Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Charleston-North Charleston, SC MSA — October 2026
Charleston IT pay splits: security surges, networking slips.
Charleston's 3.2% unemployment rate — the lowest in South Carolina — coincides with Cybersecurity Analyst pay rising to $96,401 while Network Engineer pay fell to $98,281, a divergence IT leaders should factor into 2026 headcount plans.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Charleston metro unemployment: 3.2% — Lowest in SC; down 0.5pt from August 2026
- Charleston County wage growth: 6.0% YoY — Q1 2026, vs 2.4% national posted wage growth
- National tech layoffs, 2026 YTD: 133,417 — Through Oct 21; exceeds all of 2025
- Metro employment growth: +8,600 jobs YoY — 440,300 total, Sept 2026
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay is accelerating faster than any other local IT role.
Charleston's Cybersecurity Analyst advertised median rose to $96,401 with a significant upward trend, closing the gap with the $107,327 national figure faster than peer roles. Treat this as a signal that local demand has outpaced typical metro discount pricing — security hiring plans built on last year's comp data are already stale.
Network Engineer pay is softening even as the broader market tightens.
Metro advertised pay for Network Engineers fell to $98,281, a moderate decline, while the national figure rose to $115,757 — a divergence worth investigating before assuming local scarcity translates uniformly into local wage pressure. May suggest employers are shifting network engineering demand toward cloud-managed alternatives, easing pressure on traditional on-prem staffing.
IT Project Manager pay has flipped above the national figure.
Charleston's $124,830 median now exceeds the $118,150 national figure, an unusual inversion for a secondary metro. Consistent with the region's data center and construction-linked infrastructure buildout, which appears to be pulling program and project management talent into a tighter local competition than typical software or support roles.
Record tech wages make build-vs-buy a sharper calculus this quarter.
Charleston's reported average tech wage above $130,000, combined with 3.2% metro unemployment, raises the real cost of local hiring for routine infrastructure and support functions. Regional cloud and managed-service capacity growth tied to the data center boom may create a credible outsourcing alternative for lower-differentiation roles.
Median advertised pay by role — Charleston-North Charleston, SC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $93,284 | $109,580 | $122,481 | Moderate increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $77,216 | $92,768 | $96,749 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $72,975 | $98,281 | $111,894 | Moderate decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $98,526 | $125,667 | $139,897 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,600 | $50,960 | $56,250 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $76,069 | $96,401 | $106,943 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $96,614 | $124,830 | $135,581 | Moderate increase | $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
Charleston-North Charleston's unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in September, down half a point from August and the lowest among South Carolina metros, as employment climbed to 440,300 — 8,600 jobs above year-ago levels. Wage pressure is compounding alongside that tightness: Charleston County posted 6.0% year-over-year wage growth in Q1 2026, nearly double the national posted wage growth rate of 2.4%, as data center and AI infrastructure investment from Google, Meta, and Valara reshapes demand for technical talent across the region.
What it means
Sub-4% unemployment paired with double-digit sector wage gains means Charleston IT leaders are competing for a shrinking local talent pool while national tech layoffs (133,417 through October 21) create a paradox — scarce local supply alongside available displaced talent elsewhere, favoring remote and hybrid sourcing for roles that are harder to fill locally. Regional data center buildout from Google's $2 billion Dorchester County project and Meta's forthcoming Berkeley County facility signals infrastructure and cloud-adjacent roles will see sustained demand, while security and project management talent — both up significantly in advertised pay locally — warrant distinct retention treatment from commodity support roles. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure hiring plans account for competition from data center construction and operations ramp-up over the next two years, and whether remote/hybrid flexibility can substitute for local pay escalation in harder-to-fill security and engineering roles.
Looking ahead
Expected: Google's Dorchester County buildout and Meta's Berkeley County facility (opening spring 2027) will begin generating construction and early operational hiring demand through year-end. Watch whether this pulls network, systems administration, and facilities-adjacent IT talent away from enterprise employers in the metro.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 for 2026, concentrated in information-sector and tech-hub employers outside South Carolina. Monitor whether displaced talent from contracting markets begins surfacing in Charleston applicant pools, particularly for cloud and AI-adjacent roles where local pay remains below national levels.
Potential inflection point: Network Engineer advertised pay has moved in the opposite direction locally (down) versus nationally (up) this month. A second consecutive month of divergence would strengthen the case that Charleston employers are substituting managed cloud services for in-house network engineering headcount.
Worth watching: South Carolina's information sector lost 2,300 jobs over the past year even as Charleston's broader metro economy added 8,600 jobs — a split worth tracking locally. If that statewide information-sector softness reaches Charleston specifically, it could ease near-term competition for mid-level software and support talent.
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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