Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Cleveland, TN MSA — October 2026
Cleveland tightens while IT pay splits between build and support roles.
Bradley County unemployment fell to 3.6% as metro Software Engineer pay rose to $149,094 even as Help Desk pay dropped to $40,965, widening the gap between build-critical and commodity IT roles.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Bradley County unemployment: 3.6% — Down from 4% in August; below TN's 3.4% state rate
- Metro vs national mean wage: $24.36/hr — vs $33.54 national mean, a 27% gap
- National tech layoffs, YTD: 133,417 — Across 325 companies through Oct 21, exceeding all of 2025
- TN computer/math job growth: 2.69% — +2,069 jobs projected statewide, below state average
Key takeaways
Software Engineer pay is rising locally while support pay falls.
Metro Software Engineer median climbed to $149,094, nearly closing the gap with the $154,403 national figure, while Help Desk/IT Support median dropped to $40,965 against a declining $53,129 national rate. The divergence signals employers concentrating compensation increases on building and retaining core technical talent.
Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay lag national gains.
Both roles show stable local medians ($85,422 and $98,800) against moderate upward national movement ($102,503 and $115,757), widening the metro discount to roughly 17% and 15% respectively. Organizations relying on local advertised rates to set offers risk losing infrastructure talent to remote roles that price against national figures.
Bradley County's 3.6% jobless rate limits bench hiring flexibility.
A labor force of 49,222 with 47,473 employed leaves little slack for scaling security or cloud functions through organic local hiring. Tennessee's broader 'low hire, low fire' pattern reinforces that staffing partners or contract capacity are better suited to absorbing volatile or surge workloads than permanent headcount.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay stability masks a growing national gap.
Metro median holds at $89,988 while national pay moves up moderately to $107,327 — an 18-point percentage gap that has widened this cycle. Flat local advertised rates in a role with elevated national demand may suggest Cleveland employers are underpricing a skillset increasingly viable for remote arrangements.
Median advertised pay by role — Cleveland, TN MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $111,900 | $138,170 | $157,500 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator * | $71,551 | $85,422 | $93,966 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $74,523 | $98,800 | $112,042 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $110,570 | $149,094 | $164,580 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,461 | $40,965 | $40,965 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $78,415 | $89,988 | $101,715 | Stable | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $78,110 | $108,595 | $122,848 | Moderate increase | $118,150 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
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
Bradley County's unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in September from 4% in August, tightening a labor pool already thinner than Tennessee's 3.4% statewide rate and well below the national 4.1%. Metro wage levels remain structurally compressed — Cleveland's mean hourly wage of $24.36 trails the national average of $33.54 by nearly 27%, a gap that shapes every IT compensation conversation in a market with no large tech employer base to anchor premium pay.
What it means
Local tightening compounds a national dynamic where IT layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers in 2026 even as specialized roles command 9-10% wage premiums — Cleveland employers compete for the same scarce cybersecurity and infrastructure talent as Nashville and Chattanooga without Oracle- or Amazon-scale compensation budgets to match. Software Engineer pay locally moved up to a $149,094 median while Help Desk/IT Support pay declined, suggesting local employers are concentrating scarce compensation dollars on build-critical roles and pulling back on commodity support functions. Current conditions suggest reviewing whether routine support and administration functions are better suited to managed services given the metro's limited bench depth for backfilling specialized departures.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Tennessee's TNTalent program is directing $5M toward AI infrastructure and advanced manufacturing training — watch whether any funded initiatives extend into the Cleveland MSA and create a local pipeline for infrastructure and support roles currently filled through outside recruiting.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already topped 133,000 for the year; watch whether displaced specialized talent — particularly from data center and infrastructure-adjacent roles — begins appearing in regional candidate pools, which could temporarily ease the metro's Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay gap.
Early indicator: AI-related job postings now represent 7.3% of national postings, more than double the prior 2022 peak. Track whether Cleveland-area employers in healthcare, manufacturing, or logistics begin advertising AI-adjacent IT roles, which would signal the metro's talent competition is broadening beyond traditional infrastructure and support positions.
Potential inflection point: Bradley County's unemployment decline to 3.6% came alongside statewide declines in every Tennessee county for September. Consecutive months of tightening would further constrain local IT hiring timelines and strengthen the case for pre-negotiated staffing agreements over reactive recruiting.
Sources
- Cleveland Banner — Bradley County unemployment rate fell from 4% to 3.6% in September
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Cleveland MSA mean hourly wage of $24.36 vs national $33.54
- Layoffs.fyi / industry tracking — Tech layoffs exceeded 133,000 workers in 2026 year to date
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development — Tennessee computer/math occupations projected to grow 2.69%
- Indeed Hiring Lab — AI-related postings reached 7.3% of all U.S. job postings
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development — Tennessee launched TNTalent program with $5M federal funding
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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