Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Glens Falls, NY MSA — September 2026
Glens Falls infrastructure pay climbs as software engineering cools.
Metro network engineer pay rose to $110,500 while software engineer pay fell to $180,123, even as metro unemployment ticked up to 3.4% from 2.7% a year ago.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.4% — Up from 2.7% one year ago (Aug 2025)
- Metro avg. weekly wage: $1,231 — Vs. $1,654 U.S. average, Q1 2026
- Metro network engineer pay: $110,500 — Up significantly; near $114,400 national median
- Metro software engineer pay: $180,123 — Down moderately; national median stable at $153,652
Key takeaways
Software engineering pay is cooling locally against a flat national trend.
Metro software engineer advertised pay fell moderately to $180,123 while the national median held near $153,652, narrowing a historically wide local premium. Organizations relying on that premium to justify in-house builds should reassess whether remote or outsourced development now offers comparable value at lower cost.
Network engineering pay is climbing faster locally than nationally.
Metro network engineer pay rose significantly to $110,500, nearly closing the gap with the $114,400 national median. Infrastructure roles tied to on-prem and hybrid environments appear to be tightening even as cloud-native roles get most of the national attention — a signal to revisit retention pay for incumbent network staff before competitors close the gap first.
Help desk pay stability masks a structural demand shift, not calm.
Metro help desk pay held flat at $77,500, well above the $53,644 national median, even as national research shows entry-level and support roles facing compression from AI-driven automation. Flat local pay alongside national downward pressure on these functions may suggest Glens Falls employers are slower to restructure support tiers, creating a window to pilot automation or outsourcing before wage pressure forces the issue.
IT project manager demand is rising in a tightening local labor pool.
Metro and national PM pay both moved up moderately, with local pay at $114,290 tracking close to the $117,530 national figure, even as metro unemployment edged up year-over-year. Rising delivery-role pay alongside a softer overall labor market is consistent with employers prioritizing execution capacity over headcount expansion — a planning signal for IT leaders scoping transformation or infrastructure projects this fall.
Median advertised pay by role — Glens Falls, 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 * | $74,815 | $110,500 | $128,000 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $115,432 | $180,123 | $209,948 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $44,960 | $77,500 | $82,500 | 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
Glens Falls MSA unemployment held at 3.4% in August, up from 2.7% a year earlier, even as nonfarm payrolls contracted slightly over the trailing year while private-sector jobs expanded — a split signal consistent with public-sector softness masking otherwise stable private hiring. Average weekly wages in the metro remain far below the national figure ($1,231 vs. $1,654), a gap that shapes how far local IT budgets stretch against statewide and national compensation pressure in cybersecurity and cloud roles.
What it means
Metro software engineering pay dropped moderately this month even as the national median held flat, suggesting Glens Falls employers are either normalizing prior outsized postings or facing softer local demand for in-house development talent — a dynamic that strengthens the case for contract or remote-sourced development work rather than local permanent hires. Network engineering and IT project management pay rose locally while help desk pay stayed flat, indicating employers are still willing to pay up for infrastructure and delivery leadership even as they hold the line on commodity support roles. Consider reviewing whether current software engineering reqs reflect genuine local scarcity or stale postings, and whether infrastructure/PM budgets should be reallocated ahead of continued upward pressure.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Metro unemployment has drifted up from 2.7% to 3.4% year-over-year even as nonfarm payrolls shrank slightly; watch whether this loosens the local IT candidate pool or simply reflects public-sector contraction unrelated to tech hiring.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide information-sector employment has declined over the past three months per the NYC Comptroller and Beige Book; any spillover into Capital Region tech employers could change the local candidate supply for mid-level engineering roles.
Early indicator: National WARN filings from Amazon, Meta, Verizon, and Oracle in 2026 have not yet produced visible Capital Region fallout, but IT leaders should monitor whether displaced specialized talent begins surfacing in regional postings or recruiter pipelines.
Potential inflection point: Local software engineering pay's moderate decline could either stabilize or accelerate; a second consecutive month of softening would strengthen the case for shifting development capacity to contract or outsourced models rather than treating it as a one-month fluctuation.
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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