Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Laredo, TX MSA — September 2026
Laredo IT pay splits sharply from the national trend.
Systems Administrator advertised pay fell to $77,019 in Laredo versus a rising $101,168 nationally, while local Help Desk pay jumped to $65,293 against a flat $53,644 national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.2% — vs 4.0% Texas, 4.1% national
- Labor force stagnation: 121.9K — Unchanged since July 2026
- Systems Admin pay gap: -$24,149 — Laredo $77,019 vs national $101,168
- Metro job growth: +1.0% YoY — vs 1.1% statewide, 162K national payroll gain
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is collapsing locally while the nation moves up.
Metro median advertised pay fell significantly to $77,019 even as the national figure climbed to $101,168, a roughly $24K gap. This is consistent with Laredo's infrastructure-heavy, trade-logistics employment base commoditizing traditional admin work faster than the national market, making local benchmarking against national survey figures increasingly misleading.
Help Desk pay is rising sharply against a flat national trend.
Metro median support pay climbed to $65,293, well above the stable national figure of $53,644. That inversion may signal genuine scarcity of frontline support talent in a labor force that has been stuck near 121.9 thousand for months, not a strategic upskilling trend — a dynamic worth distinguishing before setting next year's support budget.
Software Engineer pay softness suggests weak local demand for builders.
Metro median pay dropped significantly to $135,503 against a stable national median of $153,652, a reversal of the national pattern where senior engineering talent is commanding premiums. Current conditions suggest build-heavy software initiatives may be cheaper to staff locally, but also that top engineering talent may be harder to retain against remote offers at national rates.
Security and network roles are the metro's one pocket of real tightness.
Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer advertised pay both rose moderately in Laredo, tracking national direction even if lagging in magnitude. With statewide security analyst roles projected for 29% growth through 2034, this is the function most likely to require above-market offers to retain in a metro this size.
Median advertised pay by role — Laredo, TX MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $118,355 | $145,580 | $163,661 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $64,938 | $77,019 | $77,024 | Significant decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer * | $77,443 | $112,707 | $129,441 | Moderate increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $116,830 | $135,503 | $140,519 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,584 | $65,293 | $66,154 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $85,765 | $103,212 | $118,888 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $88,412 | $115,230 | $127,284 | Stable | $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
Laredo's unemployment rate held at 4.2% in September with payroll employment essentially flat at 29,000, reflecting a metro economy anchored by cross-border trade and logistics rather than the data-center and AI-driven hiring reshaping Austin and Dallas. Labor force growth has stalled at roughly 121.9 thousand for three straight months, consistent with a tight, slow-churning candidate pool that limits the metro's ability to absorb a sudden surge in specialized IT demand.
What it means
Laredo's trade-logistics economic base means local IT hiring skews toward infrastructure, support, and systems administration rather than the cybersecurity and AI engineering roles driving national wage acceleration, which helps explain why Systems Administrator and Software Engineer advertised pay are both down significantly here while rising nationally. This divergence widens the build-vs-buy calculus: retaining commodity infrastructure talent locally is getting cheaper, but competing for cloud or security specialists likely requires reaching into the Dallas or Austin labor pool at a premium. Consider evaluating whether security and cloud architecture functions are better sourced through regional contractors or remote hires rather than competing head-on for scarce local specialists.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Laredo's civilian labor force has been flat near 121.9 thousand since July. A continued stall would tighten competition for any specialized IT hire regardless of advertised pay movement.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide information-sector employment is down 5.3% over the year even as Texas overall adds jobs on data center and AI activity. Watch whether that contraction reaches Laredo's smaller professional and business services base (9.8 thousand employed) or stays concentrated in larger metros.
Potential inflection point: Local Software Engineer and Systems Administrator pay are both down significantly while national figures rise or hold steady. If that gap persists through Q4, it may indicate Laredo employers are under-pricing roles relative to what remote-capable candidates can earn elsewhere.
Early indicator: Texas WARN filings are down 45% in affected workers year over year, concentrated in transportation and manufacturing rather than tech. A low-layoff environment statewide limits the chance of an inbound talent pool for Laredo IT leaders hoping to fill specialized roles opportunistically.
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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