Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Pascagoula, MS MSA — October 2026
Pascagoula IT pay climbs to meet shipbuilding wage pressure.
Metro Software Engineer pay hit $155,000 and Network Engineer pay rose to $95,118, both outpacing national trends as shipbuilding wages tighten the broader local labor pool.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Jackson County unemployment: 3.5% — Down 0.6 pts YoY as of July 2026
- Software Engineer advertised pay: $155,000 — Metro median vs $154,403 national
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap: $83,200 — vs $107,327 national median
- Mississippi software developer wage deficit: 33% — $99,840 MS vs $148,100 national mean
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is closing the gap with national rates.
Metro median advertised pay rose to $95,118, a significant increase, narrowing the gap against the $115,757 national figure. Current conditions suggest local infrastructure roles are becoming harder to source at a discount, which may justify revisiting regional pay strategy for hybrid and on-prem staffing.
IT Project Manager pay is falling against a rising national trend.
Metro median dropped significantly to $103,535 even as the national median held stable at $118,150, a divergence that may reflect fewer large-scale local project engagements tied to the region's manufacturing-heavy economy. Organizations hiring for this role locally may find more negotiating room than national data would suggest.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay remains well below national exposure levels.
Metro median sits at $83,200 against a national figure of $107,327, even as Mississippi's failed cybersecurity liability protection bill leaves breach exposure costs uncapped. Budget planning should account for compliance risk outpacing current local compensation levels for this function.
Shipbuilding wage competition is a hidden driver of IT attrition risk.
Pipe welders earning $35-$40/hour plus overtime create an attractive alternative for technically-minded workers considering help desk or entry-level IT support roles, where metro pay sits at just $42,565. Entry-level IT pipelines may face recruiting friction from a trades sector offering comparable or better take-home pay.
Median advertised pay by role — Pascagoula, MS MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $93,669 | $125,138 | $140,033 | Significant increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $75,932 | $100,000 | $126,000 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $85,761 | $95,118 | $99,365 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $112,505 | $155,000 | $168,330 | Significant increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,626 | $42,565 | $44,864 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $77,784 | $83,200 | $95,523 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $86,736 | $103,535 | $103,601 | Significant decline | $118,150 |
* 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
Jackson County's unemployment rate held at 3.5% in July, down 0.6 points year-over-year, as shipbuilding demand at Ingalls Shipbuilding and Bollinger's Moss Point and Escatawpa yards continues to anchor the local labor market around Navy destroyer and amphibious ship programs. Skilled trades compete directly with white-collar IT roles for a limited labor pool, with pipe welders earning $35-$40/hour plus overtime — a wage floor that puts pressure on local IT budgets trying to retain systems and infrastructure staff in a metro where total employment sits near 49,843.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for Software Engineer ($155,000) and Systems Administrator ($100,000) now sits at or above national medians, a signal that local employers are bidding aggressively against a shallow talent pool and moving away from historical Gulf Coast discounts. That compression changes the build-vs-buy calculus: competing locally for infrastructure and security talent now carries costs close to national rates, while remote and offshore options may offer more headroom given Mississippi's 33% statewide software developer wage deficit versus the national mean. Consider reviewing whether infrastructure and network engineering roles are better sourced through remote-first hiring models, given shipbuilding-driven wage inflation in local competition for talent.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Mississippi Department of ITS has posted multiple cloud infrastructure roles (AWS, Azure, Senior Infrastructure Engineer) in October, signaling state-level hybrid-to-cloud migration that could pull experienced local talent away from private-sector IT employers in the metro.
Emerging pressure point: Shipbuilding remains the dominant local employer draw, and continued Navy destroyer and amphibious ship program demand at Ingalls and Bollinger could tighten the broader technical labor pool IT departments draw from for infrastructure and support hires.
Potential inflection point: Only 70% of Mississippi bachelor's graduates stay in-state, and with local Software Engineer pay now matching national medians, retention economics may finally favor keeping technical graduates local — worth tracking whether advertised pay gains translate into reduced outmigration.
Policy signal: Failed state cybersecurity liability protection legislation leaves breach cost exposure fully on employers; expect continued upward pressure on security budgets even though advertised Cybersecurity Analyst pay locally remains well below national levels.
Sources
- USA Facts / Bureau of Labor Statistics — Jackson County unemployment at 3.5% in July 2026, down 0.6 points YoY
- Alliance Mechanical Solutions — Pipe welder wages of $35-$40/hour plus overtime in Pascagoula shipbuilding
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Mississippi software developers earn $99,840 mean vs $148,100 national
- Mississippi Department of ITS job postings — Mississippi Dept. of ITS posted multiple cloud infrastructure roles in October
- Mississippi IT labor market research notes — Only 70% of Mississippi bachelor's graduates remain in-state after graduation
- Mississippi legislative tracking — Cybersecurity liability protection bill failed Mississippi Senate passage
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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