Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Honolulu, HI MSA — September 2026
Honolulu IT pay splits: engineers surge, help desk collapses.
Metro Software Engineer pay hit $164,854 against a $153,652 national median, while Help Desk pay fell sharply to $53,575 even as unemployment held at a tight 2.5%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Honolulu unemployment rate: 2.5% — Down from 2.7% in August; national rate 4.1%
- Honolulu employment change: -0.7% — Year-over-year through Dec 2025 despite low jobless rate
- Software Engineer advertised pay, metro: $164,854 — vs $153,652 national median
- Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay, metro: $53,575 — Down significantly YoY; near $53,644 national median
Key takeaways
Software engineering pay is outrunning the mainland.
Metro median advertised pay of $164,854 now exceeds the national median of $153,652, a reversal from typical coastal-premium patterns. This likely reflects Honolulu employers competing against remote-friendly mainland offers for a thin local bench, not a shift in cost-of-living economics.
Help desk pay collapse signals a function in decline.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support median fell sharply to $53,575, essentially flat with the $53,644 national figure and down significantly year-over-year locally. Combined with national data showing AI compressing demand for entry-level IT operations roles, this looks structural — budget the function for shrinkage, not replacement.
Cybersecurity premium reflects scarcity, not just demand.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay at $115,000 sits well above the $106,790 national median and is rising significantly, consistent with national data showing senior security roles reaching $400K. In a labor force this constrained, expect continued upward pressure until local pipeline programs like Hawaii Tech Days produce measurable supply.
Low unemployment is masking a shrinking labor pool.
Honolulu's 2.5% jobless rate looks reassuring, but it coexists with a 0.7% year-over-year employment decline, pointing to departures rather than job creation. Compensation benchmarking against unemployment alone risks understating how hard replacement hiring has become.
Median advertised pay by role — Honolulu, HI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $107,638 | $126,800 | $145,788 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $83,015 | $97,506 | $110,199 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $83,038 | $120,969 | $129,591 | Stable | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $123,346 | $164,854 | $184,300 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $43,680 | $53,575 | $70,049 | Significant decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $88,808 | $115,000 | $130,575 | Significant increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $106,662 | $122,490 | $132,165 | Significant 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
Honolulu's unemployment rate fell to 2.5% in September from 2.7% in August, yet employment declined 0.7% year-over-year through December 2025 — a tightness driven not by job creation but by a shrinking labor force and persistent outmigration. With 55% of state job openings coming from worker turnover rather than growth, Honolulu's IT employers are competing for a static or shrinking pool of local talent rather than benefiting from expansion-driven hiring.
What it means
Scarcity-driven tightness, not growth, means Honolulu IT leaders face a retention problem more than a hiring problem — Software Engineer pay climbing to a metro median of $164,854 (above the $153,652 national figure) signals employers bidding up specialized roles to prevent departures rather than fund new headcount. Help Desk/IT Support pay dropping sharply to $53,575 locally suggests commodity support functions are increasingly candidates for automation or outsourcing as AI tools absorb routine ticket volume. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and support roles can shift to contract or managed-service models while reserving permanent headcount and wage increases for cloud, security and engineering talent most exposed to local flight risk.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Hawaii Tech Days and related UH/Chamber of Commerce workshops launched this month to build local AI, IT and cybersecurity skills. Watch whether these pipeline efforts begin showing up in applicant volume for mid-level roles by Q1 2027, or whether the talent gap persists.
Emerging pressure point: National information-sector job losses in August alongside continued WARN activity from Amazon, Meta and Verizon raise the question of whether displaced mainland tech workers consider remote-friendly Honolulu openings. A meaningful inflow could ease pressure on engineering and security pay faster than local pipeline programs.
Early indicator: Network Engineer pay in Honolulu sits at $120,969, stable and already above the $114,400 national median — unusual for a role facing demand compression nationally. Track whether this stability holds or whether it follows Help Desk pay downward as automation reaches networking operations.
Potential inflection point: Hawaii's minimum wage rises again to $18.00 in January 2028, with compounding effects likely to show up in entry-level IT support and administrative pay well before then. Organizations budgeting multi-year IT support compensation should model this increase now rather than at implementation.
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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