Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Pueblo, CO MSA — September 2026
Pueblo unemployment climbs while IT specialist pay holds firm.
Pueblo County unemployment reached 6.6% in August on manufacturing and federal contractor layoffs, yet metro network engineer pay still runs ahead of the national median at $120,000 versus $114,400.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Pueblo County unemployment rate: 6.6% — Vs Colorado's 4.0%, among highest in state
- Pueblo metro employment change: -0.8% — 2025 full year, 2nd-largest decline among CO metros
- Colorado info-sector job loss: -5,600 jobs — Statewide, August 2026, signals tech hiring freeze
- Colorado state IT pay gap: -11.6% to -13.7% — State govt IT pay vs market, retention risk
Key takeaways
Pueblo's unemployment spike masks a tight specialist market.
Headline joblessness at 6.6% reflects Amentum, Battelle, and Mission Foods cuts in manufacturing and federal contracting — not an influx of available cloud, security, or network talent. IT leaders hiring specialized roles should expect continued scarcity despite the metro's weaker overall employment picture.
Network engineer pay outpaces the nation by a wide margin.
Metro network engineer advertised pay sits at $120,000 versus $114,400 nationally, a premium that is unusual for a market with Pueblo's broader wage and employment softness. This may suggest genuinely thin local supply for infrastructure roles, warranting tighter benchmarking against metro-specific postings rather than national medians.
Software engineer pay is softening even as cybersecurity accelerates.
Metro software engineer advertised pay declined moderately this month while cybersecurity analyst pay rose significantly, a divergence consistent with national patterns of AI-driven compression in generalist development roles alongside sustained security demand. Headcount planning should weight this gap: reallocating budget from generalist developer hires toward security specialization may track where real competitive pressure sits.
Help desk wage growth signals entry-level roles aren't immune to tightness.
Advertised pay for Help Desk/IT Support rose moderately in Pueblo even as national figures held stable, an unusual local divergence given the metro's elevated unemployment. Consider whether this reflects genuine difficulty filling frontline support roles locally, which would argue against assuming layoff-driven labor slack extends to IT functions generally.
Median advertised pay by role — Pueblo, CO MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $105,536 | $105,536 | $105,717 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $80,000 | $103,819 | $115,319 | Moderate increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer * | $79,398 | $120,000 | $131,300 | Moderate increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $126,987 | $156,690 | $163,840 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $49,832 | $57,896 | $65,725 | Moderate increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $88,621 | $110,450 | $125,886 | Significant increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $82,822 | $117,240 | $128,710 | 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
Pueblo's unemployment rate climbed to 6.6% in August 2026, among the highest in Colorado, as Amentum's seven rounds of layoffs, Battelle's wind-down, and Mission Foods' plant closure continue working through the local labor pool. Metro employment has fallen roughly 0.8% over the past year even as statewide wage growth outpaces the nation, leaving Pueblo IT employers hiring into a market with more available candidates but no local wage softening to show for it.
What it means
Elevated unemployment driven by non-tech layoffs (manufacturing, federal contracting, distribution) does not translate into IT talent surplus — Pueblo's specialized cloud, security, and infrastructure candidates remain scarce even as headline joblessness rises, mirroring the statewide pattern where information-sector contraction coexists with premium pay for specialized roles. Build-vs-buy decisions should account for this bifurcation: commodity support functions may see more local applicant flow from displaced manufacturing and logistics workers, while cybersecurity and network engineering talent still requires competitive, metro-premium offers to retain. Consider reviewing whether current compensation structures for specialized infrastructure and security roles reflect the metro's above-national advertised pay rates for network engineers and cybersecurity analysts, rather than assuming broader labor slack extends to these functions.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Mission Foods' plant closure completes by October 27, adding roughly 90 workers to the local labor pool. Watch whether any of this displaced workforce shows interest in IT support or administrative-adjacent roles, which could ease entry-level hiring pressure modestly.
Emerging pressure point: Colorado's information sector lost approximately 5,600 jobs statewide in August, and Pueblo's own federal contracting base (Amentum, Battelle) continues contracting. Track whether this releases any specialized technical talent into the Pueblo market or whether displaced workers relocate toward Denver and Colorado Springs instead.
Potential inflection point: State of Colorado IT compensation running 11.6-13.7% below market statewide creates retention risk for any Pueblo-area public-sector or quasi-public IT employers competing for the same specialist pool as private employers. Expect continued poaching risk for network and security talent through year-end.
Early indicator: National WARN filings remain below 2025 levels (163,273 vs 261,814 affected workers year-to-date), suggesting layoff-driven candidate supply nationally is not accelerating. Pueblo's local WARN activity, concentrated in manufacturing and distribution, should be monitored for any late-year additions beyond Mission Foods and Battelle's already-filed notices.
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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