Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: WA NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — October 2026
Nonmetro Washington's IT pay splits: security up, networking down.
Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay climbed to $111,842 locally even as Network Engineer pay fell significantly to $103,189, a reversal of their usual relationship to national medians.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Nonmetro unemployment range: 3.6%–5.6% — Skamania 3.6% to Wahkiakum 5.6%, Sept. 2026
- Network Engineer advertised pay: $103,189 — Down significantly vs. $115,757 national, rising
- Washington tech WARN filings (YTD): 12,336 workers — 43 notices, largest sector after agriculture
- Northwest WA job growth forecast: 0.81% — 2024–2029, below state average
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is falling locally while national demand firms up.
Metro advertised pay for Network Engineers dropped significantly to $103,189, a $12,500 gap below the rising national median of $115,757. Widening disparity suggests local employers face less competitive pressure for this role than their national peers, an opening to recruit from outside the metro instead of bidding up local pay.
Cybersecurity and IT Project Manager roles buck the metro's soft trend.
Cybersecurity Analyst ($111,842) and IT Project Manager ($119,600) advertised pay both moved up moderately and now exceed their national medians. These are the metro's clearest signal that specialized and governance-adjacent roles command premiums even in a market with broader downward pay pressure on technical roles.
Statewide tech layoffs may expand the nonmetro remote talent pool.
Washington tech WARN filings total 12,336 workers year-to-date, including Oracle's 359-worker Seattle-area notice effective mid-November. Falling nonmetro unemployment alongside this displacement suggests remote-eligible infrastructure roles could draw applicants willing to trade Seattle-scale pay for stability outside the metro core.
Software Engineer and Network Engineer softness signals room to renegotiate build-vs-buy.
Both roles show moderate-to-significant pay declines locally while national medians hold stable or climb, widening the metro discount. Organizations weighing in-house infrastructure buildout against outsourced or offshore delivery now have more room to source locally at a discount before premium national rates apply.
Median advertised pay by role — WA NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $119,336 | $138,979 | $155,150 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $79,695 | $97,895 | $105,715 | Stable | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $86,320 | $103,189 | $114,420 | Significant decline | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $121,050 | $142,820 | $156,557 | Moderate decline | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $41,600 | $61,904 | $70,175 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $91,149 | $111,842 | $129,500 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $96,911 | $119,600 | $132,214 | Moderate increase | $118,150 |
* 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
Nonmetropolitan Washington counties posted declining unemployment in September — Grays Harbor at 4.3%, Skamania at 3.6%, Cowlitz at 4.0% — even as the broader economy adds jobs at a rate well below the 15,400 Washington lost statewide that month. Rural IT demand remains thin relative to Seattle and Tacoma, but the state's year-to-date WARN tally shows technology accounting for 43 notices and 12,336 affected workers, a pool that could reach nonmetro candidates willing to relocate or work remote.
What it means
Falling nonmetro unemployment alongside statewide tech layoffs — Oracle's 359-worker WARN notice, Amazon's 121, Qualtrics' 117 — creates a window where displaced Seattle-area infrastructure and support talent may consider remote or relocated roles at nonmetro pay levels, which run materially below metro benchmarks. For build-vs-buy decisions, this favors sourcing cloud and infrastructure talent displaced from contracting tech hubs over competing head-to-head for scarce local specialists, particularly given Network Engineer advertised pay in this metro has dropped significantly to $103,189 against a national median of $115,757. Consider evaluating remote-eligible infrastructure and support postings as a lower-cost channel to absorb talent exiting Seattle's contracting tech sector.
Looking ahead
Expected: County-level October unemployment data releases November 24 via Washington ESD. Watch whether the three-month decline in nonmetro rates (Grays Harbor, Lewis, Cowlitz) holds or reverses as statewide job losses continue.
Emerging pressure point: Washington sits atop the national WARN registry with 16,776 workers affected as of early October, concentrated in agriculture and technology. Monitor whether Seattle-area tech separations — Oracle's 359 workers effective November 13 — begin surfacing in nonmetro remote-role applicant pools.
Worth watching: Northwest Washington's projected 0.81% job growth through 2029 trails the state average sharply, pointing to structural softness in nonmetro demand. IT leaders planning multi-year infrastructure headcount should weight this against metro growth assumptions.
Potential inflection point: Network Engineer advertised pay has fallen significantly while Cybersecurity Analyst pay keeps climbing — a divergence worth tracking monthly. If the gap widens further, it may indicate employers are substituting security-focused hires for traditional network roles instead of expanding both.
Sources
- Washington Employment Security Department / The Daily World — Nonmetro county unemployment rates for September 2026
- Washington Office of Financial Management — Washington statewide job loss of 15,400 in September 2026
- Washington OFM WARN Notice Database — Oracle, Amazon, Qualtrics WARN notices in Washington
- Washington OFM WARN Notice Database — Washington technology sector WARN filings totaling 12,336 workers YTD
- Washington state WARN tracker — Washington leads national WARN registry with 16,776 affected workers
- Washington Employment Security Department / MyBellinghamNow — Northwest Washington projected 0.81% job growth 2024-2029
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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