Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Wichita, KS MSA — September 2026
Wichita IT pay splits: security and network up, software down.
Cybersecurity Analyst and Network Engineer pay rose significantly in Wichita this month while Software Engineer pay fell to $140,508 and Sedgwick County unemployment held at a tight 3.1%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Sedgwick County unemployment: 3.1% — vs 4.3% metro-wide reading in June 2026
- Kansas unemployment rate: 3.8% — Flat May–August 2026, below 4.1% national rate
- KC-metro tech postings growth: +7.4% YoY — vs +1.6% national postings growth
- Kansas avg private hourly earnings: $32.98 — +4.6% YoY, outpacing 4.1% Midwest inflation
Key takeaways
Network Engineer pay is repricing faster than the market realizes.
Metro median of $90,000 against a significant upward trend is closing the gap with the $114,400 national figure. Infrastructure hiring managers benchmarking against last year's postings risk underbidding for talent already fielding competing offers.
Software development comp is cooling locally while AI roles heat up nationally.
Wichita Software Engineer pay fell to $140,508 even as national AI engineering roles post 9.2% YoY gains. This divergence suggests Wichita's software demand is tracking traditional enterprise needs rather than the AI buildout driving coastal and KC-metro markets.
Cybersecurity Analyst gains look structural, not seasonal.
Local pay of $99,133 is up significantly, consistent with CompTIA's finding that cybersecurity job growth runs 346% above the national average. Treating this as a temporary spike risks losing analysts to metros and remote roles paying national median wages near $106,790.
Help Desk compression strengthens the case for outsourced support.
A significant drop to $43,455 locally, well under the $53,644 national figure, suggests Wichita employers already see this function as commoditized. Current conditions suggest evaluating managed service arrangements for tier-1 support before committing to permanent headcount.
Median advertised pay by role — Wichita, KS MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $105,614 | $127,562 | $144,922 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator | $66,480 | $72,900 | $84,448 | Stable | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $70,342 | $90,000 | $96,798 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer | $109,480 | $140,508 | $162,703 | Moderate decline | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $35,000 | $43,455 | $49,092 | Significant decline | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $83,267 | $99,133 | $111,650 | Significant increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager | $92,997 | $112,016 | $134,369 | Significant decline | $117,530 |
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
Sedgwick County unemployment held at 3.1% in August against a metro-wide 4.3% reading in June, underscoring a split between a tight core-county labor pool and softer surrounding-area demand. Wichita's production-heavy economy, with manufacturing growth decelerating toward 0.2% in 2026, is colliding with a technology hiring cycle that remains comparatively hot — leaving IT leaders to compete for scarce specialized talent inside a metro where overall job creation is stalling.
What it means
Divergence between flat or declining advertised pay for Software Engineers ($140,508, down) and IT Project Managers ($112,016, down significant) versus sharp gains for Network Engineers ($90,000, up significant) and Cybersecurity Analysts ($99,133, up significant) signals that Wichita employers are reallocating compensation budget toward infrastructure resilience and risk roles rather than general software delivery. Build-vs-buy decisions for commodity support functions look increasingly favorable to outsourcing given Help Desk pay down significant to $43,455, while retaining and defending comp for network and security specialists becomes the higher-stakes retention fight. Consider reviewing infrastructure and security compensation bands against the metro's upward trend before Q4 budget cycles lock in rates that may already be stale.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Sedgwick County's 3.1% unemployment versus the metro's 4.3% June reading suggests a bifurcated labor pool. Watch whether county-level tightness extends to IT-specific postings or remains concentrated in non-tech sectors.
Emerging pressure point: Kansas City tech postings growing nearly five times faster than the national rate creates a credible poaching corridor for Wichita-based network and security talent. Retention conversations with mid-career infrastructure staff may need to happen before an outside offer does.
Potential inflection point: IT Project Manager pay fell significantly to $112,016 even as the national figure rose moderately to $117,530. If this gap widens further, expect harder-to-fill PM requisitions as candidates default to remote roles paying national rates.
Early indicator: Kansas's own cloud migration of its Department of Labor systems signals state-level validation of cloud-first infrastructure. Private-sector IT leaders weighing on-prem versus cloud transitions may find this a useful reference point for internal business cases.
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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