Your 2026 IT and Technology Salary Guide: Tech Trends Driving the Year’s Highest-Paying Jobs

The news today is dominated by headlines about tech layoffs, budget cuts, and fears of an AI bubble. Yet the US Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported a surprising figure: the average US IT professional now makes $104,420. That’s hardly a sign of an industry in decline.

Despite the fears that AI would replace workers, the data tells a different story. AI is transforming IT roles, not eliminating them, and professionals who develop the right skills are seeing their salaries rise more than ever.

Here is what you need to know about the trends shaping 2026, and top tech jobs leading the way.

IT salary trends of 2026

Salaries across the industry are moving in very different directions. Understanding where the opportunities lie has never been more critical.

A mixed reality

The IT industry is facing a dual reality. While baseline and legacy IT roles are facing slowdowns and layoffs, demand for specialized areas only continues to grow. The result is a labor market full of mixed signals: overall hiring has cooled, yet salary and competition for niche roles are exploding.

That’s why salary growth is varying wildly, with global increases ranging from 4% to 20% in 2025. Growth in IT now depends heavily on the right specialty.

AI and cloud are dominating

And the top specialties for 2026? AI and cloud. These two disciplines are at the center of today’s digital transformation. Nearly every modernization roadmap, from automation to security, now relies on AI and cloud technology. Companies have moved beyond experimentation and treat both as critical requirements for competitiveness in today’s market.

AI and cloud are no longer “nice to have” and employers across industries are adopting them at scale. As a result, skills in AI/ML, cloud architecture, and cloud security command premium salaries, with hybrid skills at the top. Tech professionals looking to future-proof their career is increasingly learning AI skills to command top salaries.

IT talent shortage drives salary growth

Even though the overall IT workforce faces slowdowns, employers are still reporting a persistent talent shortage. A 2025 survey found that 76% of IT employers struggle to find the tech talent they need. In fact, there are 700,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in the U.S. alone, with millions more globally.

This shortage is what is driving salary growth for these coveted positions.  With limited supplies, companies are competing not just with higher base salaries but also with additional bonuses, flexibility, and expanded benefits to attract qualified talent.

Organizations look to emerging markets

Organizations facing budget constraints and unable to compete with lucrative domestic offers are turning to outsourcing and remote hiring instead. In fact, the share of global tech job postings located in emerging economies has grown from 16% in early 2020 to 28% by mid-2025. Global staff offers a critical two-fold advantage:

• Access to scarce skills
• Cost control in uncertain economic environments

Outsourcing and global staffing are no longer reserved for low-level tasks. The growth of remote infrastructure and distributed teams has made global hiring viable for even highly specialized roles. This means that competition and compensation dynamics are shifting. Skilled workers in advanced economies will face increased pressure from global talent pools.

Top IT careers in 2026

So which jobs are blowing up in 2026? We’ll explore some top jobs and roles, but first let’s talk about one key factor we use when ranking: the Salary Desirability Score.

About the Salary Desirability Score

This score evaluates IT roles based on four key factors important to most employees: compensation, demand and stability, growth potential, and stress level. Each factor is rated on a 1-10 scale and averaged to quickly show how attractive each role is in today’s market. The overall average provides a clear view of how desirable each role is in the current IT landscape.

And now, onto the top-paying roles in IT, on average, for 2026…

Security Architect

Average salary: $157,250

Why it’s attractive: A top-paying career with exceptional stability and influence as organizations face growing cyber threats.

What they do: Security architects create and oversee an organization’s entire security infrastructure. They identify weaknesses in risk assessments, develop strategies to mitigate those risks, and build frameworks to keep systems secure.

They guide implementation, establish security policies, and ensure compliance with regulations and industry standards. Security architects also work with teams, such as software developers and IT, to embed security into every layer of the organization’s technology environment.

Salary Desirability Score

• Compensation: 10. One of the highest-paying non-executive roles in IT.
• Demand and stability: 10. A combination of mission-critical and talent shortage makes the role secure.
• Growth potential: 9. Offers clear pathways to leadership, cloud security, and enterprise architecture.
• Stress level: 5. High responsibility, but less than SOC or analyst roles.
• Overall score: 8.5/10

Site Reliability Engineer

Average salary: $132,583

Why it’s attractive: Strong pay, high demand, and a central role in keeping modern systems fast, scalable, and resilient.

What they do: Site reliability engineers (SREs) design and oversee the software systems that keep applications reliable, performant, and scalable. They treat operations like software problems by automating routine tasks, improving deployment pipelines, and reducing manual work. SREs monitor system health, respond to incidents, and collaborate with development teams to optimize it and prevent outages. Their work keeps complex, distributed systems running smoothly at scale.

Salary Desirability Score:

• Compensation: 9. Comparable to senior engineering roles and has higher ceilings at top companies.
• Demand and stability: 9. High demand driven by cloud-native architectures and uptime expectations.
• Growth potential: 9. Clear paths to DevOps leadership, platform engineering, or systems architecture.
• Stress level: 4. On-call duties and incident response make this high-pressure.
• Overall score: 7.75/10

Network/Cloud Engineer

Average salary: $132,000

Why it’s attractive: Strong compensation, high demand, and critical responsibility for the vital modern cloud infrastructure.

What they do: While network/systems and cloud engineering were once distinct roles, many organizations now combine them as infrastructure becomes more cloud-based.

Network/Cloud engineers create, implement, and oversee network foundations that support cloud environments. They manage interconnected cloud resources, optimize performance, scale services, and troubleshoot issues across hybrid or multi-cloud systems. This role ensures that applications and services remain secure, reliable, and accessible across distributed environments.

Salary Desirability Score

• Compensation: 8. High pay, especially for engineers with hybrid cloud and network expertise.
• Demand and stability: 9. Strong demand driven by cloud adoption and complex connectivity needs.
• Growth potential: 8. Clear pathways into cloud architecture, security engineering, and platform engineering.
• Stress level: 6. Incident-driven work and system dependencies can create pressure, but generally less intense than SRE roles.
• Overall score: 7.75/10

Information Security Analysts

Average salary: $124,910

Why it’s attractive: Exceptional job security, substantial salaries, and one of the fastest-growing specialties in IT.

What they do: Information Security Analysts protect an organization’s networks, systems, and data. They monitor security tools, identify vulnerabilities, perform risk assessments, and deploy protective measures.

When incidents occur, they investigate breaches, respond to threats, and enforce security policies. Their work is essential for preventing data loss, maintaining system integrity, and ensuring business continuity in a growing threat landscape.

Salary Desirability Score

• Compensation: 7. Strong salary, but lower than senior engineering and architecture roles.
• Demand and stability: 10. One of the fastest-growing fields in IT, with a projected 29% growth in the next 10 years.
• Growth potential: 8. Clear advancement paths into engineering, architecture, governance, or leadership roles.
• Stress level: 4. Incident-driven work and threat response create high-pressure environments.
• Overall score: 7.25/10

Data Scientist

Average salary: $112,590

Why it’s attractive: Strong demand, broad industry applicability, and increasing relevance as organizations scale AI and data initiatives.

What they do: Data scientists combine computer science, statistics, and domain knowledge to analyze complex datasets and build predictive models. They uncover hidden patterns, develop algorithms, and translate raw data into actionable insights that guide strategic decision-making. Their work supports everything from business forecasting to AI development, making them essential to modern data-driven organizations.

Salary Desirability Score

• Compensation: 8. Competitive pay, especially in industries like finance, healthcare, and tech.
• Demand and stability: 8. Strong demand, but increasing competition from AI tooling and automation.
• Growth potential: 9. Clear paths into senior data science, ML engineering, or AI-focused roles.
• Stress level: 7. Project deadlines, ambiguity, and constant iteration create moderate pressure.
• Overall score: 8/10

Tech skills in demand in 2026

Looking ahead to the new year, one thing is clear: tech professionals need to sharpen and expand their skill sets to stay competitive. In fact,  87% of tech leaders said they offer higher salaries to candidates with specialized skills.

AI and cybersecurity lead the list of high-value specializations, of course, but they’re far from the only skills that command a higher salary in the coming year. Foundational capabilities like CI/CD, modern programming languages—especially Python—and strong analytical skills are also critical.

In a market defined by cooldowns, restructuring, and rapid transformation, professionals who invest in the right capabilities will remain in demand, command top salaries, and be resilient no matter how the broader tech landscape shifts.

FAQs about IT salaries