Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Greensboro-High Point, NC MSA — September 2026
Greensboro security pay falls as national rates climb.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay fell to $86,000 against a national median of $106,790, even as Systems Administrator pay rose significantly to $86,658 — a reversal that signals growing exposure to remote-market wage competition.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.0% — Aug 2026, vs 4.1% national, 3.5% NC statewide
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap: $86,000 vs $106,790 — Metro median vs national median, trending down locally
- Systems Administrator pay growth: $86,658 — Up significantly, nearing national median of $101,168
- NC WARN notices, 2026 YTD: 61 notices / 5,753 workers — Concentrated in manufacturing, transport, healthcare
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay is falling locally while the nation pays up.
Metro cybersecurity analyst advertised pay dropped to $86,000 even as the national median climbed to $106,790, a gap of nearly $21,000. Organizations anchored to local rates risk losing mid-career security talent to remote roles paying national scale, particularly as senior cybersecurity compensation nationally reaches $400K at the top end.
Systems Administrator pay surge may reflect a quiet strategy shift.
Metro Systems Administrator pay rose significantly to $86,658, nearly closing the historical gap with the national median of $101,168. This pattern is consistent with employers consolidating specialist infrastructure work into generalist roles rather than competing directly for scarce network and security specialists.
IQE's expansion signals a semiconductor-adjacent IT demand wave.
The $305 million, 109-job investment at $64,908 average wage brings new infrastructure, controls, and industrial-IT demand into a metro where Information-sector employment is contracting. IT leaders supporting advanced manufacturing clients should expect new competition for networking and OT-adjacent technical talent over the next two quarters.
Entry-level ease and senior scarcity are pulling in opposite directions.
Statewide, only a third of employers report difficulty filling entry-level technical roles, while mid-market and senior infrastructure hiring remains tight by historical comparison. Greensboro IT leaders may find build strategies viable for Tier 1 support while outsourcing or contracting senior infrastructure and security work remains the more defensible economic choice.
Median advertised pay by role — Greensboro-High Point, NC MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $97,970 | $116,670 | $132,714 | Stable | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $75,562 | $86,658 | $97,151 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $85,537 | $104,000 | $112,490 | Moderate decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $105,638 | $143,299 | $157,502 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $38,780 | $48,116 | $52,000 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $72,872 | $86,000 | $93,300 | Moderate decline | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $89,293 | $107,496 | $118,894 | 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
Greensboro-High Point's 4.0% August unemployment rate and Guilford County's manufacturing-heavy base mask a bifurcated technical labor market, with IQE's $305 million semiconductor expansion (109 jobs averaging $64,908) signaling renewed industrial-tech demand even as the Information sector shed 700 positions statewide in August. Metro cybersecurity and network engineer advertised pay are trending down against rising national medians, consistent with a local market where mid-market technical employers compete less aggressively than national remote-first hirers for scarce specialized talent.
What it means
Diverging local-versus-national pay trajectories in cybersecurity and network engineering suggest Greensboro employers are losing ground in a market where senior infrastructure and security talent increasingly commands remote, nationally-benchmarked offers. Systems Administrator pay rising significantly locally — even as Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst advertised rates soften — points to employers substituting toward generalist infrastructure roles rather than funding scarce specialist positions at competitive rates. Consider reviewing whether current cybersecurity and network engineering offers are anchored to metro medians that no longer reflect the rates needed to retain talent exposed to national remote opportunities.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: IQE's 109-position Greensboro buildout will likely generate secondary demand for network engineers and industrial systems administrators over Q4; watch whether this pulls metro Network Engineer pay — currently trending down — back upward.
Emerging pressure point: North Carolina's 61 WARN notices and 5,753 affected workers in 2026 are concentrated in manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare, not technology, but Information-sector job losses (700 statewide in August) warrant monitoring for released IT talent entering the Triad candidate pool.
Early indicator: Immigrant workers represent roughly a third of North Carolina's software development workforce; any shift in federal immigration enforcement activity could tighten the senior engineering and infrastructure pipeline further, compounding existing cybersecurity and network engineer scarcity.
Potential inflection point: If metro Systems Administrator pay continues converging with the national median while Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer pay diverge further downward, expect increased reliance on managed security service providers rather than direct hires across Triad IT organizations.
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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