Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: OR NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — October 2026
Klamath Falls IT pay splits: infrastructure falls, security holds firm.
Local Systems Administrator pay dropped to $74,967 and Network Engineer pay fell to $89,408 even as national medians rose, while Cybersecurity Analyst pay climbed to $105,975 — nearly matching the $107,327 national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Oregon unemployment rate: 5.0% — vs 4.1% national rate, September 2026
- Systems Administrator pay, local: $74,967 — down significantly vs $102,503 national, up moderately
- Oregon IT salary rank: 50th of 50 states — ZipRecruiter, March 2026
- Oregon posted salary growth: 3.8% YoY — vs 6.1% national growth, Q2 2026
Key takeaways
Infrastructure pay is falling locally while rising nationally.
Systems Administrator and Network Engineer advertised pay both dropped significantly in Klamath Falls even as national medians climbed moderately — a widening gap that makes local postings less competitive for experienced candidates. This divergence may signal employers are either accepting lower-skill hires or increasingly filling these functions through remote or outsourced arrangements.
Security pay holds firm against a weakening local IT market.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay rose moderately to $105,975, nearly matching the national median of $107,327, even as most other local IT roles declined. That resilience suggests security remains a compliance and risk priority employers won't compress, regardless of broader hiring caution.
Help desk pay erosion compounds a statewide wage ceiling.
Local Help Desk/IT Support pay fell significantly to $47,572, already below the declining national median of $53,129. Combined with Oregon's bottom-ranked IT salary standing, entry-level support roles may become the hardest tier to staff locally as candidates look toward remote opportunities paying national rates.
Data center buildout in Eastern Oregon is reshaping regional demand, not local supply.
Amazon's Hermiston-Pendleton expansion drove 32% year-over-year growth in infrastructure postings regionally, but that demand sits outside Klamath Falls proper. IT leaders in the metro should watch whether this draws scarce local infrastructure talent north rather than assume it signals local market strength.
Median advertised pay by role — OR NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $113,864 | $141,819 | $150,479 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $74,380 | $74,967 | $84,489 | Significant decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $74,656 | $89,408 | $107,179 | Significant decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $113,986 | $145,920 | $163,928 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,668 | $47,572 | $54,080 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $88,118 | $105,975 | $115,708 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $96,463 | $120,151 | $121,726 | Moderate decline | $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
Klamath Falls' IT labor pool remains thin and geographically isolated, leaving employers exposed to Oregon's statewide wage compression — the state ranks last nationally for IT salaries and posted salary growth of 3.8% YoY trails the 6.1% national pace, pressure that compounds in a rural metro with limited local competition for talent. Infrastructure-adjacent demand around the Hermiston-Pendleton data center corridor is pulling regional interest toward Eastern Oregon operations roles, while software development postings statewide fell 26.9% in Q1, suggesting local employers compete for a shrinking pool of build-capable talent rather than an expanding one.
What it means
Falling advertised pay for Systems Administrator ($74,967, down significantly) and Network Engineer ($89,408, down significantly) locally — against national figures moving up moderately — signals Klamath Falls employers are either losing pricing power for infrastructure talent or quietly shifting that work toward managed services and remote hires priced outside the metro. Cybersecurity Analyst pay moving up moderately even as other local IT roles soften suggests security remains the one function local employers still feel compelled to price competitively, regardless of broader market softness. Current conditions suggest organizations should evaluate whether infrastructure and network roles are better sourced through regional managed service providers or remote hires rather than local postings that increasingly undershoot national rates.
Looking ahead
Emerging pressure point: Infrastructure talent may migrate toward the Hermiston-Pendleton data center corridor as Amazon's buildout continues driving regional postings growth. Klamath Falls employers competing for Systems Administrator or Network Engineer talent should monitor whether local candidate pools thin further over the next two months.
Worth watching: Oregon's October unemployment figures release November 18 and will clarify whether the state's 5.0% rate, elevated against the 4.1% national rate, is stabilizing or drifting upward. A continued gap reinforces the case for remote hiring strategies to escape local wage ceilings.
Potential inflection point: Statewide software developer postings fell 26.9% in Q1 while server/infrastructure postings rose 4.5% — watch whether this divergence persists locally, since it directly shapes build-vs-buy calculus for any custom development work.
Early indicator: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers in 2026, concentrated in major tech hubs. Watch whether any of that displaced talent, particularly in security or cloud roles, begins appearing in regional Oregon candidate pools seeking lower cost-of-living markets.
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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