Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI MSA — September 2026
Muskegon's shrinking workforce is driving a two-speed IT pay market.
Muskegon's labor force fell 8.2% year-over-year while Software Engineer pay climbed to $183,295 against a $153,652 national median — even as Systems Administrator pay dropped to $73,365, well below the $101,168 national rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro labor force decline: -8.2% — Largest YoY drop of any Michigan metro, July 2026
- Metro employment decline: -7.1% — Steepest YoY employment loss statewide
- Muskegon avg weekly wage gain: +$135 — Largest county gain in MI, Q4'24-Q4'25, to $1,427
- Michigan unemployment rate: 5.0% — vs 4.1% national rate, August 2026
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators dropped significantly to $73,365 even as the national median climbed to $101,168, a $28K gap that didn't exist a year ago. That divergence may reflect local employers shifting toward outsourced infrastructure support rather than competing for scarce on-site talent.
Network Engineer pay is stuck while national rates climb.
Metro Network Engineer pay held flat at $72,269 against a national median of $114,400 — a 37% gap. Flat local pay in a shrinking labor force is consistent with employers routing network engineering work to contractors or regional providers rather than building local headcount.
Software Engineer compensation signals a scarcity premium, not a trend.
Local Software Engineer pay jumped to $183,295, running ahead of the $153,652 national median. With the metro labor force down 8.2% year-over-year, this likely reflects a handful of employers paying premium rates for a thin pool of specialized talent rather than a market-wide repricing.
Help Desk pay gains may reflect wage-floor pressure, not market demand.
Help Desk/IT Support pay rose significantly to $50,773 locally, converging with the $53,644 national median. Michigan's minimum wage climbing to $13.73 (and $15.00 in January 2027) compresses the gap between entry-level support and skilled technical roles, weakening the case for building out junior in-house support teams.
Median advertised pay by role — Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $113,870 | $146,835 | $164,186 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $71,472 | $73,365 | $77,312 | Significant decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $72,268 | $72,269 | $72,269 | Stable | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $117,716 | $183,295 | $194,877 | Significant increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,243 | $50,773 | $60,500 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $84,645 | $101,500 | $120,000 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $84,387 | $112,914 | $125,000 | 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
Muskegon's labor market contracted sharply through July 2026, with employment down 7.1% year-over-year and the labor force shrinking 8.2% — both the steepest declines of any Michigan metro — as manufacturing softness and population outflow compound a shallow talent pool. Against that backdrop, Muskegon County posted the state's largest average weekly wage gain ($135, to $1,427) over the same period, signaling employers are paying up sharply for the workers who remain rather than seeing broad-based wage growth.
What it means
Shrinking labor supply paired with wage inflation for incumbent workers points to a market where retention economics now outweigh recruitment economics — losing a systems administrator or network engineer in Muskegon means competing for a visibly smaller candidate pool than a year ago. Advertised Systems Administrator pay has fallen 7% locally even as national rates climbed 7%+, a gap wide enough to justify remote or hybrid sourcing for infrastructure roles that don't require on-site presence, while Software Engineer pay surging to $183,295 locally — above the national median — suggests Muskegon employers are bidding aggressively for scarce specialized talent. Consider reviewing which infrastructure and support roles genuinely require local presence versus which could be filled through remote hires or managed service providers given the shrinking local labor force.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Muskegon's labor force contraction (-8.2% YoY) is the steepest in Michigan; watch whether local employers respond by expanding remote/hybrid postings for infrastructure and support roles rather than competing for a shrinking local pool.
Emerging pressure point: Michigan's minimum wage path to $15.00 in January 2027 will continue compressing the pay gap between entry-level support staff and skilled technical roles. IT leaders budgeting 2027 headcount should model this compression into Help Desk and junior admin cost structures now.
Worth watching: Manufacturing-driven WARN activity statewide (GM Lansing, Fifth Third Farmington Hills) hasn't yet shown up as IT talent flowing into Muskegon's candidate pool. Track whether displaced workers with adjacent technical skills (network, systems) begin appearing in local applicant flow over the next two months.
Early indicator: National cybersecurity and cloud architecture pay continues outpacing traditional infrastructure roles (CompTIA, Motion Recruitment). If that national divergence reaches Muskegon's Network Engineer and Systems Administrator postings, expect further downward pressure on traditional on-prem roles relative to cloud/security hires.
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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