Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR MSA — September 2026
Texarkana IT pay splits: support rises, infrastructure softens.
Texarkana's Help Desk/IT Support median jumped to $54,674 while Network Engineer pay slipped to $104,894, even as metro unemployment ticked up to 4.70% from 4.40% a year ago.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.70% — Up from 4.40% a year earlier
- Metro labor force: 62,500 — Essentially flat year-over-year
- Texas statewide wage growth: 3.9% YoY — Ahead of 3.3% national pace (Dallas Fed)
- Texas software developer openings: 10,843 — Statewide, September 2026 (TWC)
Key takeaways
Help desk pay is rising fast while network engineering cools.
Metro Help Desk/IT Support median climbed significantly to $54,674 while Network Engineer pay fell moderately to $104,894, a divergence not mirrored nationally. This may signal local employers prioritizing frontline support capacity over infrastructure depth, worth confirming before setting next year's infrastructure headcount budget.
Systems Administrator pay is outpacing the national trend locally.
Metro Systems Administrator median rose significantly to $98,853, nearly closing the gap with the national figure of $101,168. Combined with national data showing permanent demand compression in traditional operations roles, this suggests Texarkana employers may be paying up to retain admins doing broader, less specialized work than larger metros require.
Cybersecurity pay gap with peer Texas metros remains wide.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst median of $103,212 sits well below Dallas-area leadership compensation reaching $170K-$230K for experienced security talent statewide. Local organizations needing senior security expertise should expect to recruit outside the metro or pay a substantial premium to retain anyone they develop internally.
A thin local labor force limits the upside of statewide job growth.
Texas added 159,400 jobs over the year and Austin alone gained roughly 8,300 tech jobs, but Texarkana's labor force of 62,500 is barely moving and unemployment ticked up slightly. Statewide tech momentum is unlikely to translate into a deeper local candidate pool, reinforcing reliance on remote and contract staffing for specialized roles.
Median advertised pay by role — Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $118,355 | $145,580 | $163,661 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $71,562 | $98,853 | $99,171 | Significant increase | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $103,462 | $104,894 | $110,351 | Moderate decline | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer * | $113,156 | $152,465 | $167,279 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $39,056 | $54,674 | $57,894 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $85,765 | $103,212 | $118,888 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $88,412 | $115,230 | $127,284 | 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
Texarkana's unemployment rate edged up to 4.70% in the most recent reading from 4.40% a year earlier, even as the metro's small, health-care-anchored labor force of roughly 62,500 workers remains structurally tight and slow-growing. Statewide manufacturing and transportation layoffs tracked through Texas WARN filings have not materialized locally, leaving employers to compete for a largely fixed pool of technical talent rather than absorb displaced workers from other sectors.
What it means
Texarkana's thin labor pool means IT leaders cannot rely on local displacement or inbound migration to ease hiring pressure the way Dallas or Houston employers might — advertised pay for Help Desk/IT Support jumped significantly even as Network Engineer pay softened, suggesting demand is consolidating around entry-tier support and away from mid-tier infrastructure roles. Build-vs-buy decisions should account for this imbalance: commodity support capacity appears gettable locally at rising but still-affordable rates, while specialized infrastructure and security talent likely requires regional sourcing or contract augmentation. Consider evaluating whether network engineering and systems administration functions are better served by regional remote hires or managed service arrangements than by continued local-only recruiting.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Texarkana's unemployment rate rose from 4.40% to 4.70% year-over-year even as the labor force stayed flat — watch whether this reflects softer hiring or simply more active job search, since the distinction matters for how aggressively to compete on advertised pay.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide Information sector employment is down 5.3% year-over-year while software developer openings statewide remain strong at 10,843. Monitor whether any released tech talent from larger Texas metros begins filtering into Texarkana's remote-eligible candidate pool.
Expected: National mid-level AI engineer pay rose 9.2% year-over-year and cybersecurity specialization continues commanding premiums. Texarkana employers competing for even junior-to-mid security or AI-adjacent talent should expect wage pressure to arrive faster than local advertised-pay data currently shows.
Potential inflection point: Texas Workforce Commission data shows security analyst roles projected for 29% growth through 2034, with little automation offset. If local employers begin building security functions rather than outsourcing them, watch for a local Cybersecurity Analyst pay correction toward the $120K-plus range already visible in peer metros.
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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