Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Madison, WI MSA — October 2026
Madison IT pay splits sharply between scarce and soft roles.
Madison's Cybersecurity Analyst median of $87,244 trails the national figure by 19%, while Software Engineer pay at $159,044 now runs ahead of the $154,403 national median.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Dane County unemployment rate: 2.9% — vs 4.2% U.S. rate, Aug 2026
- Dane County wage growth: 7.7% YoY — Q1 2026, but inflation outpacing gains
- Madison H-1B filings: -13% YoY — 28% below historical norms, FY26 Q1
- Madison 2025 employment growth: 0.4% YoY — Slowed despite tight labor market
Key takeaways
IT Project Manager pay is accelerating faster than peer roles.
Metro median advertised pay for IT Project Managers climbed to $122,684, a significant increase that now exceeds the $118,150 national median. That movement is consistent with employers absorbing coordination complexity across healthcare IT and infrastructure buildouts rather than adding headcount broadly.
Cybersecurity pay lags the national market by a wide margin.
Madison's Cybersecurity Analyst median of $87,244 sits roughly 19% below the $107,327 national figure, even as Pleasant Prairie IT Security Administrator roles command $81K-$110K. Organizations relying on in-house security staffing may be underpricing a role where national wage pressure is building, increasing exposure to outside offers.
Software Engineer compensation is outpacing the national trend locally.
Metro median pay of $159,044 is up and now exceeds the $154,403 national median, a reversal from the typical pattern of coastal premiums. That signal may reflect Epic Systems and the local health-tech cluster competing directly against national remote offers for the same talent pool.
Falling H-1B filings narrow a traditional talent pipeline.
Madison H-1B filings dropped 13% in FY2026 Q1, running 28% below historical norms, at the same time the metro posts a 2.9% unemployment rate. Reduced access to this channel may intensify competition for specialized infrastructure and security talent already in short local supply.
Median advertised pay by role — Madison, WI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $87,330 | $126,050 | $148,960 | Moderate decline | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $78,432 | $92,500 | $102,572 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $81,605 | $116,107 | $133,000 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $113,177 | $159,044 | $175,818 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $43,363 | $49,325 | $53,872 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $73,403 | $87,244 | $100,000 | Stable | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $104,462 | $122,684 | $132,448 | Significant increase | $118,150 |
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
Dane County's unemployment rate sat at 2.9% in August 2026, among the tightest readings of any metro nationally, even as Madison closed out 2025 with employment growth of just 0.4% year-over-year — a combination that signals talent scarcity without the job creation needed to absorb it. Average weekly wages in Dane County rose 7.7% year-over-year in Q1 2026 to $1,631, but inflation running ahead of that gain is compressing real purchasing power at the same time H-1B filings for Madison fell 13% in FY2026 Q1, narrowing one channel employers have used to fill specialized technical roles.
What it means
Tight local labor supply combined with slowing job growth suggests Madison IT leaders face a market where open requisitions sit longer and counteroffers escalate, particularly for roles tied to Epic Systems, UW Health, and the broader healthcare IT and life sciences cluster that anchors local demand. With national data showing a 41% remote-flexibility tradeoff appetite against Wisconsin's reality of 98% in-person tech postings, the gap between what Madison employers offer and what mobile talent wants is widening. Consider evaluating which infrastructure and support functions could shift toward managed services or distributed staffing models to offset the geographic constraint rather than competing purely on local wage escalation.
Looking ahead
Early indicator: Wisconsin's -5.1% real wage decline, the steepest among all states, has not yet shown up as acute attrition locally, but Madison's tight 2.9% unemployment rate leaves little slack to absorb further real-wage erosion before retention risk rises.
Worth watching: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, concentrated in large tech hubs rather than Madison. Watch whether displaced talent from Seattle or San Francisco begins appearing in the local candidate pool given Wisconsin's near-total in-person job structure.
Emerging pressure point: AI/ML engineering premiums of $25,000 or more nationally have not yet fully priced into Madison's Data Scientist median, which is down and trending moderate at $126,050. Expect upward pressure here as healthcare IT and life sciences employers compete for AI-adjacent skills.
Potential inflection point: Manufacturing employment statewide is projected to run about 1.3% below year-ago levels with softening payroll growth, a pattern that could push infrastructure-support IT talent from manufacturing-adjacent employers into the broader Madison labor pool.
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.