Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Knoxville, TN MSA — September 2026
Knoxville tech pay splits: networking slips, infrastructure roles surge.
Network Engineer advertised pay in Knoxville fell significantly to $94,685 even as the national median climbed to $114,400, while local Systems Administrator pay jumped to $88,143 as Knox County unemployment held at 2.5%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Knox County unemployment: 2.5% — Among TN's lowest; statewide rate 3.4%
- Metro job growth, 2026 YTD: -133/month avg — vs +778/month five-year average
- Network Engineer advertised pay: $94,685 — Down significantly vs national $114,400, rising
- Knox County weekly wages: $1,316 — +2.7% YoY, below national average
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro median sits at $94,685 and moving down significantly even as the national figure climbs to $114,400. That gap is consistent with remote work eroding Knoxville's pricing power for networking talent that can be hired anywhere — a risk signal for retention, not a cost saving.
Systems Administrator compensation is repricing faster than peers.
Local advertised pay for Systems Administrators is up significantly to $88,143, closing ground on the national median of $101,168. This looks like employers defending roles tied to on-site infrastructure that can't easily be outsourced or filled remotely.
Job contraction without loosening is a retention trap, not relief.
Metro payrolls fell for months while Knox County unemployment held near 2.5%, meaning departing roles aren't translating into a deeper local candidate pool. IT leaders counting on a softer market to ease hiring pressure should recalibrate — the talent isn't sitting idle locally.
IT Project Manager pay gains suggest modernization work is accelerating.
Local PM pay is up significantly to $100,279, tracking state-level signals that 57% of Tennessee executives report trouble finding IT talent with the right skills. Rising PM demand often precedes a wave of legacy-system replacement or cloud migration work — a leading indicator for infrastructure headcount needs.
Median advertised pay by role — Knoxville, TN MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $96,089 | $117,228 | $124,526 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $74,634 | $88,143 | $95,344 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $74,358 | $94,685 | $99,924 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $91,795 | $122,898 | $138,676 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $37,843 | $47,501 | $52,844 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $82,224 | $92,850 | $92,850 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $73,160 | $100,279 | $106,363 | 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
Knoxville's labor market is running two contradictory signals at once: Knox County unemployment sits at 2.5%, among Tennessee's tightest, while the metro shed 1,200 jobs in June and has averaged -133 jobs monthly through 2026, a sharp reversal from a five-year trend of +778 monthly gains. That combination — low unemployment paired with payroll contraction — points to workers leaving the labor force or relocating rather than a loosening of demand, which keeps specialized technical talent scarce even as headline job counts fall.
What it means
Network Engineer advertised pay in Knoxville has fallen significantly (metro median $94,685, down against a national figure still climbing to $114,400), a divergence that looks less like softening demand and more like local employers losing ground to remote-eligible national postings for the same skill set. Systems Administrator pay, by contrast, is up significantly locally ($88,143), suggesting employers are repricing infrastructure roles they can't backfill remotely while ceding ground on roles where talent can shop nationally. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and networking roles face real local competition versus remote-market competition before setting next cycle's pay bands — a flat metro-wide adjustment will overpay for some roles and underprice the ones actually at flight risk.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Knoxville's monthly job losses have persisted since early 2026; watch whether August/September BLS releases show stabilization or a third consecutive quarter of contraction, which would sharpen the disconnect between low unemployment and shrinking payrolls.
Emerging pressure point: Network Engineer pay is diverging sharply from the national trend. If this gap widens further, expect local employers to lose candidates to remote postings — a signal to revisit whether networking roles still need to be geographically anchored.
Potential inflection point: Tennessee WARN filings are concentrated in manufacturing, logistics and healthcare, not tech — but TikTok's October 5 Nashville office closure (250 workers) could release some technical and project talent into the regional market worth tracking for East Tennessee overflow.
Early indicator: Statewide computer/math occupations are projected to grow just 2.69% through 2027, a modest figure against persistent skills-gap complaints from 57% of Tennessee executives. Watch whether Knoxville employers shift budget toward contract and managed-services staffing rather than permanent headcount to close that gap.
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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