CIO and IT executive salaries continue to grow as organizations seek to optimize tech purchases and incorporate AI into daily workflows.
Cherry Bekaert’s 2026 IT Salary Guide outlines how CIO pay, IT budgets and hiring practices are shifting this year across major U.S. tech hubs, based on data from the accounting and advisory firm’s Recruiting & Staffing Services team.
The guide benchmarks compensation across seven metro areas — Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Louisville, Raleigh and Washington, D.C. — and finds IT leaders navigating persistent talent shortages, rising AI adoption in recruitment and a surge in enterprise resource planning hiring.
The figures give healthcare executives a useful comparison point against sector-specific data, as health systems are often competing with other industries for top IT talent. In 2024, more than 20% of enterprise healthcare CIOs earned over $600,000 annually, while another 15% earned between $451,000 and $500,000, according to a report from executive search firm WittKieffer.
Across industries more broadly, median base pay for CIOs reached more than $220,000 at large enterprises and nearly $210,000 at midsize organizations, with new CIO compensation packages ranging from $1.5 million to $1.8 million at large companies, per the Wall Street Journal. Those figures track closely with the ranges Cherry Bekaert found for large organizations in markets such as Washington, D.C., and Austin below.
Here are 10 things to know from the Cherry Bekaert report.
1. Average salary increase budgets for 2026 are projected at around 3.5%, while benefits now account for nearly 30% of total compensation, according to the report.
2. CIO base salaries vary widely by market and organization size. In Washington, D.C., CIO pay at large organizations ranges from $342,000 to $505,000, the highest range among the seven metros surveyed.
3. In Chicago, CIO salaries at large organizations range from $278,000 to $493,000, while in Austin they range from $265,000 to $513,000 — the highest ceiling in the dataset.
4. At small organizations with less than $50 million in revenue, CIO pay still starts high: $207,000 in Atlanta, Charlotte’s low end is $198,000, and Louisville’s is $186,000, reflecting regional cost-of-living differences.
5. Nationally, 76% of employers report talent shortages, particularly in cybersecurity, data analytics and AI-related roles, driving the average cost per hire to $4,683.
6. Hybrid work remains dominant. Seventy percent of job seekers prefer it, and 88% of employers now offer flexible arrangements. Twenty-four percent of new IT job postings are hybrid, and 12% are fully remote.
7. Technology is reshaping recruitment itself: 48% of employers use artificial intelligence for sourcing and screening candidates, 68% use applicant tracking systems and 41% conduct video interviews, per the report.
8. Not all IT jobs are equal, with AI, machine learning and data science roles seeing higher salary growth “because there’s competition, a very limited talent pool, and most of those are newer technologies,” Ryan Delaney, a partner at Cherry Bekaert, said in the report.
9. Enterprise resource planning hiring is surging, especially for platforms including NetSuite, Workday, SAP and Oracle. “ERP is hands down the biggest area we’ve seen demand for,” Bryant Covelli, Cherry Bekaert’s client relationship director, said. “Even when firms bring in consultants, they want their own person to manage the relationship and protect their interests.”
10. Strong employer branding is paying off. Organizations with a compelling brand attract twice as many applicants and can cut cost per hire by up to 50%, according to the report.
Cherry Bekaert’s Recruiting & Staffing Services team, which now operates across Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Louisville, Raleigh and Washington, D.C., says IT leaders will need to balance AI-driven efficiency with skills-based hiring to close persistent talent gaps in 2026.
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