Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Monroe, LA MSA — September 2026
Monroe's infrastructure pay is falling as national rates climb.
Network Engineer pay in Monroe sits at $82,743 against a national $114,400, even as metro unemployment holds steady at 4.2% and cybersecurity pay keeps pace with national levels.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Monroe MSA unemployment rate: 4.2% — Unchanged month-over-month, September 2026
- Network Engineer pay gap: $82,743 vs $114,400 — Metro median vs national median, down significantly locally
- Louisiana avg IT salary rank: 50th nationally — $93,813 avg vs national benchmark above $109K
- Louisiana WARN-affected workers: 1,811 in 2026 — Down 63% from 2025, limiting displaced-talent supply
Key takeaways
Network and software engineering pay is collapsing locally while national pay climbs.
Monroe's Network Engineer median sits at $82,743 against a national $114,400, and Software Engineer pay is down significantly to $59,453 versus a stable $153,652 nationally. This divergence suggests local employers are either disengaging from these searches or quietly shifting the work to remote and contracted talent pools.
Help desk pay is rising sharply — a signal worth reading carefully.
Monroe's Help Desk/IT Support median climbed significantly to $46,474, outpacing the national move to $53,644. Rising entry-tier pay in a flat labor market may indicate employers competing harder for a shrinking pool of local support staff rather than genuine wage inflation across the role.
Cybersecurity and data science remain the metro's bright spots.
Data Scientist pay in Monroe ($153,089) now exceeds the national median ($148,250), and Cybersecurity Analyst pay ($105,000) tracks closely with national levels ($106,790). Both show moderate upward movement, consistent with national data showing cybersecurity and AI-adjacent roles commanding the steepest premiums — these remain the roles least suited to cost-driven outsourcing.
Louisiana's IT pay floor keeps retention risk structural, not cyclical.
Statewide average IT pay of $93,813 ranks Louisiana 50th nationally, with entry-level roles averaging just $40,319. Specialized exceptions like Integer Technologies' $130K defense-tech roles show what premium pay looks like locally — a gap most IT departments cannot close through base pay alone.
Median advertised pay by role — Monroe, LA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $121,026 | $153,089 | $164,385 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $76,900 | $94,247 | $105,778 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $53,351 | $82,743 | $90,441 | Significant decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $59,452 | $59,453 | $59,456 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $40,211 | $46,474 | $65,211 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $86,400 | $105,000 | $125,140 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $80,783 | $115,230 | $126,020 | 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
Monroe MSA unemployment held at 4.2% in September with nonfarm payrolls essentially flat, consistent with a metro economy that is stable but not generating meaningfully new labor supply for technical roles. Louisiana's statewide IT pay average of $93,813 — roughly 14% below the national figure near $109K — continues to push cost-sensitive employers toward automation and outsourcing rather than local hiring to close capability gaps.
What it means
Flat metro employment paired with a 4.2% unemployment rate means IT leaders are not seeing fresh local supply of technical talent, while two of the metro's core infrastructure roles — Network Engineer and Software Engineer — show significant advertised pay declines against rising national medians, a divergence that likely reflects softening local demand rather than improved affordability. That gap widens the build-vs-buy calculus: local employers can no longer assume parity with national infrastructure talent costs, making remote or contracted specialists increasingly competitive even at a premium. Consider evaluating whether current infrastructure and network engineering vacancies are better filled through regional contract arrangements than continued local recruitment.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Monroe's Network Engineer and Software Engineer pay declines diverge sharply from national trends. Watch whether October postings show employers re-engaging at higher rates or continuing to shift this work to contract and remote arrangements.
Emerging pressure point: Louisiana's technology sector is growing jobs 18% year-over-year per JRG Partners, yet statewide IT pay remains near the bottom nationally. Expect intensifying competition for the limited pool of mid-career cloud and security talent as more employers chase the same growth.
Early indicator: Louisiana WARN filings have dropped 63% year-over-year, suggesting little displaced technical talent is entering the Monroe candidate pool from layoffs. IT leaders counting on layoff-driven hiring opportunities should expect a thinner bench than in 2025.
Potential inflection point: National AI engineer and platform engineer pay rose 8-9% year-over-year while Monroe shows no comparable local benchmark yet. If specialized AI roles begin appearing in metro postings, expect a sharp local pay reset similar to what cybersecurity and data science roles have already seen.
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.