Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Kokomo, IN MSA — October 2026
Factory hiring boom squeezes Kokomo's IT talent pool.
Kokomo Network Engineer pay climbed to $111,482 and Help Desk pay to $57,200 — both above national medians — as 2,800 incoming manufacturing jobs compete for the same local workforce.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Kokomo MSA unemployment: 5.1% — June 2026, down 1.9 pts year-over-year
- New manufacturing jobs incoming: 2,800 — Nearly 8% of current MSA employment
- Indiana open job postings: 106,223 — As of Sept. 30, 2026, statewide
- National tech layoffs, 2026 YTD: 133,417 — Already exceeds full-year 2025 total
Key takeaways
Kokomo IT pay is rising faster than the national pattern.
Network Engineer, Software Engineer, Help Desk, and Data Scientist advertised pay all moved up significantly locally this month, while several of the same roles sit flat nationally. That divergence is consistent with manufacturing expansion pulling technical labor out of the local pool and forcing faster repricing than peer metros are seeing.
Help Desk pay premium over national median signals support-tier scarcity.
Kokomo's $57,200 median for Help Desk/IT Support tops the $53,129 national figure, even as national Help Desk pay is trending down. Entry-level and support roles may be harder to backfill locally than compensation data alone would suggest, given competition from factory-floor and skilled-trade openings paying comparable wages.
Cybersecurity and Data Scientist roles remain underpriced relative to national scarcity value.
Both roles post well below national medians in Kokomo — Cybersecurity Analyst at $76,916 versus $107,327, Data Scientist at $73,394 versus $145,881 — despite upward local movement. That gap suggests organizations needing specialized security or analytics capability may still need to look outside the metro, or budget a premium beyond current local advertised rates, to compete.
Manufacturing's labor pull is a build-vs-buy signal for infrastructure roles.
With two factories absorbing a large share of available technical labor, infrastructure and support headcount plans built around local hiring assumptions carry more execution risk than they did a year ago. Current conditions suggest evaluating remote or outsourced coverage for lower-differentiation infrastructure functions while reserving local hiring budget for roles tied directly to plant operations.
Median advertised pay by role — Kokomo, IN MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $73,394 | $73,394 | $73,394 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator * | $70,607 | $86,024 | $94,556 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $77,500 | $111,482 | $125,131 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $103,089 | $142,699 | $158,664 | Significant increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $52,904 | $57,200 | $57,200 | Significant increase | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $75,945 | $76,916 | $85,309 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $89,657 | $114,590 | $123,652 | 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
Kokomo MSA unemployment has tightened from 5.1% in June to a trend consistent with the low-4% range forecast for 2026, as two area factories move toward a combined 2,800 new jobs — nearly 8% of current metro employment — concentrated in manufacturing and adjacent skilled trades. That expansion is pulling against a metro labor pool still recovering from a prior-year unemployment spike, intensifying competition for technical talent across any function, including IT, that supports advanced manufacturing operations.
What it means
Manufacturing-driven hiring absorbs local technical labor before IT departments compete for it, and advertised pay moving up sharply across Kokomo IT roles — Network Engineer, Software Engineer, Help Desk, Data Scientist — suggests employers are already repricing to hold ground against that pull. With Indiana's employed population shrinking even as job postings stay near 106,000, IT leaders should expect external hiring pipelines to stay thin relative to demand. Consider reviewing retention economics for infrastructure and support staff before assuming replacement hiring will be straightforward or quick.
Looking ahead
Expected: Factory-driven hiring tied to the 2,800 new manufacturing jobs should continue tightening the broader Kokomo labor pool through year-end, likely sustaining upward pressure on IT support and infrastructure pay as those roles compete with factory-floor wages for the same workers.
Early indicator: Watch whether Indiana's statewide hire-rate softening (information sector at 1.6% as of August) shows up in Kokomo postings data once BLS releases October metro figures, expected with the usual four-to-six week lag.
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, concentrated in large tech hubs, with secondary markets like Kokomo largely insulated so far. Monitor whether any of that displaced talent, particularly remote-capable infrastructure or security specialists, begins surfacing in the local candidate pool.
Potential inflection point: Kokomo's Cybersecurity Analyst and Data Scientist pay gaps versus national medians remain wide. If local manufacturing employers begin competing for the same analytics and security talent to support automation, expect faster local repricing in these roles over the next two quarters.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics / Indiana Dept. of Workforce Development — Kokomo MSA unemployment rate and two-factory job expansion figures
- Indiana Department of Workforce Development — Indiana employed population declined while postings held near 106,000
- Layoffs.fyi / industry tracking — National tech layoffs exceeded 133,417 through October 21, 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — US information-sector hire rate fell to 1.6% of employment by August 2026
- Indiana Department of Workforce Development — Two factories expected to create 2,800 new jobs in Kokomo MSA
- Indiana Department of Workforce Development — Indiana had more than 106,000 open job postings at end of September
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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