Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Denver-Aurora, CO MSA — September 2026
Denver tech hiring freezes while specialist pay keeps climbing.
Colorado's information sector lost roughly 5,600 jobs in August and state IT pay sits 11.6-13.7% below market, yet Denver Network Engineer pay ($119,600) still outpaces the national median ($114,400) by over 4%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Colorado information-sector jobs: -5,600 — August 2026, third straight monthly decline
- State IT pay gap to market: 11.6%-13.7% below — Colorado state government IT compensation vs. market
- Denver-Aurora unemployment: 3.9%-4.3% — vs 4.1% U.S. rate; Denver County at 4.3% in July
- Colorado WARN notices YoY: 42 notices, down 11% — 5,059 workers affected in 2026 vs 2025
Key takeaways
Information-sector losses mask tightness at the specialist tier.
Colorado shed roughly 5,600 information jobs in August, the state's third straight month of job losses, yet Denver cloud/AI engineers still average $157,000 and software engineering managers $197,000. Headcount reductions are concentrated in lower-value or generalist roles, not the specialized talent IT leaders are competing hardest to keep.
Network Engineer pay is rising faster than peers — worth a second look.
Metro Network Engineer pay ($119,600) now runs about 4.5% above the national median ($114,400), a wider premium than Systems Administrator or Cybersecurity Analyst show locally. That gap is consistent with data-center and hybrid-infrastructure buildout pulling networking talent into scarcer supply than routine administration work.
Below-market pay structures are a retention time bomb, not a budget line.
State of Colorado IT compensation is reportedly running 11.6-13.7% below market, and only 45% of technologists statewide received raises this cycle. Private-sector IT leaders should expect displaced or underpaid public-sector talent to surface as candidates, but also recognize that stagnant internal pay bands carry the same flight risk.
Contract staffing is becoming the default for commodity IT work.
National data showing 66% of tech leaders expect to add contract professionals, against a Colorado labor pool constrained by 0.6% projected job growth, points toward outsourcing as the economically rational choice for help desk and systems administration. Help Desk pay ($53,632 metro) remains flat year over year, reinforcing that this tier carries little urgency for permanent headcount investment.
Median advertised pay by role — Denver-Aurora, CO MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $115,632 | $146,700 | $164,173 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $80,000 | $103,448 | $114,543 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $75,337 | $119,600 | $131,887 | Moderate increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $114,351 | $152,470 | $166,500 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $43,388 | $53,632 | $62,360 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $87,431 | $107,500 | $126,086 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $82,823 | $116,293 | $129,215 | Moderate increase | $117,530 |
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
Denver's information sector shed roughly 5,600 jobs in August as statewide tech hiring effectively froze, even as metro unemployment held near 3.9%-4.3% and remains tighter than the 4.1% national rate. Colorado's 0.6% projected 2026 job growth, combined with slower international migration and employers whose pay structures have drifted below market, is tightening the pipeline for specialized infrastructure and security talent even as broader hiring cools.
What it means
Information-sector contraction alongside a historically tight labor pool means IT leaders face a bifurcated market: commodity roles face real softening while cloud, security, and AI-adjacent talent remain scarce and expensive to hold. With state government IT pay reportedly running 11.6-13.7% below market and only 45% of technologists reporting raises this cycle, retention risk is concentrated in senior specialists, not entry-level staff — a dynamic that should shape where contract conversion and outsourcing dollars get spent. Consider reviewing headcount plans to shift support and admin functions toward contract or managed-service arrangements while reserving permanent budget increases for cloud architecture, DevOps, and cybersecurity roles most exposed to competitive counteroffers.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Colorado's information sector has now lost jobs for three consecutive months; watch whether September data shows stabilization or a fourth straight decline, which would sharpen the case for deeper outsourcing of non-core IT functions.
Emerging pressure point: Below-market state IT pay (11.6-13.7% under market) may push experienced public-sector technologists into the private candidate pool over the next quarter. Track whether this eases sourcing pressure on mid-level infrastructure and support roles specifically.
Early indicator: Advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst and Data Scientist roles continues trending up both locally and nationally even as overall Colorado job growth slows to 0.6%. A continued divergence would confirm that specialist compensation is decoupling from the broader hiring freeze.
Potential inflection point: National WARN filings from Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and Verizon have not yet produced a comparable wave locally, with Colorado's 42 WARN notices down 11% year over year. A shift toward tech-sector WARN activity in Denver specifically would be a meaningful signal for headcount and outsourcing planning.
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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