Project management specialists job market in North Dakota

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

North Dakota industry employment changed 1.4 percentage points above the U.S. benchmark

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Project management specialists in North Dakota.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 92.05% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Project management specialists earn in North Dakota

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$96,160North Dakota
Middle 50% of published wages
$77,010 – $119,630
U.S. median annual wage
$102,320
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around North Dakota

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Project management specialists, compared with the North Dakota median of $96,160.

North Dakota median$96,160
Fargo, ND-MN$97,430+1.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$75,160 – $116,880Published employment870
Grand Forks, ND-MN$90,140−6.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$77,620 – $124,710Published employment220
Bismarck, ND$88,650−7.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$76,420 – $117,830Published employment390
Minot, ND$86,990−9.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$76,070 – $105,250Published employment90

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the North Dakota median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in North Dakota’s weighted industry mix.

+1.6%Industry employmentNorth Dakota industry employmentU.S. +0.1%vs. +0.1% U.S.
+3.0%Establishments in weighted industriesNorth Dakota establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.4%vs. +2.4% U.S.
+3.3%Avg. weekly industry wageNorth Dakota avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.1% · not occupation payvs. +4.1% U.S. · not occupation pay
+1.4 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 22,786 represented establishments, 82.65% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for project management specialists in North Dakota

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.

This occupation is less concentrated in the state

Project management specialists account for 0.69 times their national share of employment in North Dakota, according to OEWS May 2025. This is the published location quotient. The state estimate is 2,020 jobs, 0.2% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 4.71 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Concentration describes employment share, not current hiring or future growth.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Construction has the largest positive weighted contribution

The leading industry groups examined cover 81.2% of this occupation's national industry mix. Within that comparison for North Dakota in January to March 2026, Construction accounts for 75.5% of the positive weighted contributions, with its own employment changing +6.7% year over year. These contributions weight industry growth by the national industry mix and do not count occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Published median pay is below the U.S. median

A 6.0% difference separates North Dakota's median annual wage for project management specialists from the U.S. median in OEWS May 2025. At $96,160, the state median is below the national figure of $102,320. The estimates describe the middle of each wage distribution, without a living-cost adjustment.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • North Dakota · 2026 Q1+1.6%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.1%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly North Dakota industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterNorth DakotaCoverage
2024 Q2+2.6%100%
2024 Q3+2.1%100%
2024 Q4+1.2%100%
2025 Q1+0.1%99.55%
2025 Q2-0.7%100%
2025 Q3-0.9%93.37%
2025 Q4+1.1%100%
2026 Q1+1.6%92.05%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows North Dakota’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+0.1%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Project management specialists Work

The occupation mix determines which North Dakota industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the North Dakota Project management specialists context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Professional and business services38.9%+0.8%6,775$1,699
Construction22.1%+6.7%3,964$1,524
Trade, transportation, and utilities7.5%Not published7,825$1,231
Manufacturing7.4%-2.1%896$1,530
Financial activities6.7%-2.2%3,326$1,938
Private education and health services6.2%+2.4%4,153$1,318

Which industries are growing?

3 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive North Dakota employment change are listed.

  • Construction+6.7%
  • Private education and health services+2.4%
  • Professional and business services+0.8%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Selected state comparison

North Dakota vs. other states

A selected set of other states with valid reports for this occupation, not every available state. Each state’s own published industry employment change for QCEW 2026 Q1, ordered with this report first and then alphabetically. This is not a ranking and there is no state-level score.

Open state comparison

How to read this

Same occupation, same release

Every state shown published its own verified QCEW 2026 Q1 figure for the industries weighted to Project management specialists. Bars are proportional to each published change; left of centre is a decline.

Current North Dakota context

Current North Dakota Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in North Dakota. They are not Project management specialists demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · North Dakota

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

132.7Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+32.7%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+2.1%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026127.20
Jul 31, 2026126.60
Aug 7, 2026125.90
Aug 14, 2026125.76
Aug 21, 2026125.77
Aug 28, 2026127.24
Sep 4, 2026128.42
Sep 11, 2026128.52
Sep 18, 2026129.77
Sep 25, 2026129.99
Oct 2, 2026130.44
Oct 9, 2026131.57
Oct 16, 2026133.73
Oct 23, 2026132.70

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

North Dakota statewide

0 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 4, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: No notices with notice dates in this period appear in this source for North Dakota. Other workforce changes may have happened without a notice in this source.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. North Dakota’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

Job Service North Dakota About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Project management specialists in North Dakota FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Project management specialists in North Dakota?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the North Dakota industries weighted to Project management specialists changed +1.6% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.1% nationwide.

Are wages for Project management specialists rising in North Dakota?

QCEW does not publish pay for Project management specialists in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +3.3% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this North Dakota industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 92.05% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Project management specialists openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 92.05% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Project management specialists
SOC code
13-1082
State
North Dakota
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
+1.6%State data coverage 92.05%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+0.1%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+1.4 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+3.0%State data coverage 92.05%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+3.3%State data coverage 99.55%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/project-management-specialists/north-dakota#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Project management specialists in other states