Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: SC NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — September 2026
Newberry IT pay splits: project leadership up, infrastructure roles down.
Local IT Project Manager pay climbed to $126,574 — above the $117,530 national median — while Network Engineer pay fell to $90,016, well below the $114,400 national figure.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- SC unemployment rate: 4.1% — Unchanged from July 2026; national rate also 4.1%
- IT Project Manager advertised pay: $126,574 — vs. $117,530 national — rare local premium
- Network Engineer advertised pay: $90,016 — vs. $114,400 national, trending down
- SC WARN notices YTD: 33 notices / 4,155 workers — Manufacturing and hospitality hit hardest in 2026
Key takeaways
IT Project Manager pay is rising against the national grain.
Local advertised pay for IT Project Manager ($126,574) now exceeds the national median ($117,530), a reversal from typical metro discounting. This may reflect employers compensating for scarce coordination talent capable of managing hybrid cloud/on-prem transitions without deep bench support.
Network Engineer compensation is compressing, not holding.
Metro Network Engineer pay sits well below the national figure ($90,016 vs. $114,400) and trending down, consistent with national data showing commodity infrastructure roles facing permanent demand compression. Retention risk concentrates in senior staff who can migrate to cloud-architecture titles elsewhere.
Cybersecurity pay is stable locally while national rates climb.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay ($96,797) is holding flat against a national median moving up ($106,790), widening the local-national gap. Given statewide skills-gap reporting in cybersecurity, this spread may understate true local retention exposure rather than reflect reduced demand.
Help Desk pay stagnation reflects a national, not local, story.
Help Desk/IT Support pay is flat both locally ($50,000) and nationally ($53,644), tracking CompTIA data showing entry-tier IT roles facing structural demand compression from AI-assisted support tooling. Expect this tier to shrink in headcount plans before it shrinks in advertised pay.
Median advertised pay by role — SC NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $109,845 | $133,226 | $154,944 | Moderate decline | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $76,921 | $90,163 | $106,520 | Stable | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $75,000 | $90,016 | $107,389 | Moderate decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $110,068 | $151,775 | $167,823 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,237 | $50,000 | $53,982 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $80,110 | $96,797 | $105,917 | Stable | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $101,683 | $126,574 | $140,240 | Significant increase | $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
Newberry metro IT hiring this month sits inside a state labor market that stayed tight at 4.1% unemployment even as South Carolina added 10,800 jobs in August, with growth concentrated in leisure/hospitality, education/health, and government rather than information or technical services. Rural and nonmetro Midlands employers continue to compete against Charleston and Columbia's tech corridors and against fully remote postings, meaning Newberry-area IT roles are priced against a statewide and national candidate pool rather than a local one.
What it means
Advertised pay for IT Project Manager locally has moved up significantly ($126,574 vs. $117,530 nationally), while Network Engineer and Data Scientist rates have softened — a signal that demand is consolidating around coordination and delivery roles rather than deep technical specialization in this metro. For build-vs-buy decisions, this pattern suggests internal infrastructure and data work may be more exposed to contracting or regional outsourcing, while project leadership is becoming harder and more expensive to backfill locally. Consider reviewing whether current headcount plans overweight technical specialist hiring relative to the project and delivery management capacity the local market is actually pricing up.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Watch whether DP World's September 1 WARN filing (205 workers, Spartanburg) or other manufacturing/logistics notices feed displaced technical talent into the Midlands candidate pool over the next quarter.
Emerging pressure point: Cybersecurity Analyst pay nationally is accelerating while Newberry-area rates stay flat; monitor whether local employers begin losing security talent to remote-eligible roles priced at national rates.
Early indicator: Statewide information-sector job losses (-2,300 annually) warrant tracking locally — if this trend reaches Midlands employers, it could ease hiring pressure on commodity IT roles while tightening specialist supply further.
Potential inflection point: South Carolina's $95M+ Workforce Industry Needs Scholarship funding is expanding technical college pipelines; watch for early 2027 graduate cohorts that could shift build-vs-buy economics for entry-to-mid infrastructure roles.
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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