Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA MSA — September 2026
Kingsport cybersecurity and network pay fall as national rates climb.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay dropped to $87,673 against a national median of $106,790, while metro unemployment rose to 4.0% in June even as Tennessee held at 3.4%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.0% — June 2026, up from 3.3% in April-May
- Tennessee unemployment rate: 3.4% — Steady July-August, below 4.1% national rate
- Metro avg hourly wage: $26.99 — vs $33.54 national average (May 2025)
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap: $19,117 — Metro $87,673 vs national $106,790
Key takeaways
Metro cybersecurity pay is falling against a rising national tide.
Advertised Cybersecurity Analyst pay in Kingsport-Bristol dropped moderately to $87,673 while the national median climbed to $106,790. That near-$20K gap, against a national backdrop of cybersecurity salaries hitting $400K at the senior end, signals real exposure to remote poaching for any locally based security talent.
Help Desk pay surged while network engineering pay slid.
Advertised Help Desk/IT Support pay rose significantly to $45,000 locally even as Network Engineer pay fell to $95,875. That divergence suggests employers are bidding up entry-tier support roles amid scarcity while treating mid-tier infrastructure roles as more replaceable — worth testing against actual turnover data before assuming the gap reflects true market value.
Metro unemployment uptick may be loosening, not tightening, IT hiring.
June's rise to 4.0% unemployment, against Tennessee's steady 3.4%, runs counter to the statewide narrative of workforce shrinkage. If local IT candidate pools are genuinely growing, build-vs-buy decisions on commodity support functions may tilt toward insourcing sooner than regional trend data alone would suggest.
Software Engineer pay is rising locally while staying flat nationally.
Metro Software Engineer pay moved up to $145,080, approaching the $153,652 national median, even as national software engineer pay held stable. Convergence toward national pay levels for this role, against decline in network and security roles, is consistent with Kingsport employers concentrating retention spending on development talent over infrastructure.
Median advertised pay by role — Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $108,478 | $133,498 | $155,172 | Stable | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $71,187 | $85,485 | $94,005 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer * | $73,963 | $95,875 | $110,240 | Moderate decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer * | $108,343 | $145,080 | $162,168 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $36,380 | $45,000 | $45,760 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $76,017 | $87,673 | $99,840 | Moderate decline | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $77,664 | $107,826 | $121,189 | Moderate increase | $117,530 |
* 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
Kingsport-Bristol's June 2026 unemployment rate climbed to 4.0% from 3.3% in April-May, a sharper uptick than Tennessee's steady statewide 3.4%, suggesting metro-specific softening even as the broader state labor market holds tight. Manufacturing (20.7K jobs) and trade/transportation (24.0K) remain the metro's structural employment base, leaving the region more exposed than Nashville or Knoxville to national IT role compression and slower information-sector hiring reported in August BLS data.
What it means
Metro unemployment ticking up while statewide conditions stay tight suggests local IT talent pools may be loosening faster than Tennessee headlines indicate, giving hiring managers modestly more leverage on permanent infrastructure and support hires than six months ago. Falling advertised pay for Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst roles locally, against rising national medians for both, points to a widening gap between what Kingsport employers offer and what specialized talent can command elsewhere — a retention risk for any organization competing with Nashville, Knoxville, or remote-first employers. Consider reviewing network engineering and cybersecurity compensation against national trend lines rather than local averages before the next retention cycle.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: July-August metro unemployment data, due from BLS within 60 days, will show whether the June uptick to 4.0% was a one-month blip or the start of a trend diverging from Tennessee's steady 3.4% statewide rate.
Emerging pressure point: TikTok's October 5 Nashville office closure affecting 250 workers won't directly touch Kingsport but may add technical talent to the broader East Tennessee candidate pool if displaced workers relocate for lower cost of living.
Potential inflection point: National cybersecurity and network engineering pay keep climbing while metro figures decline — watch whether this spread forces local employers toward remote hiring or managed security service contracts rather than local permanent headcount.
Early indicator: Manufacturing remains a 20.7K-job anchor for the metro; any WARN activity in Tennessee manufacturing (22 notices, 3,466 workers statewide to date) bears watching for IT support and systems administration demand tied to plant operations.
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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