Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Springfield, MA MSA — September 2026
Springfield's jobless rate hits 6.0% as security pay breaks from the pack.
Hampden County unemployment climbed to 6.0% in July against a 4.1% national rate, even as metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay ($123,816) pulled ahead of the national median ($106,790).
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Hampden County unemployment: 6.0% — July 2026, vs 4.1% national, 4.3% state
- Hampden County avg weekly wage: $1,302 — Q1 2026, vs $1,654 national average
- Springfield metro job growth: +1.1% — YoY Aug 2026, vs -1.2% Boston metro
- MA WARN notices 2026: 72 notices / 7,343 workers — Down 11% from 2025; healthcare leads sectors
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay is pulling away from the rest of the stack.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay ($123,816) now runs well above the national median ($106,790), a reversal of the usual metro discount pattern. This is consistent with Hampden County's broader structural wage weakness making security hiring relatively more expensive to local employers even as support roles stay flat.
Network Engineer softness may be a retention opportunity in disguise.
Local advertised pay for Network Engineer fell while the national figure rose, widening the metro discount to roughly $6,000. Organizations retaining incumbent network staff at below-national rates should watch for early attrition signals as remote-friendly national postings become more visible to local candidates.
Springfield's job growth outpaces Boston, but wages don't follow.
Metro employment grew 1.1% year-over-year versus Boston's -1.2%, yet average weekly wages trail the state badly. Job growth without wage growth suggests employers are adding headcount in lower-wage functions, not necessarily competing for premium technical talent.
Data Scientist demand looks like a talent strategy shift, not noise.
Metro Data Scientist pay is up significantly even as the metro median ($102,021) sits well below the national figure ($148,250). The gap signals Springfield employers are willing to pay up locally for data talent but still can't match coastal competition, reinforcing the case for hybrid or remote sourcing on this role specifically.
Median advertised pay by role — Springfield, MA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $72,143 | $102,021 | $124,344 | Significant increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $93,600 | $107,769 | $118,133 | Stable | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $89,408 | $108,317 | $111,292 | Moderate decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $105,208 | $140,579 | $149,186 | Stable | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $46,027 | $51,075 | $55,440 | Stable | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $89,186 | $123,816 | $136,867 | Significant increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $108,678 | $128,744 | $129,091 | Stable | $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
Springfield MSA unemployment hit 6.0% in July, well above the Massachusetts rate of 4.3% and the national rate of 4.1%, while Hampden County posted the highest jobless rate in the Commonwealth at 5.7% in August even as the metro's year-over-year job growth (+1.1%) outpaced Boston. Average weekly wages in Hampden County remain structurally depressed at $1,302 versus a $1,654 national average, a gap that appears to reflect the metro's weaker industry mix rather than a softening in demand for specialized technical talent.
What it means
Metro-wide wage softness coexists with sharp, role-specific inflation in Cybersecurity Analyst and Data Scientist advertised pay, suggesting Springfield employers are not seeing a broad-based cooling in technical labor costs but a narrowing one — commodity IT functions are cheap to source locally while specialized infrastructure and security talent compete against Boston and national rates. Network Engineer pay moving down locally while rising nationally may indicate Springfield employers are successfully holding the line on that role, but likely at the cost of candidate pool depth. Consider reviewing whether current build-vs-buy splits still make sense now that the local premium for security and data talent is widening relative to support and network roles.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Hampden County's unemployment rate climbed from 4.9% in May to 6.0% in July — watch whether the October 16 state release and October 20 metro release confirm continued deterioration or a reversal tied to seasonal hiring.
Emerging pressure point: Massachusetts WARN filings show healthcare and manufacturing as the leading sectors for layoffs statewide; any Springfield-area notices in these sectors could release adjacent operations and support talent into the IT candidate pool.
Early indicator: National Indeed Job Postings Index turned positive for the first time in nearly four years, reaching 103.5 in mid-September. Watch whether Springfield-area postings for cybersecurity and cloud roles begin tracking that national inflection or continue to lag given the metro's weaker job base.
Potential inflection point: All seven Massachusetts MSAs lost jobs month-over-month in August despite year-over-year gains. A second consecutive monthly decline in Springfield would complicate headcount planning assumptions built on the metro's recent relative outperformance.
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.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.