Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA — September 2026
Ogden IT headcount shrinks while infrastructure pay accelerates.
Weber County employment fell 1.1% year-over-year even as Network Engineer advertised pay rose significantly locally and Cybersecurity Analyst pay climbed to $123,272 — above the $106,790 national median.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Weber County employment (YoY): -1.1% — 125,027 jobs, Aug 2026 vs Aug 2025
- Ogden-Clearfield unemployment: 3.5% — vs 4.1% national, Aug 2026
- Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay: $123,272 — vs $106,790 national median
- Utah tech unemployment: <2% — vs 30%+ growth in tech skill demand
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is outrunning the national trend locally.
Metro advertised pay for Network Engineers climbed at a significant rate this month versus a moderate national increase, pushing the local-to-national gap tighter than typical. This is consistent with infrastructure talent scarcity concentrated in Northern Utah's data center and defense-adjacent employer base rather than a broader national repricing.
Headcount is shrinking even as skill demand accelerates.
Weber County total employment dropped 1.1% year-over-year while statewide tech skill demand grew more than 30%, suggesting employers are consolidating lower-value roles while still competing hard for specialized hires. Budget conversations should separate volume reductions from compensation strategy for retained specialist roles.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay premium over national median keeps widening.
Metro advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analysts sits meaningfully above the national median, an unusual inversion for a secondary metro and a signal that local demand — likely tied to defense, finance, and healthcare compliance needs — is outstripping supply faster than coastal hubs.
Support-tier wage compression looks structural, not temporary.
Help Desk/IT Support advertised pay rose moderately locally but remains well below specialist-tier growth, tracking the national pattern of AI-driven compression in entry-level IT operations work. Current conditions suggest outsourcing or managed-service arrangements may offset inflation in this tier more efficiently than incremental in-house raises.
Median advertised pay by role — Ogden-Clearfield, UT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $95,529 | $136,974 | $152,993 | Stable | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $74,920 | $100,341 | $105,790 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $78,910 | $102,420 | $118,701 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $113,450 | $148,378 | $163,874 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,415 | $50,406 | $53,403 | Moderate increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $90,745 | $123,272 | $137,153 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $94,517 | $116,906 | $126,401 | Stable | $117,530 |
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
Weber County employment fell 1.1% year-over-year to 125,027 jobs through August even as the Ogden-Clearfield MSA unemployment rate held at a favorable 3.5%, signaling a labor market that is cooling in volume while remaining structurally tight on skilled talent. Statewide tech unemployment below 2% against 30%+ growth in tech skill demand means Ogden IT employers are competing against Silicon Slopes firms like Adobe, Qualtrics, and Entrata for the same shrinking pool of specialized candidates.
What it means
Headcount contraction alongside persistent skill scarcity points to a bifurcated market: commodity IT functions face real softening while cloud, security, and AI-adjacent roles remain locked in a seller's market regardless of broader cooling. Network Engineer advertised pay rose at a significant clip locally this month even as national movement stayed moderate, consistent with metro-level infrastructure talent scarcity outpacing national trends. Organizations should evaluate shifting support and administrative headcount toward managed services or contract arrangements while reserving permanent budget increases for roles tied directly to cloud migration and security posture.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Weber County's year-over-year employment decline (-1.1%) bears watching for whether it deepens into broader IT headcount softness or stays isolated to manufacturing and education, per DWS sector data. A deepening trend could loosen the support-tier labor pool faster than expected.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide WARN filings remain low (13 notices, 1,684 workers in 2026) but concentrated in manufacturing and healthcare — sectors adjacent to IT infrastructure and support staffing in Northern Utah. Watch whether any displaced technical talent from these notices enters the local IT candidate pool.
Potential inflection point: National AI engineer salary gains (9.2% YoY) and Utah's 15-20% two-year tech wage escalation suggest Ogden employers may face a widening gap between what local budgets assume and what Silicon Slopes competitors are paying. Reassessing cloud and AI-adjacent role bands before Q4 planning cycles close may reduce surprise attrition.
Early indicator: Utah's tightening immigration-driven labor supply constraint, combined with older workers staying in the workforce longer, is narrowing the junior IT talent pipeline statewide. Expect continued pressure on entry-level Systems Administrator and Network Engineer pipelines feeding Ogden's defense and logistics employers.
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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