Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Alexandria, LA MSA — September 2026
Alexandria IT pay splits: security surges, support slides.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay hit $133,949, above the $106,790 national median, while Software Engineer pay fell sharply to $119,612 and Help Desk pay dropped to $58,210.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.5%-4.0% — vs 4.2% Louisiana, 4.1% U.S.
- Rapides Parish avg weekly wage: $1,071 — vs $1,654 national average
- Louisiana avg IT salary: $93,813 — vs $109K+ national benchmark; LA ranks 50th
- Statewide WARN activity: 16 notices / 1,950 workers — Down 63% YoY in filings statewide
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity Analyst pay is outrunning the metro, not just the market.
Metro advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst roles at $133,949 now exceeds the $106,790 national median, a reversal of the typical metro discount seen elsewhere on this list. This suggests local employers are bidding aggressively for a genuinely scarce skill set rather than following national trend lines, and budgets built on prior-year comps will understate what retention now requires.
Software Engineer and Help Desk pay are falling while peers hold steady nationally.
Metro Software Engineer pay dropped significantly even as the national median held flat, and Help Desk pay fell sharply locally while national rates stayed stable. Falling local pay in roles with national remote alternatives is consistent with employer cost-cutting rather than softening demand, and may accelerate attrition toward remote-eligible postings elsewhere.
Systems Administrator wages are rising locally even as national pay outpaces them.
Metro Systems Administrator pay climbed significantly to $88,578, yet still trails the $101,168 national figure by a wide margin. Louisiana's broader IT pay gap, roughly 15% below national benchmarks per Lorien Global and JRG Partners data, suggests this role is being repriced locally but from a depressed base, leaving retention risk only partially addressed.
Specialized defense-tech hiring signals a parallel, higher-paying labor market forming locally.
Integer Technologies' LSU-linked expansion is adding defense-tech jobs averaging $130,000, more than double the parish average weekly wage annualized. Build-vs-buy decisions for specialized infrastructure and security functions should account for this emerging premium tier competing for the same small pool of senior technical talent.
Median advertised pay by role — Alexandria, LA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $117,171 | $151,397 | $159,000 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $68,092 | $88,578 | $92,182 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $51,162 | $75,000 | $96,752 | Moderate increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $77,703 | $119,612 | $137,798 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $46,811 | $58,210 | $64,791 | Significant decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $85,407 | $133,949 | $143,638 | Significant increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $83,638 | $105,367 | $122,997 | Significant increase | $117,530 |
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Local market conditions
Rapides Parish payrolls remain flat at roughly 62,300 nonfarm jobs with unemployment hovering near 3.5-4.0%, a tighter reading than the 4.2% statewide rate, even as average weekly wages at $1,071 sit well below the $1,654 national average. Local IT demand is shaped less by broad hiring than by a widening split between commodity support roles losing ground and specialized security and data positions pulling away, a pattern consistent with Louisiana's rank as the 50th-lowest state for IT pay.
What it means
Metro Systems Administrator pay rose sharply this year even as Software Engineer and Help Desk advertised rates fell, suggesting employers are consolidating headcount into fewer, higher-leverage infrastructure roles rather than broad-based IT expansion. This divergence, paired with statewide IT salaries averaging $93,813 against national benchmarks above $109K, strengthens the economic case for outsourcing commodity support and mid-tier development work while reserving scarce local budget for cybersecurity and systems roles that show genuine wage pressure. Consider evaluating whether current Help Desk and Software Engineer compensation still clears the bar needed to retain staff against remote-eligible national postings, where pay in those roles is stable or down only modestly by comparison.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: October 20 BLS release will bring the first September Louisiana unemployment read; a move away from the current 4.2% stabilization could signal whether metro labor supply is loosening enough to ease IT hiring competition.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide WARN filings remain low (16 notices, 1,950 workers through September) but manufacturing and petrochemical investment is absorbing skilled trades talent that sometimes overlaps with infrastructure and facilities-adjacent IT roles. Watch whether this cross-sector pull extends to systems and network staff.
Early indicator: Metro Software Engineer and Help Desk pay are both trending down while national rates hold stable, an unusual divergence worth tracking monthly. If the gap continues widening, expect increased attrition risk and informal counteroffers rather than advertised rate adjustments.
Potential inflection point: Louisiana's technology sector is reporting 18% year-over-year job growth per JRG Partners even as overall state hiring stays modest. If that growth concentrates in Alexandria-area defense-tech and cloud roles, expect further premium pricing for cybersecurity and cloud architecture talent over the next two quarters.
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. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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