Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Wausau, WI MSA — October 2026
Wausau IT pay splits sharply from national trend lines.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst pay has fallen to $57,127 against a national median of $107,327, even as Wausau's unemployment rate holds at 3.0%, a full point below the national rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Marathon County unemployment: 3.0% — vs 4.2% national rate, August 2026
- Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay: $57,127 — vs $107,327 national median, down significantly
- Systems Administrator advertised pay: $80,000 — vs $102,503 national, down significantly locally
- Wisconsin manufacturing employment: -1.3% — year-over-year, pressures IT support roles
Key takeaways
Cybersecurity pay is collapsing locally while the national market tightens.
Metro Cybersecurity Analyst advertised pay sits at $57,127 against a national median of $107,327 — a gap that has widened significantly this month. That spread is consistent with either declining local demand for in-house security staff or a shift toward outsourced security operations, both of which warrant a build-vs-buy review before the next security hire.
Systems Administrator pay is sliding against a rising national tide.
Local advertised pay for Systems Administrator dropped significantly to $80,000 while the national figure rose moderately to $102,503. Divergence this sharp suggests Wausau employers are either consolidating infrastructure roles or routing the work to lower-cost regions, a pattern worth testing against your own open requisitions.
Software Engineer pay is the one role moving up locally.
Metro Software Engineer advertised pay rose moderately to $140,847, now within range of the $154,403 national median. That convergence may reflect scarce local supply for engineering talent amid Marathon County's shrinking workforce, making retention of existing engineers more cost-effective than replacement hiring.
A shrinking labor force is reshaping the outsourcing calculus.
Marathon County's labor force continues to stall against an aging population, even as unemployment holds near historic lows. Thin local supply for infrastructure and support roles, paired with 98% of Wisconsin tech postings requiring in-person work, strengthens the case for selectively outsourcing routine operations in place of competing for scarce on-site talent.
Median advertised pay by role — Wausau, WI MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $92,149 | $124,857 | $142,413 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $70,558 | $80,000 | $81,329 | Significant decline | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer * | $75,000 | $97,810 | $115,000 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer * | $104,044 | $140,847 | $159,479 | Moderate increase | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $42,045 | $47,097 | $53,716 | Significant decline | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $57,071 | $57,127 | $63,060 | Significant decline | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager * | $94,660 | $119,691 | $130,333 | Stable | $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
Marathon County's unemployment rate sat at 3.0% in August 2026, a full point below the national rate, but a declining and aging labor force is constraining the supply of technical talent even as demand holds steady. Statewide manufacturing employment is contracting roughly 1.3% year over year, a headwind for a Wausau economy still anchored to manufacturing, which filters into more conservative IT headcount planning across infrastructure and support functions tied to that base.
What it means
Metro advertised pay for Cybersecurity Analyst ($57,127) and Systems Administrator ($80,000) has fallen significantly even as national rates for both climbed, a divergence that signals either a thinning local employer pool willing to pay competitively or a shift toward remote and outsourced coverage for these functions. With 98% of Wisconsin tech job openings requiring in-person work, IT leaders competing for security and infrastructure talent locally are negotiating against a shrinking labor pool without the flexibility lever that national employers use to retain staff. Consider evaluating whether security and systems administration functions are better sourced through managed service providers or regional remote arrangements, given that continued local in-house hiring now trails national benchmark comparisons by 40-75%.
Looking ahead
Emerging pressure point: National tech layoffs have already exceeded 133,000 workers through October, concentrated in large tech hubs, with limited spillover so far into secondary markets like Wausau. Watch whether any of that displaced talent, particularly in cloud or security specialties, begins surfacing in the local candidate pool over the next two months.
Worth watching: Manufacturing employment in Wisconsin is forecast to keep contracting modestly, a direct exposure point for Wausau's IT support and infrastructure roles embedded in manufacturing operations. A further pullback would likely show up first in flat or declining local Systems Administrator and Help Desk advertised pay.
Potential inflection point: AI-related job postings now represent 7.3% of all national postings, more than double the prior 2022 peak, while local Data Scientist pay has remained flat at $124,857. A continued gap between national AI wage momentum and metro stagnation may signal Wausau employers are not yet competing for AI-adjacent skill sets, raising future retention risk as that talent becomes mobile.
Early indicator: Help Desk/IT Support pay has fallen significantly both locally ($47,097) and nationally ($53,129). Track whether this reflects softening entry-level IT demand broadly or a Wausau-specific consolidation of support functions into shared-services or outsourced models.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Marathon County unemployment rate was 3.0% in August 2026
- Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development — Wisconsin manufacturing employment contracting about 1.3% year over year
- State labor market research notes — 98% of Wisconsin tech job openings require in-person work
- Layoffs.fyi / tech layoff tracker — 133,417 tech employees laid off at 325 companies through Oct. 21, 2026
- Indeed Hiring Lab — AI-related postings reached 7.3% of all U.S. job postings
- Advertised pay data aggregation — National Cybersecurity Analyst median advertised pay of $107,327, trending 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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