Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Colorado Springs, CO MSA — October 2026
Colorado Springs IT pay climbs past national rates despite flat job growth.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay jumped to a $120,000 metro median and Network Engineer pay hit $127,450 — both above national rates — even as the metro added only 200 jobs in September and unemployment held at 4.5%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro job growth: 200 jobs — September gain; metro employment down 0.4% YoY
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.5% — vs 4.1% Colorado, 4.1% national
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay trend: Up, significant — $120,000 metro median vs $107,327 national
- Tech sector workforce growth: 12% — Five-year growth, Colorado Springs tech workers
Key takeaways
Security pay is outrunning the rest of the stack.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose significantly to a $120,000 metro median, outpacing national growth in the same role. This tracks the national pattern of employers paying premiums for scarce specialized skills — security headcount plans should assume continued upward pressure.
Metro IT pay is closing the gap with national rates in infrastructure roles.
Systems Administrator ($118,097) and Network Engineer ($127,450) advertised pay in Colorado Springs now sit above their national medians, a reversal from the metro's historical discount. Organizations benchmarking against national IT pay data may be underestimating what it now takes to retain infrastructure staff locally.
Flat job growth masks selective, skills-driven hiring.
A 200-job net gain in September alongside 16% posting growth earlier in the year — job ads being a signal of hiring demand, with one ad often covering several openings — is consistent with employers replacing and upgrading roles. Headcount planning should separate 'growth hires' from 'capability upgrades' — the latter is where current demand is concentrated.
Support-role cost advantage widens the outsourcing math.
Colorado Springs IT support pay ($51,680) sits roughly 22% below Denver's ($66,277), even as the metro's Help Desk advertised median holds at $62,400. The spread between advertised asks and comparable-market averages may create room to consolidate distributed support functions into this metro, reducing reliance on offshoring.
Median advertised pay by role — Colorado Springs, CO MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $112,500 | $131,659 | $139,381 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $94,800 | $118,097 | $132,000 | Moderate increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $96,862 | $127,450 | $139,414 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $110,000 | $136,285 | $149,279 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $46,500 | $62,400 | $70,502 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $100,732 | $120,000 | $132,238 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $110,476 | $130,000 | $135,000 | 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
Colorado Springs added just 200 jobs in September against a 4.5% metro unemployment rate, while employment remains down 0.4% year-over-year — a labor market growing in headcount availability even as overall activity stays muted. Job postings surged 16% in Q1 2026 and the metro's tech workforce has grown 12% over five years, positioning Colorado Springs as a lower-cost alternative to Denver even as statewide IT base pay for public-sector roles lags market by 13.7%.
What it means
Flat metro job growth paired with rising postings activity, a signal of hiring demand where one ad often covers several openings, suggests employers are backfilling and upgrading roles — Cybersecurity Analyst pay is up significantly (metro median $120,000) and Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay are both rising at moderate rates, pointing to sustained demand for infrastructure and security skills even in a soft-growth environment. Colorado Springs' wage structure — IT support averaging $51,680 versus Denver's $66,277 — strengthens the case for routing distributed support and operations functions here, avoiding competition for scarce talent in tighter metros. Consider evaluating whether infrastructure and security roles currently budgeted at statewide or Denver-metro rates could be right-sized to Colorado Springs' cost structure without sacrificing access to the area's growing tech talent pool.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Watch whether Colorado Springs' 200-job September gain extends into October data (due mid-November) — a second consecutive weak print would reinforce that hiring is selective, affecting headcount planning assumptions for Q1 2027.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers for 2026, concentrated in tech hubs. Monitor whether any of that displaced talent — particularly cloud and security specialists — begins appearing in the local candidate pool, which could ease recruiting friction for roles currently priced at a premium.
Worth watching: Colorado's $6.7M federal tech skills training grant creates a near-term window to source trained infrastructure and security talent before graduates disperse to Denver or out of state. IT leaders with entry-to-mid-level openings should track program timelines for recruiting pipelines.
Potential inflection point: State IT base pay lagging market by 13.7% could accelerate public-sector attrition into private-sector and defense-contractor roles common in this metro. Watch whether this shows up as upward pressure on advertised Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay, both already trending up.
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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