Labor Market Pulse · Information Technology · October 2026
Information Technology Labor Market Report: Worcester, MA MSA — October 2026
Worcester IT pay splits: security climbs, support flattens.
Worcester Systems Administrator pay jumped to $99,040 and Cybersecurity Analyst pay rose to $110,090 even as metro employment fell 1,000 jobs in September and county unemployment hit 4.8%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- Worcester metro unemployment: 4.8% — Up from 4.2% in April 2026
- Worcester metro job change: -1,000 jobs — September 2026, metro-wide
- MA information-sector employment: -10% YoY — Software, internet, data security jobs
- Massachusetts unemployment rate: 4.3% — vs 4.1% national rate
Key takeaways
Systems Administrator pay is climbing against a shrinking IT base.
Metro Systems Administrator pay moved up significantly to $99,040 even as statewide information-sector jobs fell 10% year-over-year. Scarcity of qualified candidates appears to be driving the increase — a signal to benchmark this role against current advertised rates instead of last year's range.
Cybersecurity pay keeps rising while broader IT hiring cools.
Cybersecurity Analyst metro pay rose moderately to $110,090, tracking a national pattern where security and infrastructure specialists command premiums even as information-sector hiring contracts. Headcount plans that treat security as discretionary may understate the cost of backfilling these roles later.
Worcester's unemployment rise masks a tightening skilled-talent pool.
County unemployment climbed to 4.8% in July from 4.2% in April, yet this slack is concentrated outside specialized IT functions. Expect continued difficulty filling infrastructure and security roles even as overall labor market cushion appears to grow.
Help desk pay softening supports the outsourcing case.
Help Desk/IT Support pay held flat locally at $54,823 while the national median moved down, consistent with employers routing commodity support work to lower-cost or offshore delivery. Build-vs-buy reviews for tier-1 support functions look timely given this pricing signal.
Median advertised pay by role — Worcester, MA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Scientist | $115,980 | $146,835 | $164,185 | Stable | $145,881 |
| Systems Administrator | $77,744 | $99,040 | $108,244 | Significant increase | $102,503 |
| Network Engineer | $67,571 | $111,757 | $128,965 | Stable | $115,757 |
| Software Engineer | $119,380 | $153,474 | $169,691 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Help Desk/IT Support Specialist | $46,544 | $54,823 | $63,141 | Stable | $53,129 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $89,606 | $110,090 | $125,886 | Moderate increase | $107,327 |
| IT Project Manager | $79,462 | $112,181 | $125,000 | Stable | $118,150 |
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
Worcester metro employment contracted by 1,000 jobs in September, and Worcester County unemployment climbed to 4.8% in July from 4.2% in April, even as Massachusetts held statewide unemployment at 4.3%, above the 4.1% national rate. Information-sector employment statewide shed 10% of jobs year-over-year, a contraction that appears to reflect conservative headcount planning and accelerating build-vs-buy shifts toward cloud and outsourced infrastructure, consistent with targeted restructuring in specific segments.
What it means
Metro conditions point to a bifurcated hiring posture: organizations are pulling back on commodity IT headcount while continuing to pay up for specialized talent, evidenced by Cybersecurity Analyst pay rising to a $110,090 metro median (up, moderate) against a Help Desk median of $54,823 that national data shows trending down. This spread strengthens the case for outsourcing routine support and legacy on-prem administration while concentrating internal headcount and compensation budget on security, platform, and infrastructure roles tied to data center and cloud buildout. Consider reviewing which IT functions are candidates for managed-service or offshore delivery against which roles merit premium retention investment given the region's shrinking information-sector base.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Worcester metro lost 1,000 jobs in September after a July unemployment spike to 4.8%. Watch October-November BLS releases to see whether this reflects a one-month dip or a sustained contraction that would loosen the broader candidate pool.
Emerging pressure point: Massachusetts information-sector employment is down 10% year-over-year statewide. If this contraction extends into Worcester's insurance and financial services base, released technologists may enter the local market, softening pay pressure on mid-level infrastructure roles.
Early indicator: National data center postings grew 20% in three months while tech-hub hiring pulled back. Monitor whether Massachusetts secondary-market employers, including Worcester-area insurers and healthcare systems, begin advertising infrastructure roles at a discount to Boston rates.
Potential inflection point: AI-related postings now represent 7.3% of all U.S. job ads, a signal of hiring demand (one ad often covers several openings) concentrated in specialized roles within overall IT headcount. Track whether Worcester employers begin reflecting this shift in Data Scientist or Platform Engineer advertised pay, currently stable at $146,835 locally.
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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