QA engineer salary in the US
What QA engineers are paid in the US, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with how your own pay compares. Figures from the BLS OEWS release dated May 2025.
Median annual pay
$104,300
Middle half earn
$80,310 to $133,180
People in this job, US
186,740
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Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, national, annual pay, May 2025
- 10th percentile
- $61,440
- 25th percentile
- $80,310
- Median
- $104,300
- 75th percentile
- $133,180
- 90th percentile
- $167,010
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-1253. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.
At a glance
What QA engineers earn across the US
- The highest-paying large metros are San Jose, CA ($166,530), San Francisco, CA ($134,630), New York, NY ($130,540).
- At the other end are San Juan, PR ($61,540), Oklahoma City, OK ($77,700), Louisville/Jefferson County, KY ($79,040): the top metro's median is 171% higher than the lowest.
- 18 of the 49 metros listed below pay a median above the national figure.
- About 186,740 people are employed in this occupation across the US.
- Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 2.7 times the 10th.
Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.
By metro
QA engineer pay by metro
Median annual pay in the largest US metros where BLS published figures for this occupation, highest first, May 2025.
- San Jose, CA$166,530
- San Francisco, CA$134,630
- New York, NY$130,540
- Baltimore, MD$129,880
- Seattle, WA$129,690
- Washington, DC$126,350
- Denver, CO$123,690
- Los Angeles, CA$122,210
- Boston, MA$122,210
- San Diego, CA$120,210
- Raleigh, NC$110,800
- Portland, OR$109,760
- Richmond, VA$106,300
- Virginia Beach, VA$105,970
- Atlanta, GA$105,800
- Riverside, CA$105,720
- Chicago, IL$105,580
- Sacramento, CA$104,410
- Orlando, FL$104,250
- Dallas, TX$103,210
- Columbus, OH$103,110
- Austin, TX$103,070
- Providence, RI$102,750
- Philadelphia, PA$102,740
- Detroit, MI$102,390
- Cleveland, OH$102,190
- Minneapolis, MN$102,130
- Buffalo, NY$101,880
- Phoenix, AZ$100,740
- Miami, FL$100,050
- Tampa, FL$98,870
- Houston, TX$98,690
- Milwaukee, WI$97,390
- Jacksonville, FL$97,030
- Hartford, CT$96,160
- San Antonio, TX$95,990
- Nashville, TN$95,280
- Kansas City, MO$94,970
- St. Louis, MO$94,590
- Indianapolis, IN$93,510
- Memphis, TN$91,040
- Grand Rapids, MI$88,780
- Cincinnati, OH$87,940
- Salt Lake City, UT$82,940
- Pittsburgh, PA$82,900
- Charlotte, NC$81,990
- Louisville/Jefferson County, KY$79,040
- Oklahoma City, OK$77,700
- San Juan, PR$61,540
Medians from BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Skills
What employers look for in a QA engineer
The skills our QA engineer resume example leads with, written for US employers.
- Test automation
- Playwright
- Cypress
- Selenium
- API testing
- Postman
- Test strategy
- Regression suites
- CI integration
- Performance testing
See the full QA engineer resume example, with bullets and keywords.
Negotiating
Using these numbers
Below $80,310 puts you in the bottom quarter for QA engineers in the US. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.
The median, $104,300, is the middle of the market, not a ceiling. An offer at or near it is a fair starting point to negotiate from.
Asking for $133,180 or more puts you in the top quarter, so it needs a reason an employer will accept: a wider scope, a competing offer, or a skill that is hard to hire for.
Percentiles are not experience levels. They describe everyone doing the job, so a senior hire can sit at the median of a market full of senior people.
About the numbers
What these figures are
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers for its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and these figures are from the release dated May 2025. They cover wage and salary workers in Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, a category that is often broader than a single job title. Self-employed people are not included.
They are base pay: bonuses, equity and overtime are not included, and they are not adjusted for the cost of living.
Questions
Questions about QA engineer pay in the US
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