Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,856
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$21,194
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,795
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$86,050
Kept after tax
$64,856
Worth in national money
$66,795
State rank
36
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $86,050, ranking 36 of 46 states — about 17.5% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 484 occupations Maine reports, this job comes in at 89 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $86,050 the take-home is $64,856, which is worth about $66,795 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $85,510, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Maine ranks 36 of 46 for software quality assurance analysts and testers, with a median of $86,050 — about 17.5% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 89 of 484 occupations by median in Maine, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for software quality assurance analysts and testers on its $86,050 median: $64,856 retained after tax becomes $66,795 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $85,510 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,360 |
| This salary | $86,050 |
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 Maine | $64,856 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,366 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,588 |
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 | $79,639 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,337 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,050 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,730 and the ninetieth is $123,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $64,856 take-home in Maine comes from $86,050. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 89 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,795 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 89.
- The Maine median of $86,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,730 to $123,360. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $64,856, from $86,050, assumes a single Maine filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 89 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,795, worked from $86,050, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 89 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,730 at the bottom tenth to $123,360 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $66,795 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $64,856 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,730) and the ninetieth ($123,360) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $66,795 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $64,856 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.