Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Rockford, IL MSA — September 2026
Rockford IT pay splits: security climbs, infrastructure roles retreat.
Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose to $102,197 locally while Systems Administrator pay fell to $79,550 — a split emerging as Winnebago County's unemployment rate holds at 5.0%, a full point above the national 4.1%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Rockford MSA unemployment rate: 5.0% — vs 4.1% national, 4.7% Illinois (May 2026)
- Winnebago County employment change: -1.7% YoY — Largest county decline in Illinois (Q1 2026)
- Systems Administrator advertised pay: $79,550 — vs $101,168 national median
- Illinois statewide weekly wage growth: +4.1% YoY — $1,731 average, outpaces most Rockford IT roles
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling even as the role stays essential.
Metro advertised pay for Systems Administrators dropped significantly to $79,550, well below the $101,168 national median, even as national data shows network admin roles facing permanent demand compression toward cloud and security tiers. This may reflect Rockford employers reclassifying or outsourcing the role rather than genuine falling demand — worth distinguishing before setting next year's budget.
Network Engineer compensation is diverging sharply from Systems Administrator pay.
Network Engineer advertised pay rose significantly to $100,325 while Systems Administrator pay fell in the same metro — a split that suggests employers are drawing a harder line between infrastructure roles tied to security and connectivity versus general IT administration. Budget conversations should treat these as separate labor markets, not a single "IT operations" line item.
Software Engineer pay is dropping locally while national rates hold firm.
Rockford's Software Engineer median fell significantly to $105,535 against a stable $153,652 national figure, a gap wide enough to suggest local employers aren't competing for coastal-caliber engineering talent and may be filling roles through remote or outsourced arrangements instead. This is consistent with the national build-vs-buy economics favoring global sourcing for standard development work.
Cybersecurity pay strength looks structural, not a one-month blip.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose moderately to $102,197, tracking closely with national figures and reinforcing statewide reports of 10-15% mid-level security salary increases driven by talent shortages. Retention budgets for security staff likely need to keep pace with Chicago-area competition even if general IT roles in Rockford are flat or declining.
Median advertised pay by role — Rockford, IL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $118,474 | $138,627 | $148,424 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $71,578 | $79,550 | $82,873 | Significant decline | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $74,090 | $100,325 | $103,862 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $59,542 | $105,535 | $128,727 | Significant decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $42,234 | $44,157 | $50,459 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $87,500 | $102,197 | $118,050 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $85,062 | $119,186 | $130,019 | Stable | $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
Rockford's metro unemployment rate held at 5.0% through May 2026, well above both the Illinois state average of 4.7% and the national rate of 4.1%, as the area continued shedding jobs at a slower but still negative pace — averaging 50 monthly losses in 2026 versus 233 in 2025. Winnebago County's -1.7% year-over-year employment contraction, the steepest among Illinois counties reporting, reflects continued softness in manufacturing and financial activities even as statewide wage growth (4.1% to $1,731 average weekly wage) outpaces what local IT employers are seeing in several advertised roles.
What it means
Divergent local pay signals — Systems Administrator and Software Engineer advertised pay both down significantly while Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst climb — suggest Rockford employers are consolidating commodity infrastructure roles while competing harder for scarce security and networking specialists, a pattern consistent with national skill-deprecation trends in traditional IT operations. With Winnebago County's labor contraction continuing and statewide tech hiring up 11% month-over-month in Illinois overall, Rockford IT leaders may be competing against a tighter Chicago-area labor pool for the same cybersecurity and cloud talent without matching Chicago's compensation scale. Consider reviewing whether current Systems Administrator and Help Desk pay levels reflect genuine role commoditization or a retention risk disguised as cost savings, particularly if outsourcing or automation hasn't yet replaced that capacity.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Winnebago County's unemployment and employment-change figures have trended negative since January 2026; watch whether the September/October county release shows stabilization or further contraction, which would affect local hiring urgency versus reliance on contract staffing.
Emerging pressure point: Illinois's new salary range disclosure requirement is now in effect statewide, reducing negotiation flexibility on advertised postings. Rockford IT leaders should expect candidates to increasingly reference Chicago-area postings as a comparison point even for local roles.
Potential inflection point: Illinois WARN filings YTD (91 notices, 16,782 workers) remain elevated statewide, including September notices from T-Mobile and GoHealth. If displaced tech or telecom workers enter the Rockford candidate pool, it could temporarily ease pressure on Network Engineer and Cybersecurity hiring.
Early indicator: National data shows AI adoption compressing lower-level technical roles while inflating pay for AI/platform specialists; watch whether Rockford's declining Software Engineer and Systems Administrator pay reflects this same substitution dynamic rather than purely local economic softness.
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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