Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,714
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,626
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,332
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$103,340
Kept after tax
$75,714
Worth in national money
$68,332
State rank
15
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. District of Columbia's middle earner gets $103,340, putting the state 15 of 46 — about 0.92% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 103 among 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $103,340, tax leaves $75,714 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $68,332 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $107,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- For software quality assurance analysts and testers, District of Columbia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $103,340, ranking 15 of 46 and running about 0.92% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 103 of 390 in District of Columbia places software quality assurance analysts and testers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $75,714 remains from the District of Columbia median of $103,340 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $68,332 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $107,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $144,820 |
| This salary | $103,340 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in District of Columbia | $75,714 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,530 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,568 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $95,074 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,504 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in District of Columbia earn less than $103,340. The published range is $65,210 up to $144,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind District of Columbia's $75,714, worked from $103,340. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 103 of 390.
- One number stands for prices across all of District of Columbia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,332, the adjusted value of that $103,340 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 103 of 390 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for software quality assurance analysts and testers in District of Columbia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,210 to $144,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The District of Columbia take-home of $75,714, on $103,340 for work ranking 103 of 390 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 103 of 390 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for District of Columbia, so $68,332 — the adjusted value of that $103,340 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 103 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $107,950, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $65,210 and the top tenth $144,820 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $68,332 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and District of Columbia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $75,714 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in District of Columbia is $107,950. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($65,210) and the ninetieth ($144,820) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,332 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $75,714 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.