BLS OEWS, May 2025

QA engineer salary in Washington, DC

What QA engineers are paid in Washington, DC, 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

$126,350

Middle half earn

$99,410 to $149,370

People in this job here

8,460

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Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, Washington, DC, annual pay, May 2025

10th percentile
$81,360
25th percentile
$99,410
Median
$126,350
75th percentile
$149,370
90th percentile
$175,240

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-1253. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.

At a glance

How Washington, DC compares

  • The median here is 21% above the national median of $104,300.
  • Washington, DC ranks 6th for median pay among the 49 largest US metros with published figures for this occupation.
  • About 8,460 people work in this occupation here, roughly 1 in every 371 jobs in the metro.
  • Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 2.2 times the 10th.

Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.

Washington, DC against the national figures
PercentileWashington, DCNational
10th percentile$81,360$61,440
25th percentile$99,410$80,310
Median$126,350$104,300
75th percentile$149,370$133,180
90th percentile$175,240$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.

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 $99,410 puts you in the bottom quarter for QA engineers in Washington, DC. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.

The median, $126,350, 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 $149,370 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV as BLS defines it.

Questions

Questions about QA engineer pay in Washington, DC

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