Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,457
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$32,013
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$80,322
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$119,470
Kept after tax
$87,457
Worth in national money
$80,322
State rank
7
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays this job a middle wage of $119,470, ranking 7 of 46 states and sitting about 14.54% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations New Jersey reports, this job comes in at 64 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $119,470 the take-home is $87,457; in national-average money that behaves like $80,322. The average comes to $120,550, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey's median for software quality assurance analysts and testers is $119,470, about 14.54% above the national figure and 7 of 46 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 64 of 490 occupations by median in New Jersey, 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.
- Take-home for software quality assurance analysts and testers in New Jersey, on $119,470, is $87,457; deflated by the state's price level, $80,322. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $120,550 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $70,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $119,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $168,680 |
| This salary | $119,470 |
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 New Jersey | $87,457 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $92,877 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,255 |
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 | $111,765 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,072 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $119,470 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $70,150 and the ninetieth is $168,680 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $87,457 take-home in New Jersey comes from $119,470. 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 64 of 490.
- Two cautions on $80,322, the adjusted value of that $119,470 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Jersey. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 64 of 490 locally.
- The New Jersey median of $119,470 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $70,150 to $168,680. 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 $87,457, from $119,470, assumes a single New Jersey 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 64 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 46 for it.
- This $80,322 adjusted figure, worked from $119,470, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 64 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 64 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $70,150 at the bottom tenth to $168,680 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $80,322 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Jersey's own levy, $87,457 remains.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($70,150) and the ninetieth ($168,680) 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?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $80,322 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 $87,457 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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.