Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Cheyenne, WY MSA — October 2026
Cheyenne IT pay splits sharply: infrastructure up, security down.
Network Engineer advertised pay hit $152,955 in Cheyenne, nearly $37,000 above the national median, while Cybersecurity Analyst pay fell to $84,422, over $22,000 below national levels.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Laramie County unemployment: 3.0% — vs 4.2% national rate, Sept 2026
- Network Engineer advertised pay (metro): $152,955 — vs $115,757 national median
- Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay (metro): $84,422 — vs $107,327 national median
- Wyoming tech wage decline, 2014-2024: -6.62% — Inflation-adjusted, steepest decline nationally
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay gap signals a local retention risk, not a hiring pause.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay sits $22,900 below the national median and is down significantly this month, even as national cyber pay climbed moderately. Local employers risk losing security talent to remote national roles unless pay positioning is reassessed against national benchmarks rather than local history.
Network Engineer pay surge outpaces the nation by a wide margin.
Metro Network Engineer advertised pay reached $152,955, nearly $37,000 above the national median, consistent with Wyoming's documented growth in data center and infrastructure construction. This looks like a structural premium tied to physical buildout demand rather than a temporary spike — budget accordingly for infrastructure hires tied to current and planned projects.
Statewide talent scarcity is reshaping the build-versus-buy calculus.
Wyoming's projected shortfall of workers relative to job growth, combined with a tech workforce under 1,000 professionals statewide, makes local-only hiring for infrastructure and support roles increasingly unreliable. Managed services and remote-first hiring strategies are becoming practical necessities rather than cost-optimization choices alone.
Help Desk and support pay erosion may widen the entry-level pipeline gap.
Metro Help Desk pay fell moderately to $47,785, trailing the national median by over $5,000 and declining in both markets simultaneously. Weak entry-level pay in a labor-scarce metro risks shrinking the pipeline IT leaders rely on to grow future infrastructure and security talent internally.
Median advertised pay by role — Cheyenne, WY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $107,787 | $135,996 | $147,579 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $80,354 | $97,383 | $106,191 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $91,010 | $152,955 | $168,056 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $134,394 | $165,909 | $178,560 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,922 | $47,785 | $49,498 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $72,293 | $84,422 | $106,943 | Significant decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $105,910 | $127,213 | $131,682 | 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
Laramie County's unemployment held near 3.0% in September, roughly half the national rate, reflecting a labor pool too thin to meet demand rather than a flush local economy — a dynamic Wyoming's own workforce economists call structurally tight heading into 2027, when the state expects 6,000 new jobs against 3,000 fewer available workers. Cheyenne's job base remains anchored by government and healthcare employment, with nonfarm payrolls actually declining 300 jobs year-over-year as of January, suggesting local hiring friction stems from worker scarcity and state-driven headcount dynamics rather than falling demand.
What it means
Wyoming's tech wage base eroded 6.6% in inflation-adjusted terms over the past decade, and Cheyenne's own advertised pay data shows the split sharply: Network Engineer and IT Project Manager pay climbing well above national medians while Cybersecurity Analyst pay fell to $84,422 against a national $107,327 — a signal that local employers may be losing the compensation competition for scarce security talent rather than simply pulling back demand. With fewer than 1,000 tech professionals supporting the entire state, build-vs-buy decisions for infrastructure and security functions increasingly favor managed services or remote hires in lower-cost regions over local headcount expansion. Consider evaluating whether security and cloud-native roles are better sourced through national remote talent pools or outsourced arrangements rather than competing locally against a shrinking labor supply.
Looking ahead
Expected: BLS releases October unemployment data for Cheyenne and Wyoming around November 15 and 23 respectively. Watch whether the metro's unemployment rate ticks up from 3.0%, which would be a early signal of softening demand rather than persistent scarcity.
Emerging pressure point: Bechtel's October split from the TerraPower Natrium project introduces a pocket of released technical and engineering talent into the state. Monitor whether any of this talent has transferable infrastructure or systems skills relevant to IT hiring pipelines.
Worth watching: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, concentrated in tech hubs like Seattle and San Francisco. Watch whether any of this displaced talent becomes available for remote hire into Cheyenne-based infrastructure or security roles at below-metro compensation levels.
Potential inflection point: Data center and infrastructure-linked construction has been a consistent driver of Wyoming's recent job growth and Network Engineer pay strength. A slowdown in announced data center or wind energy projects would directly pressure this one bright spot in local IT compensation.
Sources
- Wyoming Department of Workforce Services — Laramie County unemployment rate held near 3.0% in September 2026
- Wyoming workforce/tech sector research — Wyoming tech wages fell 6.62% inflation-adjusted from 2014-2024
- Wyoming workforce/tech sector research — Wyoming supports fewer than 1,000 tech professionals statewide
- Wyoming workforce economists — Wyoming projects 6,000 new jobs but 3,000 fewer workers by 2027
- Wyoming WARN tracking — Bechtel filed layoff notice tied to TerraPower Natrium project split
- Layoffs.fyi / tech industry tracking — National tech layoffs exceeded 133,000 workers through Oct 21, 2026
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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