Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Elmira, NY MSA — September 2026
Elmira network engineering pay falls as software engineering pay surges.
Metro Network Engineer pay dropped significantly to $119,556 even as the national rate rose to $114,400, while local Software Engineer pay climbed to $137,583 against a stable national $153,652.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Chemung County unemployment: 4.2% — Up from 4.1% in June 2026
- Network Engineer pay, metro: $119,556 — Down significantly vs national $114,400 (up)
- NY statewide unemployment: 4.3% — Down from 4.4% in July 2026
- National wage growth, posted pay: 2.5% YoY — Indeed Hiring Lab, through August 2026
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro advertised pay for Network Engineer dropped significantly even as the national median climbed to $114,400, a reversal that is consistent with weak local demand rather than a national trend reaching Elmira. This divergence may signal an opportunity to rebenchmark network roles against outsourced or managed infrastructure providers rather than local hires.
Software Engineer compensation is pulling away from the national median.
Local Software Engineer pay rose significantly to $137,583 while the national figure held stable near $153,652, narrowing the gap and suggesting Elmira employers are bidding up scarce engineering talent rather than losing it to remote competition. Retention budgeting for this role should track local movement specifically, not national averages.
Systems Administrator pay still trails the national rate by a wide margin.
Metro Systems Administrator pay sits at $94,597 against a national median of $101,168, even as both trend upward modestly. Combined with CompTIA data showing structural demand compression for traditional operations roles, this gap may reflect genuinely lower local demand rather than a benchmarking lag worth chasing.
A thin manufacturing-adjacent IT base limits local wage comparisons.
With Chemung County's manufacturing employment roughly half its 1990s level and education/healthcare carrying local job stability, IT compensation decisions here have less local peer-market signal than in denser metros. Leaders may need to weight state and national role-specific data more heavily than typical local benchmarking practice would suggest.
Median advertised pay by role — Elmira, NY MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $122,338 | $155,000 | $170,000 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $76,891 | $94,597 | $105,000 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $84,305 | $119,556 | $124,150 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $117,636 | $137,583 | $144,902 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist * | $43,676 | $52,088 | $59,996 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $83,655 | $101,500 | $119,122 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $81,048 | $114,290 | $125,030 | Moderate increase | $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
Chemung County unemployment ticked up to 4.2% in August 2026 from 4.1% in June, consistent with a civilian labor force that has edged lower and a manufacturing base still contracting against a 1990s baseline — a trend regional Federal Reserve contacts describe as weakening small-business employment and revenue sentiment heading into year-end. Education and healthcare remain the metro's stabilizing employers, but the absence of a comparably sized tech or professional-services anchor leaves local IT demand more exposed to national specialization trends than to local job creation.
What it means
Metro Network Engineer pay fell significantly even as the national figure rose, a divergence that is consistent with a thin local employer base unable to compete for scarce networking and infrastructure talent against remote-first national postings — while Software Engineer pay rose sharply locally, suggesting employers here are paying a premium to retain the few specialized engineers willing to stay. Combined with national data showing AI and cybersecurity compensation growth outpacing traditional IT operations, Elmira employers face a widening gap between what they can justify paying for commodity infrastructure roles and what they must pay to hold onto scarce specialized talent. Consider evaluating which infrastructure and network functions can shift to contract or managed-service delivery, freeing compensation budget to compete for the cloud, security, and software engineering talent the local labor pool struggles to retain.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: August's unemployment uptick to 4.2% follows a June low of 4.1%; a continued rise over the next release or two would confirm softening rather than noise and may ease local hiring pressure for support-tier IT roles.
Emerging pressure point: Regional Federal Reserve contacts flagged pessimism among small businesses about 2026 growth, a signal worth tracking against local IT contractor and MSP availability if business formation slows further.
Potential inflection point: Network Engineer pay's sharp local decline against a rising national trend is unusual enough to watch for a correction or confirmation in next month's postings data before adjusting headcount or outsourcing plans.
Early indicator: Statewide information-sector employment has declined over the past three months per NYC Comptroller data; watch whether that softening extends into upstate information and IT job postings through Q4.
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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