Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Asheville, NC MSA — September 2026
Asheville IT pay splits: infrastructure cools, cloud and dev roles climb.
Systems Administrator advertised pay fell to $82,753 locally even as Network Engineer ($112,243) and Software Engineer ($130,680) posted significant gains, signaling where Asheville employers are concentrating retention spend.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Buncombe County unemployment: 3.6% — Lowest in NC, vs 4.1% national rate
- Metro employment vs pre-Helene: -3% — Still below pre-hurricane baseline as of Dec 2025
- Systems Administrator pay, metro vs national: $82,753 vs $101,168 — Local down, national up this month
- NC statewide WARN notices YTD: 61 notices / 5,753 workers — Manufacturing and logistics most affected
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro median dropped to $82,753 even as the national figure rose to $101,168, a divergence that widens the case for remote or outsourced staffing on commodity infrastructure work. Local employers may be able to source this function more cheaply than they assume if they expand the search radius.
Network Engineer and Software Engineer pay are pulling away from the pack.
Both roles posted significant advertised pay increases locally ($112,243 and $130,680 respectively), tracking the national premium being paid for cloud architecture and infrastructure engineering skill. This signals where constrained budgets should concentrate retention spend rather than spreading raises evenly across IT functions.
Helene recovery is competing with tech hiring for the same labor pool.
Construction and skilled trades remain among the hottest hiring categories in the region as rebuild work continues, tightening the broader labor market even where IT-specific postings are easing. IT leaders competing for hybrid technical talent (field techs, network installers) may feel wage pressure indirectly through this channel.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay has gone flat — read that as a pause, not a retreat.
Metro median held stable at $100,881 against a national figure moving upward, an unusual quiet spot given cybersecurity's 346% above-average growth signal nationally (CompTIA). Flat local pay in a tightening specialty may reflect a temporary hiring pause rather than reduced demand — worth revisiting before locking in next cycle's budget.
Median advertised pay by role — Asheville, NC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $104,207 | $116,677 | $122,685 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $68,310 | $82,753 | $87,500 | Moderate decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $59,773 | $112,243 | $115,000 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $105,765 | $130,680 | $132,500 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $44,720 | $52,054 | $57,697 | Moderate increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $86,884 | $100,881 | $119,492 | Stable | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $79,440 | $110,742 | $122,686 | Moderate decline | $117,530 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
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
Asheville's post-Helene recovery remains incomplete, with metro employment still running roughly 3% below pre-hurricane levels even as Buncombe County unemployment holds near 3.6%, the lowest in the state. Rebuild-driven demand for skilled trades is absorbing labor supply that might otherwise flow into tech-adjacent roles, while the metro's IT wage base remains compressed relative to Raleigh and Charlotte, shaping who employers can realistically recruit from outside the region.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for Network Engineer ($112,243) and Software Engineer ($130,680) climbed significantly this month even as Systems Administrator pay fell, suggesting employers are reallocating budget toward roles tied to cloud and architecture work rather than commodity infrastructure support — consistent with national stratification data showing network admin roles facing permanent demand compression. Thin senior-level supply in a recovering metro labor market raises the cost of in-house hiring for specialized infrastructure and security talent, while eased entry-level hiring conditions statewide make Tier 1 support and helpdesk functions more viable to build internally or near-shore. Consider reviewing whether Systems Administrator roles still warrant premium in-house compensation or whether MSP/contractor models better match current local wage trends.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Metro employment still sits near 3% below pre-Helene levels; watch whether September/October data show the gap closing or stalling, which will signal whether labor supply loosens for IT hiring in Q4.
Emerging pressure point: North Carolina's reliance on immigrant software talent (roughly one-third of the state's developer workforce) creates attrition risk IT leaders in Asheville should factor into retention planning, even in a smaller metro labor pool.
Early indicator: Systems Administrator pay fell locally this month while rising nationally — track whether this divergence persists through Q4, which would further validate shifting these roles toward outsourced or hybrid staffing models.
Potential inflection point: Statewide WARN filings remain modest (61 notices YTD) but concentrated in manufacturing and logistics; monitor whether any Buncombe-area filings surface, which could release adjacent technical talent (network, support) into the local candidate pool.
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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