Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Great Falls, MT MSA — October 2026
Great Falls pays up for security and code, down for infrastructure.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay hit $126,000, above the $107,327 national median, while Systems Administrator pay fell to $71,187 — roughly $31,000 below the national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Cascade County unemployment: 3.0% — vs 4.2% national, July 2026
- Systems Administrator pay gap: -$31,316 — Metro $71,187 vs national $102,503
- Montana IT sector job growth: 28% — vs flat overall state employment, 2026
- National tech layoffs YTD: 133,417 — 325 companies, already exceeds all of 2025
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay in Great Falls has pulled ahead of the national median.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay reached $126,000 against a $107,327 national median, a reversal of the typical rural-metro discount. Local employers appear to be bidding up security talent faster than the broader market, a signal that budget reallocation toward security headcount is already underway.
Systems Administrator pay is falling locally while climbing nationally.
Metro pay for the role dropped to $71,187, moderately down, even as the national median rose to $102,503 — now a roughly 30% gap. That divergence is consistent with employers treating generalist infrastructure work as lower priority for local investment, making it a candidate for managed services or remote staffing.
Software Engineer pay gains suggest local employers are competing harder for builders.
Metro pay rose significantly to $130,693, narrowing the gap with the $154,403 national median, even as national software engineer pay held stable. Montana's broader tech wage climb — up to $146K average, 2.4x the state average in 2025 — appears to be pulling Great Falls pay upward alongside it.
Help Desk pay growth outpaces the national trend by a wide margin.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay rose significantly to $38,626 while the national median fell moderately to $53,129. Rising entry-level local pay despite a national pullback may reflect tight regional labor supply biting hardest at the entry tier, where candidates have the most alternative options.
Median advertised pay by role — Great Falls, MT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $114,354 | $149,342 | $164,187 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $53,653 | $71,187 | $75,308 | Moderate decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $73,519 | $79,187 | $82,272 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $111,358 | $130,693 | $142,693 | Significant increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,626 | $38,626 | $40,989 | Significant increase | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $100,000 | $126,000 | $126,000 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $82,174 | $116,337 | $125,776 | Moderate increase | $118,150 |
* 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
Great Falls MSA unemployment sat at 3.4% in June, well below the national 4.2%, while Cascade County wages averaged $1,126 weekly in Q1 2026 — a tight labor pool compounded by federal contractor demand around Malmstrom Air Force Base and persistent hard-to-fill signals in computer and math occupations statewide. Montana's information and technology sector grew 28% even as overall state employment stayed flat, suggesting local IT hiring is competing against a shrinking pool of available specialists while the broader economy holds steady.
What it means
Metro-level pay movements this month split sharply by function — Cybersecurity Analyst and Software Engineer advertised pay both moved up significantly while Systems Administrator pay fell and remains $31,000 below the national median — a pattern consistent with employers concentrating scarce compensation dollars on security and development talent while treating infrastructure administration as more substitutable or outsourceable. That gap strengthens the case for evaluating which infrastructure functions can move to managed services or remote/offshore support given that 53% of Montana tech workers already work remotely part-time, freeing budget to defend ground in security and engineering where local pay is closing on national levels. Consider reviewing whether current systems administration staffing reflects a deliberate build-vs-buy decision or simply lagging pay that risks attrition into better-paying regional or remote roles.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Montana's statewide October labor data releases November 20 — watch whether Cascade County's 3.0% county unemployment holds or tightens further, which would add pressure to the Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pay gaps already visible this month.
Emerging pressure point: 133,417 national tech layoffs through October 21 have not yet shown up as WARN activity in Montana (4 notices, 173 workers statewide). Watch whether displaced talent from larger markets begins appearing in the local remote-eligible candidate pool, which could ease pressure on Software Engineer and Cybersecurity hiring.
Expected: Minimum wage rises to $11.20 on January 1, 2027. While this sits far below IT pay floors, it compresses entry-level support wage structures further and may accelerate pressure already visible in Help Desk advertised pay this month.
Potential inflection point: AI-related postings now represent 7.3% of all U.S. postings, above the 2022 peak, while mid-level AI engineers see 9.2% salary growth nationally. Great Falls employers have not yet shown distinct AI-role pay separation in local data — worth tracking whether that premium arrives locally in Q1 2027 hiring cycles.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Great Falls MSA unemployment rate and Cascade County weekly wages
- Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) — Montana information and technology jobs grew 28% in 2026
- Montana tech labor market research — 53% of Montana tech workers work remotely part-time
- Montana labor market research notes — Montana tech wages reached $146K average, 2.4x state average, in 2025
- Layoffs tracking aggregator — 133,417 tech layoffs at 325 companies through October 21, 2026
- Montana Department of Labor and Industry — Montana minimum wage rises to $11.20 effective January 1, 2027
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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