Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Binghamton, NY MSA — October 2026
Binghamton IT pay falls as national rates climb for same roles.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay fell to $75,000 locally while the national median rose to $107,327, even as Broome County unemployment climbed to 4.5%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Broome County unemployment: 4.5% — Up from 3.5% a year earlier (July 2026)
- Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay: $75,000 metro — vs $107,327 national median, up nationally
- Broome County avg weekly wage: $1,242 — +2.8% YoY, Q1 2026
- National tech layoffs YTD: 133,417 — Exceeds all of 2025 as of Oct 21
Key takeaways
Local security and network pay is falling while national rates climb.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay dropped significantly in Binghamton to $75,000 even as the national median rose to $107,327, and Network Engineer followed a similar pattern. That gap exceeds $30,000 for both roles and raises real retention exposure for any staff member aware of national remote postings.
Help Desk compression signals a shrinking local entry tier.
Local Help Desk advertised pay fell to $45,760, a significant decline, mirroring the statewide pattern of shrinking entry-level tech absorption. IT leaders planning support-desk pipelines locally should expect fewer qualified local applicants to flow up into infrastructure roles over time.
Data Scientist pay holds steady against a volatile local backdrop.
Data Scientist advertised pay stayed flat at $147,060 locally, nearly matching the $145,881 national median, while every other IT role in the metro moved downward. Stability here, against sector-wide local softness, is consistent with sustained demand for AI-adjacent skills even in a smaller metro.
Broome County's wage-unemployment mix complicates outsourcing math.
County unemployment rose to 4.5% in July from 3.5% a year prior, yet average weekly wages still grew 2.8%. Looser labor supply without falling wages suggests outsourcing routine infrastructure or support work to lower-cost regions may deliver savings sooner than waiting for local rates to soften further.
Median advertised pay by role — Binghamton, NY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $134,254 | $147,060 | $159,399 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $72,110 | $77,500 | $78,385 | Moderate decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $55,856 | $73,652 | $80,606 | Moderate decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $72,500 | $120,000 | $132,300 | Moderate decline | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $43,205 | $45,760 | $45,760 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $70,109 | $75,000 | $78,806 | Significant decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $79,719 | $105,820 | $105,820 | Stable | $118,150 |
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
Broome County unemployment drifted up to 4.5% in July 2026, from 3.5% a year earlier, even as average weekly wages rose 2.8% year-over-year to $1,242 — a combination consistent with a labor pool that is loosening while wage floors remain sticky. Local IT advertised pay has moved in the opposite direction of national trends across most roles this month, with Systems Administrator, Network Engineer, Cybersecurity Analyst and Help Desk postings all declining locally even as their national medians rose or held — a divergence that appears to reflect thinner local demand amid a national IT market that continues to run hot.
What it means
Falling advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer roles locally, against rising national medians, signals that Binghamton-area employers are not competing on the same wage curve as the broader market — a gap that widens flight risk for any mid-career infrastructure or security staff who benchmark themselves nationally or against remote postings. With entry-level absorption shrinking statewide and 87% of tech leaders nationally still paying premiums for specialized skills, build-vs-buy decisions for security and infrastructure functions increasingly favor retaining current staff over attempting fresh local hires at depressed advertised rates. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure and security compensation reflects an actual local labor shortage or simply lagging postings data, before assuming the market has softened enough to delay retention investment.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: November's official BLS release will confirm whether Broome County's unemployment uptick through July continued into fall. A further rise would strengthen the case for delaying local infrastructure and support hiring in favor of remote or contract sourcing.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide infrastructure and security roles — including Security Architects and Infrastructure Security Engineers — posted 150%+ month-over-month growth in job ads, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings), in September. Watch whether that demand surge reaches Binghamton-area postings or remains concentrated in NYC metro.
Potential inflection point: 133,417 national tech layoffs through October 21 already exceed all of 2025, concentrated at large tech employers and largely separate from regional healthcare-and-manufacturing economies like Binghamton's. Released talent entering upstate candidate pools could ease local hiring for infrastructure and support roles over the next two months.
Early indicator: New York's minimum wage freeze, triggered by statewide job losses through July, removes a planned January 2027 cost increase. Any state workaround announced by Governor Hochul's office in coming weeks could reset compensation planning assumptions for lower-band IT support roles tied to wage floors.
Sources
- New York State Department of Labor — Broome County unemployment rose to 4.5% in July 2026 from 3.5% a year earlier
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Broome County average weekly wages rose 2.8% year-over-year to $1,242
- Layoffs.fyi / tech layoff tracker — 133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through October 21, 2026
- NY State labor market research notes — Security Architect and Infrastructure Security Engineer postings grew 150%+ month-over-month in September
- Washington Post — New York minimum wage freeze triggered by statewide job losses through July 2026
- Robert Half 2026 Technology Hiring Report — 87% of tech leaders pay premiums for specialized skills
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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