Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Charlottesville, VA MSA — October 2026
Charlottesville IT pay splits sharply from national trend.
Metro IT Project Manager pay hit $174,133 against a flat $118,150 national median, while Cybersecurity Analyst pay fell significantly locally even as national cybersecurity pay climbed.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro job growth, YoY: +3,200 jobs — Largest gain among Virginia metros, to 128,000 total
- Virginia statewide job outlook: -18,000 jobs (2026 est.) — Second consecutive annual decline, per Weldon Cooper Center
- Metro IT Project Manager pay: $174,133 — vs $118,150 national median, flat
- Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay: $92,877 — Down significantly vs rising national median $107,327
Key takeaways
Project management pay is diverging sharply from the national trend.
Metro IT Project Manager advertised pay sits nearly $56,000 above the national median and is rising significantly, while national PM pay holds flat. This likely reflects local employers paying for leaders who can stretch smaller teams across UVA Health, state government and data center buildout, prioritizing leadership capacity over adding staff.
Cybersecurity and support pay are falling locally while the nation tightens.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay dropped significantly in the metro even as national cybersecurity pay rose moderately, and Help Desk pay fell significantly against a national decline that was comparatively mild. Organizations relying on local wage data to benchmark these roles risk under-shooting candidate expectations once national premiums pull talent toward remote opportunities.
Network Engineer demand looks like the metro's clearest growth signal.
Metro Network Engineer pay rose to $123,907, above the national median of $115,757 and moving in the same direction — a rare case of local and national trends reinforcing each other. Consistent with data center postings climbing sharply statewide, this may reflect infrastructure buildout translating into wage pressure for networking talent specifically.
Systems Administrator pay softening locally bucks the national tightening.
Metro Systems Administrator pay fell moderately to $88,560 while the national median rose moderately to $102,503, a $14,000 gap that didn't exist a year ago. Current conditions suggest build-vs-buy decisions for routine infrastructure management may tilt further toward outsourcing or managed services given the national wage trajectory is not mirrored locally.
Median advertised pay by role — Charlottesville, VA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $97,500 | $124,530 | $125,000 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $76,918 | $88,560 | $97,500 | Moderate decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $96,569 | $123,907 | $133,775 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $111,800 | $151,885 | $165,000 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $40,560 | $52,000 | $58,333 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $70,395 | $92,877 | $151,132 | Significant decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $122,500 | $174,133 | $182,323 | Significant 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
Charlottesville MSA added 3,200 jobs year-over-year, the largest gain among Virginia metros, reaching 128,000 total employment even as the state projects an 18,000-job statewide decline for a second consecutive year. Local resilience appears concentrated in health care and state government, with UVA Health and the University of Virginia anchoring demand while federal government and professional/business services contraction weighs on the broader region.
What it means
Metro IT Project Manager pay climbed sharply to $174,133 against a flat national median of $118,150, suggesting local employers are paying a premium for leadership capable of running infrastructure and security programs with leaner teams, prioritizing efficiency over broad headcount expansion. Cybersecurity Analyst and Help Desk pay fell significantly locally even as national cybersecurity demand firmed, pointing to a metro where entry-to-mid security and support talent may be easier to source at lower cost than national benchmarks imply. Consider reviewing whether Charlottesville's below-national pay for support and security roles reflects a supply advantage or a compression risk that could accelerate attrition once regional data center and federal-contractor hiring picks back up.
Looking ahead
Expected release: Virginia Works publishes October MSA unemployment data November 20, offering the first real read on whether Charlottesville's 3,200-job year-over-year gain held through the fall hiring season.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide technology WARN filings (10 notices, 796 employees) and continued federal contractor softness could push displaced IT talent into the Charlottesville candidate pool, particularly in professional and business services roles adjacent to UVA and federal work.
Worth watching: Data center job postings statewide have climbed sharply since mid-2025; whether that demand extends into Albemarle County's infrastructure and network engineering roles will test if the metro's above-national Network Engineer pay trend has room to continue.
Potential inflection point: Albemarle County's Annual Economic Outlook flagged health care and state government as offsetting federal and professional services losses — a shift in either direction over the next two months would reshape where IT hiring budgets concentrate locally.
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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