Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: St. George, UT MSA — October 2026
St. George security pay outpaces nation as state IT jobs shrink.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay has climbed to $141,300 — 32% above the $107,327 national median — even as Utah's information sector has lost jobs in every 2026 report.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.5%-3.6% — vs 4.1% national rate, August 2026
- Washington County job growth: 4.0% YoY — ~3,600 jobs added through August 2026
- Utah information-sector jobs: -2,300 YoY — Losses posted in every 2026 monthly report
- Cybersecurity Analyst pay gap: +32% — Metro $141,300 vs national $107,327
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay has decoupled from the national market here.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay sits 32% above the national median ($141,300 vs $107,327), a gap far wider than any other tracked IT role in this briefing. Current conditions suggest local scarcity, not just national AI-era demand, is driving this premium — a signal worth testing against actual time-to-fill data before setting next year's security budget.
Systems Administrator pay is climbing fastest among infrastructure roles.
Metro Systems Administrator advertised pay rose significantly to $93,121, narrowing the gap with the $102,503 national median. Pairs with Utah's documented 15-20% two-year wage growth in DevOps and cloud infrastructure roles, suggesting infrastructure generalists are capturing some of the same scarcity premium long reserved for cloud specialists.
Statewide information-sector losses mask metro-level resilience.
Utah's information sector has shed jobs in every 2026 monthly report, yet Washington County added 3,600 jobs and grew employment 4% over the year. IT leaders hiring locally may be insulated from the state's tech-sector contraction, but should verify whether that resilience reflects health care IT and support roles rather than core technology employment.
Help Desk pay continues to soften even as unemployment stays low.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support pay fell moderately to $47,984, tracking a national decline to $53,129 despite a tight 3.5% local unemployment rate. Current conditions suggest employers are substituting AI-assisted tooling for entry-level support headcount rather than facing true labor scarcity in this role.
Median advertised pay by role — St. George, UT MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $107,215 | $132,234 | $144,448 | Moderate increase | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $71,078 | $93,121 | $103,277 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $61,221 | $105,789 | $123,231 | Moderate increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $116,945 | $156,144 | $170,130 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,061 | $47,984 | $55,500 | Moderate decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $116,860 | $141,300 | $144,934 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $107,814 | $128,618 | $139,226 | Stable | $118,150 |
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
Washington County's economy grew 4% year-over-year through August 2026, adding roughly 3,600 jobs while the metro unemployment rate held at 3.5% to 3.6%, well below the 4.1% national rate, signaling a labor market still tight for employers competing for talent.Statewide, information-sector employment has contracted in every monthly report of 2026, losing 2,300 jobs over the trailing year even as Washington County's broader economy keeps expanding — a divergence that puts local IT hiring in a different position than the sector headline suggests.
What it means
Metro-wide job growth outpacing the state's shrinking information sector appears to reflect St. George's dependence on health care, tourism and retail rather than a traditional tech employment base, meaning local IT leaders are likely competing for talent against Salt Lake and Wasatch Front data-center buildouts rather than a deep local bench. Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay locally ($141,300) now runs well ahead of the national median ($107,327), a signal that security roles here carry a scarcity premium employers will need to budget against regardless of remote-work competition. Consider evaluating whether security and infrastructure roles should be filled locally at a premium or sourced through regional or remote arrangements, given Utah's statewide information-sector contraction and the 700% data-center growth projected for the Salt Lake region by 2030.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Utah's information-sector job losses have persisted through every month of 2026; watch whether St. George's broader economic growth continues to offset this or whether metro IT postings begin tracking the statewide decline.
Emerging pressure point: Salt Lake region data-center expansion projected at 700% growth by 2030 could pull infrastructure and cloud talent north from Washington County, tightening local supply for DevOps and network engineering roles already commanding $115K-$200K statewide.
Early indicator: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through late October, surpassing all of 2025; monitor whether any displaced talent, particularly from AI or cloud-adjacent roles, begins surfacing in the local candidate pool given St. George's relative affordability.
Potential inflection point: Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay has moved sharply ahead of the national median; watch whether this premium holds through year-end budget cycles or compresses as more employers advertise for the role and supply catches up.
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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