Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Tallahassee, FL MSA — October 2026
Tallahassee IT pay splits sharply: security roles up, admin roles down.
Metro Systems Administrator pay has fallen to $76,860 even as the national median climbs to $102,503, while Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay post significant local gains.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Leon County unemployment: 4.5% — Up from 4.2% a year ago despite seasonal dip from 5.0%
- Systems Administrator pay gap: $76,860 vs $102,503 — Metro down, national up moderately — ~$25,600 gap
- Florida information-sector jobs: -3,600 over the year — Statewide annual loss, state Dept. of Commerce
- Florida AI readiness rank: 35th nationally — Only 11.3% of FL businesses use AI tools
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is falling against a rising national tide.
Metro median pay for this role is down while the national median is up moderately to $102,503 — a $25,000+ gap that did not exist structurally and now puts local retention at risk as remote opportunities proliferate. Organizations relying on this role for on-prem support may want to model attrition risk ahead of resignations surfacing it.
Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst pay are moving together, significantly.
Both roles show significant upward movement locally, consistent with national data showing information-security roles commanding sustained premiums and Florida's 13,770 security analyst positions ranking fourth-highest among states. This pattern suggests Tallahassee employers are competing harder for roles tied to network resilience and compliance than for general IT support.
Local Software Engineer pay beating the national median is a meaningful signal.
A metro median of $162,583 against a national figure of $154,403 is atypical for a secondary market and may reflect a narrow bench of qualified engineering talent. Treat this premium as fragile — it likely reflects scarcity for specific skills, and may not represent a durable shift in Tallahassee's cost-of-labor position.
University-driven labor supply doesn't reach the roles that matter most.
FSU, FAMU, and Tallahassee State College generate a deep pool of entry-level talent, but the roles seeing the sharpest pay movement — network engineering, cybersecurity, project management — require experience the local pipeline doesn't yet produce. Build-vs-buy decisions for mid-and-senior infrastructure roles may need to lean more heavily on remote or outsourced talent to supplement local hiring.
Median advertised pay by role — Tallahassee, FL MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $106,738 | $134,657 | $147,416 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $66,242 | $76,860 | $88,745 | Moderate decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $64,119 | $100,052 | $119,266 | Significant increase | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $140,000 | $162,583 | $173,433 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $35,292 | $40,162 | $44,912 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $77,500 | $100,000 | $108,421 | Significant increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $94,644 | $130,703 | $139,560 | Significant increase | $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
Leon County's unemployment rate fell to 4.5% in September from 5.0% in August as seasonal university reopening expanded the local workforce to 166,865, yet the rate still sits above the 4.2% recorded a year earlier, signaling softer underlying conditions despite the seasonal dip. Tallahassee's economy remains anchored by FSU, FAMU, and state government, producing a labor supply skewed toward entry-level and early-career talent that does little to ease demand for experienced infrastructure, security, and engineering staff.
What it means
Local pay movement is diverging sharply by role — Network Engineer and Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay are both up significantly while Systems Administrator pay has moved down, suggesting employers are reallocating compensation budgets toward roles tied to security and connectivity ahead of broad-based pay increases. Software Engineer advertised pay in Tallahassee now exceeds the national median ($162,583 vs. $154,403), an unusual local premium that may reflect a thin specialized talent pool, and one that could prove difficult to sustain if demand softens. Consider reviewing whether Systems Administrator compensation has drifted far enough below national levels to create retention exposure as more flexible remote roles pull talent out of the local market.
Looking ahead
Emerging pressure point: Systems Administrator pay softening locally while national pay rises could accelerate departures to remote roles; watch whether local postings for this role increase in volume over the next two months as employers backfill.
Worth watching: Leon County unemployment remaining above year-ago levels despite the seasonal September improvement suggests underlying softness; a reversal in October-November data would signal whether the university-driven labor supply bump is temporary or structural.
Potential inflection point: Statewide information-sector job losses (-3,600 over the year) and a sluggish state AI-readiness ranking (35th nationally) may push more Tallahassee employers toward outsourced or fractional technical leadership models for cloud and AI-adjacent work, easing reliance on local hires.
Early indicator: If Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer advertised pay continue rising in tandem through November, expect budget pressure on total rewards packages for security-adjacent infrastructure roles across both university and state-government employers in the metro.
Sources
- Tallahassee Reports — Leon County September unemployment fell to 4.5% from 5.0% in August
- FloridaCommerce — Leon County labor force grew to 166,865 in September from 163,885 in August
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Florida has 13,770 information security analyst positions, fourth-highest nationally
- Florida Department of Commerce — Florida information sector lost 3,600 jobs over the year
- State AI readiness research — Florida ranks 35th in AI readiness with 11.3% business AI adoption
- Tallahassee Reports / USA Facts (BLS) — Leon County unemployment up from 4.2% year-over-year
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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