Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Decatur, IL MSA — September 2026
Decatur's network engineers now out-earn the national market.
Network Engineer advertised pay in Decatur hit $176,800 against a $114,400 national median, even as metro unemployment sits at 5.6% versus 4.7% statewide.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Decatur MSA unemployment rate: 5.6% — vs 4.7% Illinois statewide, Sept 2026
- Decatur unemployment volatility: 4.9% to 6.8% to 5.6% — July to Feb to Sept 2026 swing
- Decatur nonfarm employment: 47.7K jobs — Illinois' largest metro job gain, July 2026 (+0.8%)
- Illinois WARN notices, YTD: 91 notices / 16,782 workers — vs 29 notices/9,357 workers in last 90 days
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay in Decatur now exceeds the national median.
Metro median advertised pay of $176,800 versus a national figure of $114,400 is an unusual inversion for a small MSA and may suggest a thin local bench of qualified candidates rather than genuine demand growth. Organizations relying on legacy pay anchors for this role risk losing out to employers who have already adjusted.
Support-tier compression is a retention risk disguised as savings.
Help Desk/IT Support pay fell to $45,760 locally against a stable $53,644 nationally, tracking the broader pattern of AI-driven compression in lower-level IT roles. Cheaper hiring today may accelerate attrition into adjacent markets once the strongest performers recognize the gap.
Systems Administrator pay is rising faster locally than nationally.
A significant local increase to $83,336, against a more moderate national gain to $101,168, still leaves Decatur below the national median — suggesting catch-up pressure rather than a new premium. This gap may close further before it stabilizes, worth tracking rather than treating as settled.
Macro slack coexists with specialist scarcity.
A 5.6% metro unemployment rate alongside sharp wage gains in Network Engineer and Systems Administrator roles indicates the labor surplus is concentrated in general and support occupations, not technical specializations. Headcount plans should distinguish between an abundant general labor pool and a genuinely tight specialist one.
Median advertised pay by role — Decatur, IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $113,377 | $143,567 | $162,000 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $76,673 | $83,336 | $84,240 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $100,610 | $176,800 | $176,800 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $70,004 | $94,750 | $94,974 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,695 | $45,760 | $47,038 | Moderate decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $87,500 | $102,197 | $118,050 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $85,062 | $119,186 | $130,019 | Stable | $117,530 |
* 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
Decatur MSA unemployment eased to 5.6% in September from a February peak of 6.8%, but remains well above the statewide 4.7% rate, reflecting a small, demographically shrinking labor pool that constrains both candidate supply and employer leverage simultaneously. Total nonfarm employment holding near 47.7 thousand jobs, with health services gains offsetting leisure and hospitality losses, suggests hiring activity in Decatur is narrow and sector-specific rather than broad-based — a dynamic that shapes which IT functions see genuine competition for talent versus which face a comparatively soft local market.
What it means
Metro-level pay movement looks sharply bifurcated: Network Engineer and Systems Administrator advertised pay rose significantly even as Help Desk/IT Support pay declined, consistent with national signals that infrastructure and security skills are commanding premiums while commodity support work compresses. This divergence strengthens the case for shifting support and admin-tier roles toward contract or outsourced delivery while concentrating permanent headcount investment in network, cloud, and security functions where local scarcity — not just national scarcity — is driving pay. Consider reviewing whether current Systems Administrator and Network Engineer compensation reflects the pace of local advertised-pay movement, rather than last year's survey cycle.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Illinois WARN filings from Uber, Norvax/GoHealth, and T-Mobile in September affected over 1,200 workers statewide; watch whether any displaced technical talent migrates into the Decatur candidate pool given the metro's comparatively elevated unemployment.
Emerging pressure point: Illinois' salary range disclosure requirement, now in effect statewide, removes negotiation room on postings for scarce roles like Network Engineer — expect advertised pay figures in Decatur to become a more reliable, and more binding, signal than in prior cycles.
Potential inflection point: Decatur's unemployment rate has swung from 4.9% to 6.8% to 5.6% within eight months — volatility far exceeding the state average. A metro this small can shift quickly on a single employer event, so headcount plans built on current conditions warrant a short review cycle.
Early indicator: Statewide Information-sector job losses (-2,900 year-over-year) and Financial Activities declines (-15,800) suggest continued softness in roles adjacent to IT; monitor whether this translates into increased candidate supply for Decatur software and data roles over the next two months.
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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