Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Johnstown, PA MSA — October 2026
Johnstown infrastructure pay climbs as regional talent pool tightens.
Systems Administrator pay in Johnstown has climbed to a $119,215 median, outpacing the $102,503 national figure, even as metro unemployment fell to 4.6% and job postings rose 36.6% year-over-year.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Johnstown MSA unemployment rate: 4.6% — Down 1.6 pts vs Aug 2025; below national 4.1%
- Cambria County job postings growth: +36.6% YoY — March 2026, signal of rising hiring demand
- Average weekly wage, Cambria County: $1,002 — vs national average $1,654 (BLS)
- National tech layoffs, YTD 2026: 133,417 workers — 325 companies; exceeds full-year 2025 total
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is outrunning the national trend here.
Metro median advertised pay of $119,215 moved up significantly versus a moderate national rise to $102,503, a gap that suggests local employers are competing hard for scarce infrastructure skills independent of broader wage drift. Organizations hiring for infrastructure roles should check current postings before assuming national figures apply locally.
Network Engineer pay lags the national figure despite tight local supply.
Metro median sits at $107,614 against a national $115,757, even as unemployment falls and job postings surge locally. Current conditions suggest a role that may be underpriced relative to demand, raising retention risk for employers holding to older pay bands.
Help desk pay softness signals a role ripe for restructuring and cost-cutting alike.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay fell moderately to $50,203, consistent with national pressure on entry-level tech roles. Combined with national signals that 41% of technologists would trade salary for remote flexibility, this may create an opportunity to shift routine support toward lower-cost or remote/outsourced models while reserving local headcount for higher-value infrastructure and security work.
Job posting growth outpaces wage growth, a classic tightening signal.
Cambria County postings — tracked via job ads, which signal hiring demand and often cover several openings each — rose 36.6% year-over-year while average weekly wages remain roughly 40% below the national average, an imbalance that typically precedes faster compensation growth. IT leaders benchmarking against last year's local pay data risk underbidding candidates in a market moving quicker than its wage statistics suggest.
Median advertised pay by role — Johnstown, PA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $138,149 | $146,763 | $146,763 | Moderate increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $73,767 | $119,215 | $140,746 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $68,464 | $107,614 | $124,893 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $110,608 | $147,944 | $163,854 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist * | $41,939 | $50,203 | $55,679 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $83,595 | $101,428 | $117,314 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $114,400 | $127,384 | $133,475 | 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
Johnstown's unemployment rate fell to 4.6% in August, down 1.6 points year-over-year, as Cambria County's labor force and employment base continued to tighten even though average weekly wages ($1,002) remain well below the national figure ($1,654). Online job postings in the county rose 36.6% annually through March — job ads, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings) — pointing to hiring demand that is outpacing wage growth in a metro still working from a lower cost base than Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.
What it means
Metro IT compensation is moving faster than the region's broader wage trend — Systems Administrator pay is up significantly to a $119,215 median, outpacing the $102,503 national figure, which suggests local employers are bidding aggressively for infrastructure talent in a thin candidate pool. With national data center and infrastructure hiring accelerating while tech-hub markets contract, Johnstown's lower cost base and rising advertised pay for infrastructure roles may position it as a secondary-market alternative for hybrid or on-prem buildouts. Consider evaluating whether infrastructure and systems administration roles can be recruited or retained locally at a cost advantage before defaulting to coastal or contract talent.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Comcast Technology Center's 634-worker Pennsylvania layoff, effective December 31, could release technical talent into regional labor pools, including candidates willing to relocate toward lower-cost metros like Johnstown. Watch whether infrastructure or network engineering applicants with hyperscale experience surface in local postings.
Emerging pressure point: Systems Administrator pay already running ahead of national levels locally may continue climbing if data center and infrastructure hiring nationally keeps pulling talent from secondary markets. Reassess planned infrastructure hires against current posted pay rates.
Early indicator: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, yet Johnstown's unemployment keeps falling, a divergence worth tracking monthly. A local uptick in applicant volume for mid-level cloud or security roles would be the first sign displaced tech talent is reaching this metro.
Potential inflection point: Pennsylvania's skills-gap data shows AI capabilities now the hardest skill set to fill statewide, ahead of traditional engineering. Watch whether Johnstown's largest regional employers begin advertising AI-adjacent infrastructure or data roles, a signal the gap is reaching secondary markets.
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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