Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX MSA — September 2026
Beaumont IT pay splits: admins up, engineers down sharply.
Systems administrator pay rose significantly to $92,811 even as network engineer pay fell to $101,300 and the metro's unemployment rate climbed to 6.2%, the fourth-highest among Texas metros.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 6.2% — vs 4.0% Texas, 4.1% national
- Systems administrator pay: $92,811 — Up significantly, nearing $101,168 national
- Network engineer pay: $101,300 — Down significantly vs $114,400 national (up)
- Metro job growth, year over year: 1.2% — Outpaces 1.1% Texas statewide growth
Key takeaways
Network engineer pay is falling even as national demand rises.
Metro advertised pay for network engineers dropped significantly to $101,300 while national pay rose moderately to $114,400 — a widening gap that is consistent with declining local demand for traditional on-prem networking skills. Organizations retaining in-house network talent should benchmark against the national trajectory, not local postings, to avoid losing staff to remote opportunities.
Systems administrator pay is rising locally despite broader metro softness.
Metro systems administrator pay climbed significantly to $92,811, outpacing the metro's otherwise soft labor conditions and nearing national levels. This may signal employers competing harder for a shrinking pool of administrators as skilled workers continue leaving the region.
Software engineer pay decline tracks a thinning local tech employer base.
Metro software engineer pay fell significantly to $135,955 against a stable national median of $153,652, a gap that appears to reflect limited local demand concentration outside petrochemical and healthcare-adjacent IT needs. Build-vs-buy decisions for custom development work increasingly favor remote or contracted talent over local hires.
6.2% unemployment hasn't translated into cheaper local IT hiring.
Despite the metro's elevated unemployment rate — well above the state's 4.0% — advertised pay for data scientists and systems administrators is still rising, indicating displaced workers are not primarily technical talent. IT leaders should not assume labor slack locally extends to specialized roles.
Median advertised pay by role — Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $118,355 | $145,580 | $163,661 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $64,789 | $92,811 | $110,656 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $90,706 | $101,300 | $124,961 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $110,642 | $135,955 | $140,519 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,328 | $48,497 | $54,080 | Moderate decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $85,765 | $103,212 | $118,888 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $88,412 | $115,230 | $127,284 | 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
Beaumont-Port Arthur's unemployment rate climbed to 6.2% in August, the fourth-highest among Texas metros, even as the region added 2,100 jobs over the year on the back of petrochemical expansion and construction activity. Local IT hiring is unfolding against this split picture — headline job growth masking a workforce that continues to leave for opportunities elsewhere, tightening the pool of resident infrastructure and support talent even as broader demand stays soft.
What it means
Divergence between network engineer pay (down significantly to $101,300) and systems administrator pay (up significantly to $92,811) suggests employers are recalibrating which infrastructure roles still justify premium local compensation versus which can be standardized or absorbed into managed services. With trained workers continuing to exit the metro and software engineer advertised pay down significantly year-over-year, retaining mid-tier technical talent locally may require more reliance on remote/hybrid arrangements rather than assuming the local labor pool can fill specialized roles. Consider reviewing whether network engineering and software development functions are better suited to regional or remote sourcing given the gap between local and national pay trajectories.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Jefferson County's unemployment rate at 6.3% ranks among the state's highest; watch whether petrochemical or manufacturing WARN activity (Texas logged 47 manufacturing notices statewide in 2026) adds displaced technical workers to the local candidate pool.
Emerging pressure point: Continuing outmigration of trained workers from Beaumont-Port Arthur could accelerate network engineer and software engineer pay declines further as local demand concentrates in fewer employers, making remote hiring increasingly necessary for specialized roles.
Potential inflection point: Texas's statewide software developer openings (10,843 in September) and 29% projected growth in security analyst roles suggest state-level demand is accelerating even as this metro lags; watch whether Houston or Dallas wage gravity pulls more Beaumont-area talent into commuting or remote arrangements.
Early indicator: Systems administrator pay's sharp local rise bears monitoring against national trends — if the metro premium persists through Q4, it may indicate a structural scarcity worth addressing through retention incentives rather than one-time market corrections.
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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