", "headline": "Wenatchee IT pay splits: specialists rise, admins fall.", "headline_summary": "Systems Administrator advertised pay in Wenatchee dropped to $102,391 even as the national median climbed to $101,168, while IT Project Manager pay jumped to $121,785 \u2014 a split that favors outsourcing commodity infrastructure work over defending generalist headcount.", "key_indicators": [{"label": "Chelan County unemployment", "value": "3.0%", "context": "July 2026, down from 3.6% in June"}, {"label": "WA IT/software postings growth", "value": "+14.2% YoY", "context": "vs -2.7% for all WA postings"}, {"label": "Systems Administrator pay, metro vs national", "value": "$102,391 vs $101,168", "context": "Metro down, national up YoY"}, {"label": "WA non-compete enforceability threshold", "value": "$126,858.83", "context": "2026 minimum annual comp to enforce"}], "takeaways": [{"headline": "Systems Administrator pay is falling locally while rising nationally.", "body": "Metro median dropped to $102,391 even as the national figure rose to $101,168, a divergence that may suggest local employers see less competitive pressure to retain generalist infrastructure staff. Current conditions suggest this is the clearest local signal yet favoring managed-service or regional contractor models over in-house administration headcount."}, {"headline": "IT Project Manager pay is the standout mover this month.", "body": "Metro median reached $121,785 with a significant upward trend, outpacing the national figure of $117,530. That gap is consistent with employers absorbing coordination complexity from cloud migrations and vendor management rather than adding permanent technical headcount \u2014 a signal to benchmark this role against project volume, not legacy org charts."}, {"headline": "Help Desk pay compression points toward tiering, not scarcity.", "body": "Metro Help Desk median sits at $59,999 and trending down, while national figures hold flat near $53,644 \u2014 still a local premium, but a shrinking one. May signal that entry-tier support work is increasingly viewed as outsourceable or automatable, even in a metro with limited competing tech employers."}, {"headline": "Chelan County's hiring freeze narrows the local public-sector IT bench.", "body": "County government's freeze through 2026, exempting only grant-funded or critical roles, removes a traditional source of stable infrastructure and support hires from circulation. Private employers hiring for similar functions may find a slightly deeper candidate pool, but one shaped by displaced public-sector workers rather than net new tech talent."}], "local_conditions": "Chelan County's unemployment rate sits near 3.0% in the latest reading, reflecting seasonal agricultural and tourism hiring rather than durable labor demand, while Chelan County's government-wide hiring freeze through 2026 is removing public-sector positions from the local candidate pool. Statewide, software and IT postings are up 14.2% year-over-year even as broader Washington job postings fall 2.7%, signaling that Wenatchee employers competing for tech talent are drawing from a market where demand is concentrating in fewer, higher-skill roles rather than expanding broadly.", "implications": "Metro advertised pay for Software Engineers ($159,771) and Data Scientists ($153,654) continues to climb even as Systems Administrator pay falls locally ($102,391, down against a rising national figure), suggesting Wenatchee employers are bidding aggressively for specialized talent while commodity infrastructure roles lose pricing power \u2014 a pattern that strengthens the case for outsourcing routine admin and support functions. Washington's $126,858.83 non-compete threshold and $59.96/hour computer-professional wage floor add compliance weight to every hourly IT hire, raising the relative cost of contract infrastructure staffing versus a generation ago. Consider reviewing whether Systems Administrator and Help Desk roles ($59,999 metro median, down) are better suited to outsourced or managed-service arrangements given local pay compression, freeing permanent headcount budget for security and cloud specialization.", "looking_ahead": [{"category": "Worth watching", "body": "Washington's information-sector layoffs accounted for nearly three-quarters of Q2 King County job cuts; watch whether any of that displaced talent \u2014 particularly cloud or security-adjacent \u2014 migrates east toward Wenatchee's lower cost of living."}, {"category": "Emerging pressure point", "body": "Chelan County's hiring freeze exceptions for 'critical' roles will test whether local government quietly resumes IT hiring under that carve-out, which could tighten competition for scarce cybersecurity and network talent."}, {"category": "Potential inflection point", "body": "Statewide IT postings are up 14.2% year-over-year against a shrinking overall job market \u2014 a divergence that, if it persists into Q4, would support building permanent cloud and security headcount ahead of competitors still hesitating."}, {"category": "Early indicator", "body": "Washington's $126,858.83 non-compete enforceability threshold and rising computer-professional wage floor are increasing the fixed cost of senior IT hires; monitor whether this pushes more Wenatchee employers toward contractor-based infrastructure staffing to stay below the threshold."}], "roles": [{"role": "Data Scientist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 122170.0, "metro_p50": 153654.0, "metro_p75": 165898.5, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 148250.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Systems Administrator", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84291.0, "metro_p50": 102391.0, "metro_p75": 113658.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 101168.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Network Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 84069.5, "metro_p50": 118544.6, "metro_p75": 133526.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 114400.0, "national_trend_direction": "up", "national_trend_magnitude": "moderate"}, {"role": "Software Engineer", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 121435.0, "metro_p50": 159771.0, "metro_p75": 177111.0, "metro_trend_direction": "stable", "metro_trend_magnitude": "stable", "national_p50": 153652.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Help Desk/IT Support Specialist", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 45883.75, "metro_p50": 59999.2, "metro_p75": 70721.0, "metro_trend_direction": "down", "metro_trend_magnitude": "moderate", "national_p50": 53644.0, "national_trend_direction": "stable", "national_trend_magnitude": "stable"}, {"role": "Cybersecurity Analyst", "data_scope": "metro", "metro_p25": 89932.5, "metro_p50": 106942.0, "metro_p75": 125140.0, "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": "metro", "metro_p25": 91623.0, "metro_p50": 121785.0, "metro_p75": 132927.0, "metro_trend_direction": "up", "metro_trend_magnitude": "significant", "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": "wenatchee-wa-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "pdf": "wenatchee-wa-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}, "published_at": "2026-10-09T14:37:51.411503+00:00", "report_html_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/wenatchee-wa-msa/information-technology/2026-09.html", "report_pdf_url": "https://reports.wagescape.com/archive/v1/editions/wenatchee-wa-msa/information-technology/2026-09.pdf"}