Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,481
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$21,369
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$82,821
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$101,850
Kept after tax
$80,481
Worth in national money
$82,821
State rank
18
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 18 of 46 states for this job, with a middle wage of $101,850. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Texas this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 59 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $101,850 the take-home is $80,481, which is worth about $82,821 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $104,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 18 of 46 for software quality assurance analysts and testers at $101,850. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Texas publishes a median for, software quality assurance analysts and testers sits 59 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for software quality assurance analysts and testers on its $101,850 median: $80,481 retained after tax becomes $82,821 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $104,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $59,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $153,380 |
| This salary | $101,850 |
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 Texas | $80,481 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $80,481 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,025 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $101,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,390 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of software quality assurance analysts and testers in Texas earn under $101,850 and half over. The published range runs $59,010 at the tenth percentile to $153,380 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $80,481 take-home in Texas comes from $101,850. 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 59 of 493.
- Two cautions on $82,821, the adjusted value of that $101,850 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. 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 59 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,010 to $153,380; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $80,481, from $101,850, assumes a single Texas 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 59 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 46 for it.
- This $82,821 adjusted figure, worked from $101,850, 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 59 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 59 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $59,010 at the bottom tenth to $153,380 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 Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $82,821 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $80,481 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($59,010) and the ninetieth ($153,380) 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?
Texas'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 $82,821 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $80,481 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.