IT Contractor Rates by City: 2026 Bill Rates for 22 U.S. Metros
Side-by-side hourly bill rates for W2 contract IT talent in 22 metros, from the KORE1 Contract Rate Index.
Version 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026. Jump to the metro table.
Which U.S. city has the highest IT contractor bill rates in 2026?
As of October 16, 2026, the San Francisco Bay Area has the highest IT contractor bill rates in the KORE1 Contract Rate Index. A mid-level contract software engineer bills a median $143 an hour there, against $108 nationally.
Last updated: October 18, 2026
Houston sits near the other end. The same engineer bills a median $103 there, and a Level 2 help desk technician bills $47 against $71 in the Bay Area. Cheapest of all for a mid-level developer? Milwaukee, at $98.
This page is the geographic cut of the index. One board, 22 cities. Every metro sits in one table, with the same roles, the same 24% burden and the same version date, so you can compare Denver with Charlotte without opening two tabs.
- This page
- Contract bill rates for IT roles across 22 metros and the national market, for employers pricing a contract req or choosing where to hire.
- Somewhere else
- Rates by skill without the city split are in our guide to tech contractor hourly rates for 2026. The all-in cost of a team is in IT staff augmentation cost. Help desk as a monthly budget is in IT support cost per month.
KORE1 has run a contract staffing desk since 2005, and the index is built from those placements plus federal wage data, with every cell labeled so you can tell our own billing history from the modeled market. Most of the IT staffing work behind the observed rows happened in Southern California. We say so on every row it touches.
Which Metros Have the Highest IT Contractor Bill Rates in 2026?
Two anchor roles in every index metro, sorted from the most expensive market for a mid-level software engineer to the least. The range is the 25th to 75th percentile bill rate. The window holds the median. 3-month cost is 40 hours a week for 13 weeks at the median.
| Metro | Help desk technician, Level 2 | Software engineer, mid-level | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range | Median | 3 months | Range | Median | 3 months | |
| San Francisco Bay Area, CA | $64-$78 | $71 | $36,800 | $134-$155 | $143 | $74,100 |
| Boston, MA | $54-$67 | $61 | $31,500 | $115-$135 | $128 | $66,400 |
| Seattle, WA | $55-$69 | $61 | $31,700 | $115-$145 | $128 | $66,400 |
| New York, NY | $53-$67 | $59 | $30,600 | $114-$142 | $127 | $66,200 |
| San Diego, CA | $52-$62 | $57 | $29,600 | $112-$137 | $126 | $65,300 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $53-$66 | $58 | $30,400 | $111-$136 | $124 | $64,400 |
| Orange County, CA | $53-$66 | $58 | $30,400 | $111-$136 | $124 | $64,400 |
| Washington, DC | $54-$68 | $61 | $31,500 | $107-$127 | $119 | $62,000 |
| Denver, CO | $53-$66 | $59 | $30,600 | $104-$123 | $109 | $56,800 |
| Charlotte, NC | $43-$54 | $48 | $24,800 | $97-$119 | $108 | $56,100 |
| United Statesnational | $44-$56 | $49 | $25,400 | $96-$122 | $108 | $56,100 |
| Chicago, IL | $43-$55 | $48 | $25,100 | $95-$120 | $107 | $55,400 |
| Austin, TX | $44-$55 | $49 | $25,400 | $94-$120 | $106 | $55,300 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TXincl. Plano, Irving, Frisco | $43-$54 | $48 | $25,000 | $95-$118 | $106 | $55,000 |
| Philadelphia, PA | $44-$55 | $49 | $25,500 | $94-$118 | $106 | $54,900 |
| Atlanta, GA | $44-$56 | $49 | $25,500 | $94-$118 | $105 | $54,800 |
| Phoenix, AZ | $44-$55 | $49 | $25,500 | $94-$117 | $105 | $54,300 |
| Raleigh-Durham, NC | $44-$56 | $49 | $25,600 | $94-$119 | $105 | $54,800 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | $47-$56 | $50 | $26,000 | $93-$116 | $104 | $54,000 |
| Houston, TX | $42-$53 | $47 | $24,400 | $91-$115 | $103 | $53,400 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | $44-$56 | $49 | $25,600 | $92-$115 | $103 | $53,500 |
| Nashville, TN | $43-$52 | $47 | $24,300 | $89-$106 | $100 | $52,200 |
| Milwaukee, WI | $44-$53 | $48 | $24,800 | $89-$104 | $98 | $51,000 |
| Cincinnati, OH | Not in the index yet. Cells are pending the next BLS data pull. | |||||
Every metro cell is modeled from BLS OEWS May 2025 wages for that metro, a 24% employer burden and the bill bands KORE1 sees on its own placements. Orange County and Los Angeles share the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA, so their cells match. Same wages, same cells. Orange County now has its own page, with the Orange County role-by-role rates, and so does Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles role-by-role contractor rates. The full method, with exclusions and SOC mapping, is in the KORE1 Contract Rate Index methodology.
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Why Do IT Contractor Rates Differ by Metro?
Mostly wages. The staffing side of the math is close to identical from one city to the next, and the local pay level is not.
Local wage levels
Each metro cell starts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for that metropolitan statistical area, May 2025 edition, released in 2026, which was the most recent federal wage release available when this version of the index took effect. Help desk maps to SOC 15-1232 and software engineers to SOC 15-1252. A Bay Area technician earns more than a Houston one before any staffing cost is added, so the bill rate starts higher. Higher wage, higher rate.
One burden, everywhere
Burden is modeled at 24% in all 22 metros. Inside it sit Social Security at 6.2% of the first $184,500 of 2026 wages and Medicare at 1.45% (IRS Publication 15), federal unemployment at 0.6% net on the first $7,000, plus state unemployment, workers’ comp and insurance. Hold that constant and the metro gap is the wage gap. Nothing else moves. The full line-by-line is in the contractor burden line items.
Level moves it as much as city
Nationally, a junior contract software engineer bills a median $83, a mid-level one $108 and a senior one $131. In the Bay Area the same ladder runs $126, $143 and $165. So a senior engineer in Milwaukee, at $110, bills less than a junior one in San Francisco. Read that twice.
Pricing a remote contractor? Use the metro where they live. That’s the market they’re weighing your rate against.
IT Contractor Rates by City for Four More Roles
Median bill rates per hour, same index version, same metro order as the table above. Systems administrator, ERP consultant and IT project manager are mid-level cells; the accountant column is the senior cell.
| Metro | Systems admin | ERP consultant | IT project manager | Senior accountant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Bay Area, CA | $103 | $107 | $107 | $112 |
| Boston, MA | $93 | $102 | $91 | $103 |
| Seattle, WA | $83 | $106 | $103 | $101 |
| New York, NY | $95 | $102 | $100 | $109 |
| San Diego, CA | $83 | $94 | $93 | $99 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $84 | $96 | $86 | $97 |
| Orange County, CA | $84 | $96 | $86 | $97 |
| Washington, DC | $99 | $101 | $101 | $106 |
| Denver, CO | $83 | $101 | $93 | $104 |
| Charlotte, NC | $71 | $88 | $83 | $102 |
| United States (national) | $79 | $84 | $81 | $87 |
| Chicago, IL | $82 | $82 | $84 | $82 |
| Austin, TX | $83 | $83 | $81 | $82 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | $82 | $97 | $78 | $83 |
| Philadelphia, PA | $80 | $83 | $83 | $88 |
| Atlanta, GA | $80 | $94 | $82 | $92 |
| Phoenix, AZ | $74 | $82 | $80 | $84 |
| Raleigh-Durham, NC | $82 | $86 | $81 | $83 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | $82 | $89 | $78 | $87 |
| Houston, TX | $80 | $90 | $79 | $87 |
| Salt Lake City, UT | $79 | $78 | $78 | $86 |
| Nashville, TN | $74 | $79 | $68 | $77 |
| Milwaukee, WI | $71 | $81 | $80 | $82 |
The order mostly holds. A senior accountant bills $112 in the Bay Area and $77 in Nashville, close to the same spread as the software table. Same shape. Staff and close-support accountant rates are broken out in contract accountant bill rates for 2026.
A few metros break rank. Know them before you budget. Washington, DC bills $99 for a mid-level systems administrator, second only to the Bay Area’s $103 and well above its eighth-place finish for software engineers, and Dallas-Fort Worth bills more for a mid-level ERP consultant ($97) than Los Angeles or Orange County ($96).
What Does a Bill Rate Cover in Every Metro?
The same things in Seattle as in Nashville. A bill rate is the hourly price of a W2 contractor through a staffing firm, and it carries the contractor’s wages, employer payroll taxes, workers’ comp, liability insurance, required paid sick leave, benefits and the firm’s recruiting and payroll work.
Devin Hornick, a partner at KORE1, walks clients through it with a round number. $100 an hour in pay plus a 24% burden is $124 an hour loaded, and a contractor like that typically bills around $150 to $160. Other ways to price the same seat, like cost-plus or a monthly rate per seat, are compared in staff augmentation pricing models.
“First off, it’s not a markup. Secondly, there’s a margin in there. And thirdly, there’s a bunch of other costs that you’re not thinking of.”
Devin Hornick, Partner, KORE1
Two quotes for one metro rarely match. Ask what each one covers. A small markup on top of pay, with the burden billed separately, can land above an all-in rate that looked higher. Every cell on this page is all-in.
California adds a line. Employers there owe at least 40 hours, or five days, of paid sick leave a year, and that cost sits inside every California rate in the index, including the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego rows.
$143
median hourly bill rate, mid-level software engineer, San Francisco Bay Area
$49
national median for a Level 2 help desk contractor, about $25,400 for 3 months
24%
employer burden modeled in every one of the 22 metros
180
KORE1 W2 contract placements, 2023 to 2026, behind the observed cells
KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective 2026-10-16. Wages from BLS OEWS May 2025. Payroll tax rates from IRS Publication 15 (2026) and IRS Topic 759.
What KORE1’s Own Placements Show
Every metro cell above is modeled. Beside them, the index publishes 15 observed cells from 180 KORE1 W2 contract placements that started between 2023 and 2026, and a cell publishes only when it has at least five placements behind it. Most are in Southern California.
| Role (all levels unless noted) | Placements | Range | Median | 3 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help desk / IT support | 39 | $41-$55 | $49 | $25,500 |
| Systems administrator | 12 | $54-$70 | $57 | $29,600 |
| Software engineer | 16 | $91-$120 | $105 | $54,600 |
| Software engineer, senior | 7 | $91-$138 | $120 | $62,400 |
| IT project manager | 21 | $105-$124 | $116 | $60,400 |
| Business analyst | 10 | $90-$120 | $116 | $60,400 |
| Security | 7 | $70-$124 | $82 | $42,900 |
| ERP consultant (multi-state) | 15 | $73-$123 | $91 | $47,200 |
Some readings line up. Our help desk placements billed a median $49 across all levels, the same as the modeled national Level 2 cell and below the modeled Orange County one ($58), partly because 12 of the 39 were Level 1 roles with a $45 median. That tracks.
Project managers don’t line up. Twenty-one KORE1 placements billed a median $116, against a modeled $86 for a mid-level IT project manager in Orange County, and we’d rather show that than smooth it over.
The observed cell mixes every level. The modeled one is pinned to the median wage. Different questions.
Data engineer cells are withheld. For now. Our eight placements included analyst and ETL support titles and billed well below the market model, so they wait until they’re re-classified.
Range
25th to 75th percentile
The middle half of the market, so a rare skill or a rushed start can land outside it.
Median
The number in the window
The midpoint hourly bill rate, and the figure we’d budget from before a single interview.
3-month cost
520 hours at the median
Forty hours a week for 13 weeks, from the unrounded median, rounded to the nearest hundred dollars.
Label
Observed or modeled
Observed is KORE1 placements, five or more per cell. Modeled is BLS wages, burden and our bill bands.
Find the KORE1 IT Staffing Page for Your Metro
Every metro in the index has a local KORE1 IT staffing page. Start there. Dedicated rate pages for each city are being added, and this list will point to them as they go live.
West Coast
Mountain and Texas
Southeast
Common Questions
What’s the average IT contractor hourly rate in 2026?
Nationally, a mid-level contract software engineer bills a median $108 an hour and a Level 2 help desk technician $49, as of October 16, 2026, in the KORE1 Contract Rate Index. The middle half of the market runs $96 to $122 for the engineer and $44 to $56 for help desk.
How much does a contract software engineer cost per hour in San Francisco?
$143 an hour is the median bill rate for a mid-level contract software engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, with most falling between $134 and $155. Three months at 40 hours a week runs about $74,100. No metro tops it.
What does contract IT support cost per hour in Houston?
A Level 2 help desk technician on a W2 contract in Houston typically bills $42 to $53 an hour, with a $47 median. Three months at the median is about $24,400. Nashville shares that median. No index metro is lower.
Why are IT contractor rates higher in some cities?
Mostly local wages. The index starts from BLS wage data for each metro and adds the same 24% burden everywhere, so the gap between two cities is the wage gap carried through to the bill rate.
Is the bill rate what the contractor gets paid?
No, the bill rate is what the employer pays the staffing firm each hour. It covers the contractor’s pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, insurance, sick leave and benefits, plus the firm’s margin. It isn’t all margin. In one worked example, $100 of pay loads to $124 and bills around $150 to $160.
How often is the KORE1 Contract Rate Index updated?
Quarterly. Version 2026-Q4 took effect October 16, 2026, and the next update is due in January 2027, when new KORE1 placements and the latest BLS release are folded in and every cell carries the new effective date.
Get a Bill Rate Quote for Your Metro
Tell us the role, the level, the city and how long you need the person. We’ll send back a bill rate range for your req, with what’s inside it spelled out.
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