Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Burlington, NC MSA — September 2026
Burlington IT pay splits sharply between infrastructure and admin roles.
Metro Network Engineer pay jumped to $82,500 and Software Engineer pay to $142,500 even as Systems Administrator pay fell to $70,009, a divergence against unemployment holding near 3.6% in Alamance County.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Alamance County unemployment: 3.6% — vs 3.5% NC, 4.1% national (June/Aug 2026)
- Metro average weekly wage: $1,055 — vs $1,198 statewide average (Dec 2025/Aug 2026)
- Systems Administrator advertised pay: $70,009 — down locally vs up to $101,168 nationally
- NC WARN notices, trailing 90 days: 1,336 workers — 13 filings, concentrated outside tech
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is accelerating locally while admin roles deflate.
Metro Network Engineer median pay rose significantly to $82,500, converging toward the $114,400 national figure, while Systems Administrator pay fell to $70,009 even as the national median climbed past $101,000. The divergence suggests Burlington employers are willing to pay for specialized infrastructure expertise but are letting generalist admin roles go unfilled at competitive rates or shifting that work to contractors.
Software Engineer pay gains outpace a stable national market.
Metro Software Engineer median advertised pay rose significantly to $142,500, nearly closing the gap with the $153,652 national figure that itself held flat. A local metro outrunning a stable national trend is unusual and may suggest a small number of employers competing hard for scarce senior engineering talent rather than a broad market shift.
IT Project Manager compensation is falling against a rising national tide.
Metro IT Project Manager pay dropped significantly to $105,960 while national pay rose moderately to $117,530, widening an already meaningful gap. This looks less like reduced demand for project leadership and more consistent with employers reclassifying or compressing the role as AI tooling absorbs coordination and reporting work.
Immigrant-heavy engineering pipelines carry elevated local retention risk.
Immigrants make up roughly a third of North Carolina's software development workforce, and federal immigration enforcement activity this year creates attrition exposure for build-dependent teams. Burlington employers leaning on in-house development rather than outsourced or MSP arrangements may want to stress-test succession plans against this specific churn risk.
Median advertised pay by role — Burlington, NC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $109,200 | $133,071 | $148,307 | Stable | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $64,395 | $70,009 | $72,025 | Moderate decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $75,064 | $82,500 | $91,539 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $94,375 | $142,500 | $151,323 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,405 | $43,680 | $45,113 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $86,884 | $100,881 | $119,492 | Stable | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $87,500 | $105,960 | $105,961 | Significant 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
Burlington metro unemployment held near 3.8% in July with Alamance County at 3.6% in June, a tighter reading than both the state's 3.5% and the national 4.1%, even as the average weekly wage of $1,055 trails the state figure of $1,198 by roughly 12%. Tight local labor supply combined with below-market compensation levels is consistent with a metro still absorbing diversification away from legacy manufacturing into healthcare, education, and technology employers like LabCorp, creating uneven pressure across IT skill tiers rather than a uniform tightening.
What it means
Metro-level wage compression alongside tight unemployment suggests Burlington IT employers compete on pay against Triad and Triangle metros without matching Raleigh or Durham budgets, raising attrition risk for specialized infrastructure and security talent who can command Wake County rates remotely. Falling Systems Administrator and IT Project Manager advertised pay locally — against rising national medians for both roles — points toward a market where commodity and generalist functions are being deprioritized or absorbed into outsourced arrangements while scarce specialized skill is repriced upward. Organizations should evaluate whether Systems Administrator and IT Project Manager roles are better sourced through contract or managed-service arrangements, reserving permanent headcount budget for network engineering and software development roles where local pay is actually accelerating.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: North Carolina logged 13 WARN notices affecting 1,336 workers in the past 90 days, concentrated in manufacturing, logistics and healthcare rather than tech. Watch whether any displaced operations or supply-chain talent migrates into IT-adjacent roles like business systems or ERP support in Alamance County.
Emerging pressure point: Systems Administrator and IT Project Manager advertised pay are both falling locally while national figures rise, widening the metro-to-national gap on two roles simultaneously. If this persists into October reporting, it strengthens the case for shifting these functions toward contract or managed-service delivery rather than local permanent hiring.
Early indicator: Statewide reports note AI is compressing entry-level computer science hiring even as senior technical roles stay scarce, a pattern consistent with Burlington's own Network Engineer and Software Engineer pay acceleration against softer admin and PM pay. Track whether this bifurcation shows up in September-October postings data for help desk and Tier 1 support roles.
Potential inflection point: National job postings turned positive year-over-year for the first time in nearly four years per Indeed's Hiring Lab, while North Carolina's information sector lost 700 jobs in August. Watch whether Burlington-area postings volume for IT roles follows the national uptick or continues to track the state's information-sector softness.
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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