Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Jackson, TN MSA — October 2026
Jackson IT pay splits: infrastructure roles surge, security stalls.
Jackson's Network Engineer advertised pay jumped to $111,956 against a tightening statewide labor market, while Cybersecurity Analyst pay held flat at $89,988 even as the national rate climbed to $107,327.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Jackson metro unemployment: 3.9% — July 2026, vs 3.4% Tennessee statewide
- Madison County unemployment: 4.3% — August 2026, up from metro's July rate
- Tech sector layoffs (national, YTD): 133,417 workers — 325 companies, already exceeds full-year 2025
- IT occupation growth (Tennessee): 2.69% — Projected statewide, below overall state average
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay in Jackson is outrunning the national rate.
Metro median advertised pay of $111,956 has moved up significantly and now sits above the $115,757 national median's own moderate gain — unusual for a secondary market. This may reflect scarce infrastructure talent locally competing against the data-center buildout pulling engineers statewide and nationally.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay is stuck while national rates climb.
Metro median of $89,988 has held flat even as the national figure rose to $107,327 on moderate momentum. Static local advertised pay against a rising national benchmark is consistent with Jackson employers underpricing a role that is increasingly hard to backfill locally.
Help Desk pay gains locally while national rates retreat.
Metro advertised pay for Help Desk/IT Support rose moderately to $54,080 even as the national median fell to $53,129. Divergence at the entry tier suggests Jackson employers are competing harder for frontline IT support than the national trend would predict, worth watching as a leading indicator for broader local tightness.
Data Scientist pay gap with the national market has widened sharply.
Metro median of $79,638 moved up significantly but remains less than half the $145,881 national figure. Gap this wide signals Jackson is not a realistic market to build advanced analytics capability in-house — remote or outsourced arrangements likely remain the more defensible path.
Median advertised pay by role — Jackson, TN MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $79,638 | $79,638 | $79,703 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator * | $71,551 | $85,422 | $93,966 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $78,602 | $111,956 | $133,360 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $110,570 | $149,094 | $164,580 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $45,421 | $54,080 | $62,070 | Moderate increase | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $78,415 | $89,988 | $101,715 | Stable | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $78,110 | $108,595 | $122,848 | 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
Jackson metro unemployment sat at 3.9% in July, half a point looser than Tennessee's 3.4% statewide rate, with Madison County ticking up to 4.3% in August — a signal that labor supply in Jackson is easing even as the state stays historically tight. Manufacturing remains the metro's structural anchor (7,902 workers, with the Metal & Product cluster averaging $98,012), while modest 0.2% annual employment growth suggests hiring activity broadly is incremental, including for the IT roles that support these employers.
What it means
Jackson's modest headline unemployment uptick and lack of a visible tech employer base mean local IT hiring runs on a much thinner bench than Nashville or Chattanooga, where Oracle's $1.2B build-out and tighter sub-3% unemployment are pulling talent and inflating pay. Statewide computer and mathematical occupations are projected to grow just 2.69% through the next decade, below the state average, reinforcing that Jackson employers cannot count on organic local supply to scale cloud, security, or infrastructure functions. Current conditions suggest evaluating hybrid or managed-services arrangements for specialized roles like cybersecurity and network engineering, where metro advertised pay is already moving toward or past national levels.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Madison County's unemployment rate ticked to 4.3% in August against a 3.9% metro July figure — watch whether this spread widens into fall, which would ease some local IT candidate scarcity for support and administrator roles.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide computer and mathematical occupation growth is projected at just 2.69% through the next decade, below the state average. Jackson employers planning security or cloud headcount expansion should expect continued reliance on relocation, remote hires, or contractors as local pipeline growth stays limited.
Potential inflection point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers in 2026 year-to-date. Watch whether any of that displaced talent, particularly in infrastructure or data-center roles, surfaces in the Jackson candidate pool as remote-eligible applicants.
Early indicator: Nashville's Oracle-driven hiring and sub-3% unemployment continue to pull IT talent statewide. Track whether Jackson-based network engineering and systems administration candidates begin commanding Nashville-adjacent pay expectations in local searches.
Sources
- USA Facts / Bureau of Labor Statistics — Jackson metro unemployment at 3.9% in July 2026, down 0.5pp YoY
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — Madison County unemployment at 4.3% in August 2026
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development — Computer/math occupations projected to grow 2.69% statewide
- Layoffs.fyi / industry tracking — Tech layoffs exceed 133,417 workers across 325 companies in 2026 YTD
- State/local economic development reporting — Oracle's $1.2B Nashville initiative targeting 8,500 jobs by 2031
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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