QA engineers in the US earn an average of $70,000-$110,000 in base salary, with senior automation engineers earning $140,000-$200,000 at top companies.
Pay at a Glance (BLS Data)
Bureau of Labor Statistics wage estimates for software quality assurance analysts and testers, across all industries:
Percentile
Annual Wage
Hourly Equivalent
10th (entry level)
$61,440
$29.54
25th
$80,310
$38.61
50th (median)
$104,300
$50.14
75th
$133,180
$64.03
90th
$167,010
$80.29
Average (mean)
$111,490
$53.60
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, for Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers (all industries). Hourly figures are annual wages divided by 2,080 hours. “Not published” means BLS withheld the estimate, usually because wages are above its top reporting limit.
Quick Answer: QA Engineer Salary
Level
Manual QA
Automation/SDET
Entry-level
$50,000-$70,000
$70,000-$95,000
Mid-level
$70,000-$95,000
$95,000-$130,000
Senior
$95,000-$120,000
$130,000-$170,000
Staff/Lead
$115,000-$145,000
$160,000-$210,000
Manager
$120,000-$160,000
$150,000-$200,000
QA Engineer Salary by Role Type
Role
Average Salary
Manual QA Analyst
$65,000-$90,000
QA Automation Engineer
$95,000-$130,000
SDET (Software Developer in Test)
$110,000-$150,000
Performance/Load Tester
$100,000-$140,000
Security QA
$105,000-$145,000
Mobile QA Engineer
$85,000-$120,000
API Tester
$90,000-$125,000
QA Manager
$130,000-$175,000
Director of QA
$160,000-$220,000
QA Engineer Salary by Company
Company
Mid-Level (SDET)
Senior (SDET)
Google
$180,000-$230,000
$250,000-$320,000
Meta
$170,000-$220,000
$240,000-$300,000
Apple
$160,000-$200,000
$220,000-$280,000
Microsoft
$150,000-$190,000
$200,000-$260,000
Amazon
$140,000-$180,000
$190,000-$250,000
Netflix
$180,000-$230,000
$250,000-$320,000
Salesforce
$130,000-$170,000
$180,000-$230,000
Enterprise (Fortune 500)
$95,000-$125,000
$130,000-$170,000
Startup
$80,000-$120,000
$120,000-$160,000
QA Engineer Salary by Location
Location
Manual QA
Automation/SDET
San Francisco Bay Area
$95,000-$130,000
$130,000-$180,000
New York City
$90,000-$125,000
$120,000-$165,000
Seattle
$85,000-$120,000
$115,000-$160,000
Boston
$80,000-$110,000
$110,000-$150,000
Los Angeles
$80,000-$110,000
$105,000-$145,000
Austin
$75,000-$100,000
$100,000-$140,000
Denver
$70,000-$95,000
$95,000-$130,000
Chicago
$70,000-$95,000
$90,000-$125,000
Atlanta
$65,000-$90,000
$85,000-$120,000
Remote (US)
$75,000-$105,000
$100,000-$145,000
QA Engineer Salary by Experience
Experience
Manual QA
Automation/SDET
0-2 years
$50,000-$70,000
$70,000-$95,000
2-4 years
$65,000-$85,000
$90,000-$120,000
4-6 years
$80,000-$105,000
$115,000-$145,000
6-10 years
$100,000-$125,000
$140,000-$175,000
10+ years
$115,000-$145,000
$165,000-$220,000
QA Automation Skills and Salary Impact
Skill
Salary Premium
Selenium + Java/Python
+$10,000-$20,000
Cypress/Playwright
+$8,000-$18,000
API testing (Postman, REST)
+$5,000-$12,000
CI/CD integration
+$8,000-$15,000
Performance testing (JMeter, k6)
+$10,000-$20,000
Security testing
+$12,000-$25,000
Mobile automation (Appium)
+$8,000-$18,000
Cloud testing (AWS, BrowserStack)
+$5,000-$12,000
Coding skills (Python, Java, JS)
+$15,000-$30,000
QA Certifications
Certification
Value
ISTQB Foundation
+$3,000-$8,000
ISTQB Advanced
+$5,000-$12,000
AWS Certified
+$8,000-$15,000
Certified Ethical Hacker
+$10,000-$20,000
QA Engineer After-Tax Income
Gross Salary
Federal Income Tax
Social Security + Medicare
Take-Home Before State Tax
Monthly
$80,000
$8,770
$6,120
$65,110
$5,426
$120,000
$17,570
$9,180
$93,250
$7,771
$160,000
$27,134
$12,240
$120,626
$10,052
$200,000
$36,734
$14,339
$148,927
$12,411
2026 federal income tax for a single filer taking the standard deduction ($16,100), plus Social Security and Medicare. Not included: state and local income tax, retirement contributions and other pre-tax deductions. For your own situation, use the take-home pay calculator.
QA Career Path
Stage
Years
Role
Salary
Entry
0-2
QA Analyst
$50,000-$70,000
Growth
2-4
QA Engineer
$70,000-$95,000
Senior
4-7
Senior QA/SDET
$95,000-$140,000
Lead
6-10
Lead SDET
$140,000-$180,000
Management
8+
QA Manager
$150,000-$200,000
Director
12+
Director of QA
$180,000-$250,000
Manual QA vs Automation vs SDET
Role
Focus
Salary
Career Growth
Manual QA
Test execution, exploratory
$65,000-$95,000
Limited
Automation QA
Test automation, scripts
$95,000-$140,000
Good
SDET
Frameworks, tools, code
$120,000-$180,000
Excellent
QA to Software Engineer Transition
From
To
Salary Increase
Manual QA → Automation
Same company
+20-35%
Automation QA → SDET
Same company
+15-25%
SDET → Software Engineer
May need to change
+10-20%
QA Engineer Job Outlook
Job growth: 5.7% (2025-2035) — Faster than average
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