Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · September 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Williamsport, PA MSA — September 2026
Williamsport IT pay climbs off a thin, low base.
Metro network engineer pay rose sharply to a $58,978 median, still less than half the $114,400 national figure, while help desk pay also climbed against a flat national rate.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 3.8% — July 2026, down from 4.5% in March 2026
- Network engineer advertised pay: $58,978 — vs $114,400 national median
- Help desk advertised pay: $48,880 — up significantly vs flat national $53,644
- Metro manufacturing employment growth: +2.7% YoY — July 2026, competing for technical talent
Key takeaways
Network engineer pay is moving fast off a very low base.
Metro median advertised pay sits near $58,978 against a national median above $114,400 — a gap wide enough that local wage growth, however sharp in percentage terms, still leaves the role badly underpriced for retention against remote or hybrid competitors. Organizations relying on locally based infrastructure staff should benchmark against regional labor-shed competition, not just prior-year local postings.
Help desk pay is rising locally while national rates sit flat.
Metro support specialist pay is up significantly even as the national median holds near $53,644, suggesting Williamsport employers are competing harder for a narrow commodity-skill pool rather than responding to broader national wage pressure. That divergence may signal real local scarcity in entry-tier IT support, an area typically assumed to be easiest to backfill.
Manufacturing strength may be pulling technical talent sideways.
Manufacturing employment grew 2.7% year-over-year in the most recent metro data, and firms like Lycoming Engines likely compete for the same network, controls, and support-adept workers that IT departments need. IT leaders should factor cross-industry competition for technical talent into headcount planning, not just competition from other IT employers.
Thin local labor force limits how far wage increases can fix a vacancy problem.
A civilian labor force of roughly 53,300 means even moderate advertised pay increases may fail to materially expand the local candidate pool, a dynamic distinct from larger metros where pay alone can pull in more applicants. Current conditions suggest remote and contract sourcing deserve a larger share of the hiring strategy for specialized roles than local market size alone would justify.
Median advertised pay by role — Williamsport, PA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist * | $117,479 | $147,800 | $164,186 | Moderate increase | $148,250 |
| Systems Administrator * | $75,832 | $93,831 | $105,000 | Stable | $101,168 |
| Network Engineer | $57,710 | $58,978 | $58,978 | Significant increase | $114,400 |
| Software Engineer * | $111,718 | $148,564 | $162,683 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $42,891 | $48,880 | $50,846 | Significant increase | $53,644 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst * | $84,520 | $101,546 | $117,314 | Moderate increase | $106,790 |
| IT Project Manager * | $80,562 | $115,000 | $128,649 | Moderate increase | $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
Williamsport MSA unemployment held near 3.8% in the most recent reading, with manufacturing employment up 2.7% year-over-year, suggesting Lycoming Engines and related manufacturing activity continue to anchor local labor demand ahead of September's official release. Statewide, information-sector employment has contracted alongside government and trade/transportation losses, a pattern that, if mirrored locally, would tighten the pool of IT-adjacent talent even as overall metro employment grows.
What it means
Metro-level network engineer pay has moved up significantly even as the role's absolute dollar figure remains far below national levels, consistent with a thin regional bench for infrastructure talent rather than a genuine compensation surge. IT leaders weighing build-versus-buy for network and support functions should treat Williamsport's small labor force (53,300) as a structural constraint, not a temporary one — a constraint that favors hybrid staffing models over purely local hiring. Consider evaluating whether infrastructure and support roles are better sourced through regional or remote contract arrangements while reserving scarce local hiring capacity for roles requiring on-site presence.
Looking ahead
Data release to watch: Pennsylvania's September metro-level employment data for Williamsport is not due until October 27, leaving current readings based on July figures. IT leaders should treat near-term headcount and compensation decisions as provisional until the fuller release confirms whether the 3.8% unemployment trend held.
Emerging pressure point: Statewide information-sector job losses, if they extend into the Williamsport MSA, would tighten an already shallow local IT talent pipeline further. Watch whether local postings for infrastructure and support roles show lengthening time-to-fill, an early sign of supply pressure before wage data confirms it.
Worth watching: National WARN activity has touched large tech and logistics employers including Amazon, Meta, and Verizon, though Pennsylvania's own WARN filings this period (Pep Boys, Jerith Manufacturing, CJ Logistics) have not been IT-sector concentrated. A shift toward IT or data-center layoffs in neighboring PA metros would be worth monitoring as a potential source of regional candidate supply.
Potential inflection point: National posted wage growth for mid-level AI and platform engineers is running near 9% year-over-year, a pace far exceeding Williamsport's local IT pay movement. Organizations with any cloud or AI-adjacent roles should expect remote competition to intensify even if local postings stay quiet.
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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