QA engineer salary in Kansas City, MO
What QA engineers are paid in Kansas City, MO, 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
$94,970
Middle half earn
$74,980 to $106,170
People in this job here
1,430
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Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, Kansas City, MO, annual pay, May 2025
- 10th percentile
- $52,650
- 25th percentile
- $74,980
- Median
- $94,970
- 75th percentile
- $106,170
- 90th percentile
- $134,290
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-1253. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.
At a glance
How Kansas City, MO compares
- The median here is 9% below the national median of $104,300.
- Kansas City, MO ranks 38th for median pay among the 49 largest US metros with published figures for this occupation.
- About 1,430 people work in this occupation here, roughly 1 in every 767 jobs in the metro.
- Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 2.6 times the 10th.
Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.
| Percentile | Kansas City, MO | National |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $52,650 | $61,440 |
| 25th percentile | $74,980 | $80,310 |
| Median | $94,970 | $104,300 |
| 75th percentile | $106,170 | $133,180 |
| 90th percentile | $134,290 | $167,010 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-1253. National page for QA engineers
By metro
Other metros for QA engineers
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
- 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 $74,980 puts you in the bottom quarter for QA engineers in Kansas City, MO. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.
The median, $94,970, 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 $106,170 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. The metro is Kansas City, MO-KS as BLS defines it.
Questions
Questions about QA engineer pay in Kansas City, MO
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