Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Burlington-South Burlington, VT MSA — October 2026
Burlington's tight labor market is pricing cybersecurity talent above national rates.
Chittenden County's 2.2% unemployment rate has pushed Cybersecurity Analyst pay to $130,412 locally — 21% above the $107,327 national median — while Vermont Information Processing cuts 66 roles to fund AI investment.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Chittenden County unemployment: 2.2% — vs 2.6% statewide, tightest in Vermont
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay premium: +21% — $130,412 metro vs $107,327 national median
- Tech sector layoffs (national, YTD): 133,417 — Already exceeds all of 2025, 325 companies
- Vermont workforce exits: ~10,000 — Left labor force in past year, per VT Dept. of Labor
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay has decoupled from the national market.
Metro median pay of $130,412 now runs 21% above the national figure of $107,327, a reversal from typical secondary-market discounts. Scarcity in a 2.2%-unemployment county appears to be the driver, and budgets built on national benchmarks will underprice this role locally.
AI redeployment is already displacing Vermont IT headcount.
Vermont Information Processing's 66-person layoff tied explicitly to AI adoption signals that infrastructure and operations roles are first in line for automation locally. Organizations with similar workloads should evaluate which roles face comparable exposure before attrition forces the decision.
Network Engineer demand is accelerating faster than the national trend.
Metro median pay climbed to $113,500 with significant upward movement, outpacing the national median of $115,757 which is rising only moderately. Convergence toward parity with national pay suggests local infrastructure build-out is competing directly with national data-center hiring demand.
Help Desk pay is rising locally while falling nationally.
Metro median advertised pay for Help Desk/IT Support reached $55,952, up moderately, against a national median of $53,129 that is moderately down. Tight local labor supply is likely preventing Burlington employers from capturing the national softening in entry-level IT pay.
Median advertised pay by role — Burlington-South Burlington, VT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $91,808 | $132,017 | $137,114 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $81,341 | $94,976 | $97,700 | Moderate increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $82,500 | $113,500 | $140,743 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $94,375 | $134,061 | $147,246 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $43,364 | $55,952 | $58,537 | Moderate increase | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $103,000 | $130,412 | $130,459 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $89,761 | $109,682 | $109,683 | 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
Chittenden County's unemployment rate sits at 2.2%, the tightest in Vermont, as nearly 10,000 workers have exited the state's labor force over the past year amid an aging population and shrinking participation. That supply squeeze coincides with a national tech sector shedding 133,417 jobs through October 21 — a bifurcation that leaves Burlington employers competing for a shrinking local talent pool even as layoffs expand candidate availability elsewhere.
What it means
Cybersecurity Analyst pay has moved up significantly to a $130,412 metro median — above the $107,327 national figure — a signal that scarce local supply is forcing employers to pay a premium to secure talent quickly. Vermont Information Processing's move to cut 66 roles while investing in AI illustrates how infrastructure headcount is being redirected toward automation without being backfilled, a pattern IT leaders should expect to see replicated across regional employers facing the same labor constraints. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and support functions could shift toward automation or remote/outsourced delivery before local wage pressure forces a reactive response.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Vermont's November 3 constitutional amendment vote on collective bargaining rights could reshape how IT departments approach compensation structure and grievance processes if it passes. IT leaders should begin scenario-planning total rewards policy ahead of a potential shift.
Emerging pressure point: UVM Health's 179-worker WARN filing and Vermont Information Processing's AI-driven cuts raise the question of whether displaced technical talent will enter the Chittenden County candidate pool in meaningful volume. Watch whether this eases pressure on Network Engineer and Systems Administrator hiring over the next two months.
Worth watching: National data center job postings grew 20% in three months while tech hub metros pull back hiring — a pattern that could pull infrastructure talent out of secondary markets like Burlington if remote data-center roles offer competitive pay. Monitor whether local infrastructure postings lose ground to remote-eligible national roles.
Expected: AI/ML engineering pay carries a $25,000 national floor premium over standard software engineering roles, and mid-level AI engineers saw 9.2% salary growth this year. Expect this gap to pressure Burlington's software engineering budgets as local employers compete for AI-capable talent against better-funded remote employers.
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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