Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Barnstable Town, MA MSA — September 2026
Barnstable IT support pay drops as networking roles hold firm.
Systems Administrator pay fell significantly to a $99,566 metro median while the national figure rose to $101,168, even as Network Engineer pay held stable at $119,093 — a split that points toward outsourcing opportunity in commodity IT roles.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Barnstable County unemployment: 5.50% — Up from 4.30% a year ago; vs 4.1% US, 4.3% MA
- Systems Administrator pay (metro): $99,566 — Down significantly vs national $101,168 (up)
- Area average weekly wage: $1,398 — Below $1,569 US average (Q4 2025)
- Massachusetts WARN notices, 2026: 72 notices / 7,343 workers — Down 11% from 2025 statewide
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling here while rising nationally.
Metro median dropped significantly to $99,566 against a national median of $101,168 that moved upward — a reversal that may signal Barnstable employers are finding this role easier to fill or are shifting it toward contract and remote arrangements rather than competing on local pay.
Help Desk pay softness tracks the metro's seasonal labor cycle.
A significant drop in advertised Help Desk/IT Support pay locally, even as the national figure holds stable, is consistent with the post-summer contraction visible in the metro's 1.1% August job decline. Support staffing plans built around peak-season assumptions should be revisited before next summer's hiring push.
Network Engineer pay resilience signals where local leverage remains.
Metro median held stable at $119,093, above the national figure of $114,400, even as adjacent infrastructure roles softened. Networking expertise appears to command a Cape-specific premium that support and admin functions no longer do.
County unemployment near 5.5% masks a tighter skilled-labor picture.
Headline joblessness sits well above the state's 4.3% and national 4.1% rates, largely a seasonal tourism effect, but advertised pay for Data Scientist and Network Engineer roles tells a different story of continued competition for technical talent.
Median advertised pay by role — Barnstable Town, MA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $117,501 | $152,500 | $167,891 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $84,571 | $99,566 | $99,707 | Significant decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer * | $82,510 | $119,093 | $132,750 | Stable | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $105,194 | $130,678 | $148,939 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $51,157 | $57,448 | $57,500 | Significant decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $90,000 | $109,200 | $125,802 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $82,879 | $116,656 | $133,600 | Stable | $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
Barnstable County unemployment climbed to 5.50% in August, down slightly from July but up a full percentage point year-over-year, as the Cape's tourism-driven seasonal economy begins its post-summer contraction and the metro posted a 1.1% month-over-month job decline — one of the steepest drops among Massachusetts labor market areas. Area weekly wages of $1,398 remain well below the U.S. average of $1,569, reflecting both the metro's service-heavy employer base (Cape Cod Healthcare, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and structurally thinner demand for higher-wage technical roles outside Boston's orbit.
What it means
Systems Administrator pay fell sharply this month (down significantly to a $99,566 metro median) even as the national median rose, while Help Desk/IT Support pay also dropped significantly — a divergence from statewide tightness that suggests Barnstable's seasonal slowdown is compressing demand for in-house infrastructure and support staffing faster than for specialized roles like Network Engineer, which held firm at $119,093. Network Engineer and Data Scientist pay staying stable-to-up against softening admin and support pay points toward a metro where commodity IT functions are increasingly exposed to outsourcing economics while networking and data specialization retain local pricing power. Consider evaluating whether Systems Administrator and Help Desk functions are candidates for remote or outsourced coverage given the pay softening, reserving premium in-house compensation for network and data roles where the metro shows no such slack.
Looking ahead
Expected release: September's official Barnstable unemployment and wage data publish October 20, 2026. Watch whether the county's seasonal unemployment uptick deepens or begins reverting toward its 4.3% year-ago level, which would reshape assumptions about fourth-quarter support-staff availability.
Worth watching: Statewide WARN activity is down 11% year-over-year, with no major IT-sector notices reported in Barnstable this month. A continued absence of local WARN filings would support the case that current Systems Administrator pay softness reflects seasonal demand rather than distressed hiring.
Emerging pressure point: National cybersecurity and AI-engineering pay continues accelerating (senior roles reportedly reaching $400K per Lorien Global), a dynamic that could pull Cape-based specialized talent toward remote roles with Boston or national employers even as local admin and support pay softens.
Potential inflection point: Massachusetts labor force participation among workers 25-54 rose 9.1% year-over-year statewide; watch whether this translates into deeper Barnstable candidate pools for infrastructure and support roles heading into Q4 hiring cycles.
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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