Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Chattanooga, TN-GA MSA — October 2026
Chattanooga IT pay splits: infrastructure falls, build roles rise
Systems Administrator pay fell to $69,205 locally while national pay rose, even as Chattanooga Software Engineer pay climbed to $111,995 against a metro backdrop of just 1,100 projected net jobs for 2026.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.3% — vs 4.1% national rate, Oct 2026
- 2026 metro job growth forecast: 1,100 net jobs — Down from earlier 2026 UTC projections
- Systems Administrator pay gap: Metro $69,205 vs Nat'l $102,503 — Metro down, national up this month
- T-Mobile Chattanooga layoff: 200 workers — Announced Oct 2026, News Channel 9
Key takeaways
Metro pay for core infrastructure roles is falling while national pay rises.
Systems Administrator, Network Engineer and IT Project Manager advertised pay all moved down locally this month even as national medians for the same roles increased or held flat. Widening gaps like this typically precede talent leakage to remote-eligible national postings, particularly for roles with low on-site dependency.
Cybersecurity pay compression looks out of step with demand fundamentals.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay dropped moderately in Chattanooga even as national pay for the same role rose and Tennessee's computer and mathematical occupations remain projected to grow slower than overall state employment. Scarcity without matching local pay growth is consistent with employers leaning on managed security providers rather than competing directly for scarce analyst talent.
Software and data roles are the metro's compensation bright spot.
Software Engineer ($111,995) and Data Scientist ($123,180) advertised pay both moved up locally this month, bucking the metro's broader downward pay trend. This divergence suggests Chattanooga employers are still willing to pay up for build-focused technical talent even as they pull back on infrastructure and support roles.
Help Desk pay decline signals support work is shifting away from the metro.
Help Desk/IT Support Specialist advertised pay fell significantly in Chattanooga, tracking a national decline but falling further and faster locally. Combined with national data showing 41% of technologists would trade salary for remote flexibility, this points toward continued migration of frontline support work to centralized or offshore service desks.
Median advertised pay by role — Chattanooga, TN-GA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $111,900 | $123,180 | $134,653 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $64,769 | $69,205 | $70,686 | Moderate decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $67,660 | $79,498 | $90,199 | Moderate decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $80,784 | $111,995 | $136,241 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $40,220 | $48,552 | $54,643 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $82,500 | $83,194 | $83,194 | Moderate decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $76,736 | $78,111 | $99,283 | Significant decline | $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
Chattanooga's IT hiring environment this month reflects a local economy running well below its 2026 projections — UTC's fall forecast cut expected metro job growth to just 1,100 net positions for the year, with the earlier 2,200-job manufacturing contraction compounding softness in professional and business services. T-Mobile's October layoff of 200 Chattanooga workers adds visible tech-adjacent displacement to a metro where unemployment sits at 3.3%, still structurally tight despite the slowdown, leaving IT leaders with a shrinking but still-scarce local talent pool.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($69,205), Network Engineer ($79,498), Cybersecurity Analyst ($83,194) and IT Project Manager ($78,111) all declined this month while national medians for the same roles moved up or held stable — a widening gap that signals Chattanooga employers are either pulling back on infrastructure and security hiring ambition or losing wage-setting power relative to remote and national competition. T-Mobile's layoff may release some technical talent locally, but displaced workers from telecom are not a direct substitute for scarce cybersecurity or cloud infrastructure skill sets. Consider reviewing whether current infrastructure and security requisitions are priced against national or metro medians, since roles advertised at local rates risk losing candidates to remote postings paying national scale.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether T-Mobile's 200 displaced Chattanooga workers appear in local technical job applicant pools over the next 30 days. A meaningful share with network or systems experience could temporarily ease pressure on infrastructure hiring without requiring pay increases.
Emerging pressure point: UTC's downward revision to 1,100 net metro jobs for 2026 suggests continued caution in professional and business services. IT leaders should expect budget scrutiny on new infrastructure and support headcount requests through year-end planning cycles.
Worth watching: National cybersecurity and systems administration pay is rising while Chattanooga's is falling — a divergence that, if it persists another month, strengthens the case for shifting routine security monitoring and infrastructure operations to managed service providers rather than competing for local hires.
Potential inflection point: Software Engineer and Data Scientist advertised pay are rising locally against a metro-wide pay decline. Confirm whether this reflects one or two outsized postings or a broader signal that Chattanooga employers are reallocating budget toward build-focused roles at the expense of operations and support.
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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