Real salary data
What QA Testers actually earn in 2026.
The median for QA Tester is $101,400 across 35529 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Aug 10, 2026.
01 / By source
Real salary bands, by source.
Bands come from 35529 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.
Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $85,925–$125,000 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.
| Source | Records | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B visa filings | 35,529 | $85,925 | $101,400 | $125,000 |
- H-1B visa filings (DOL) — over-represents visa-eligible roles (typically high-skill, high-wage)
Salary data updated Aug 10, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.
02 / By city
What QA Testers earn, by city.
Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.
| City | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin, TX | 906 | $86,320 – $125,000 | $105,602 |
| Plano, TX | 896 | $85,981 – $113,172 | $92,275 |
| Irving, TX | 843 | $82,000 – $107,788 | $89,440 |
| San Jose, CA | 780 | $133,432 – $177,305 | $144,000 |
| Atlanta, GA | 711 | $85,925 – $118,414 | $100,000 |
| Charlotte, NC | 691 | $81,037 – $110,261 | $95,000 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 677 | $133,432 – $180,000 | $152,500 |
| Alpharetta, GA | 652 | $85,894 – $114,096 | $97,365 |
| New York, NY | 636 | $103,418 – $141,793 | $120,400 |
| Chicago, IL | 629 | $82,368 – $115,461 | $95,000 |
| Dallas, TX | 529 | $86,923 – $113,200 | $91,500 |
| Santa Clara, CA | 497 | $133,432 – $175,567 | $149,330 |
03 / By state
What QA Testers earn, by state.
| State | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| TX | 6,468 | $82,964 – $114,400 | $91,510 |
| CA | 5,817 | $112,000 – $164,154 | $135,741 |
| NJ | 2,038 | $99,549 – $126,838 | $103,418 |
| GA | 2,017 | $85,000 – $115,000 | $96,886 |
| NC | 1,891 | $88,388 – $115,353 | $98,384 |
| IL | 1,603 | $82,313 – $110,000 | $88,088 |
| FL | 1,334 | $80,018 – $112,000 | $92,100 |
| WA | 1,270 | $99,736 – $138,050 | $113,900 |
| PA | 1,222 | $80,475 – $112,000 | $90,000 |
| MA | 1,213 | $99,299 – $130,021 | $113,443 |
| VA | 1,065 | $94,058 – $115,000 | $101,234 |
| OH | 1,033 | $79,199 – $108,344 | $91,270 |
04 / Context
How QA Testers pay compares with similar roles.
| Profession | Risk | Median | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural and Engineering Manager | Medium | $175,000 | +3.8% (2024–34) |
| Computer and Information Research Scientist | High | $179,000 | +19.7% (2024–34) |
| Computer Network Architect | Critical | $134,000 | +11.9% (2024–34) |
| Computer Systems Analyst | Critical | $104,416 | +8.7% (2024–34) |
| Data Analyst | High | $120,000 | +33.5% (2024–34) |
05 / Next step
How to move up the pay band.
The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:
- udemyTester Oprogramowania (QA Tester) - Pytania rekrutacyjneAdvanced
- udemyFrom Tester to QA Lead: Game Testing, Jira & QA MasteryIntermediate
- udemyAWS Certified Solutions ArchitectIntermediate
- udemyExámenes AWS Solutions Architect ProfesionalAdvanced
- udemyAWS DevOps Engineer Technical SkillsIntermediate
- udemyGeotechnical Technical Office Engineer CourseIntermediate
- udemyServiceNow CIS:Certified Implementation Specialist-DiscoveryIntermediate
- udemyCertification Oracle Goldengate Implementation SpecialistAdvanced
06 / FAQ
Salary questions, answered.
01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all QA Tester in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.