Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$88,138
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$33,452
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,483
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$121,590
Kept after tax
$88,138
Worth in national money
$87,483
State rank
5
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $121,590, which ranks 5 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 16.58% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Virginia. It ranks 44 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $121,590, tax leaves $88,138, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $87,483 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $121,160.
- Virginia ranks 5 of 46 states publishing a median for software quality assurance analysts and testers, at $121,590 — about 16.58% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Virginia, software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 44 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for software quality assurance analysts and testers — median $121,590 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $88,138 retained, $87,483 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $121,160 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $78,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $121,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $169,200 |
| This salary | $121,590 |
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 Virginia | $88,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $94,369 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,629 |
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 | $112,733 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,301 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Virginia earn under $121,590 and half over. The published range runs $78,820 at the tenth percentile to $169,200 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $88,138, worked from $121,590. 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 44 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $87,483, the adjusted value of that $121,590 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 44 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $78,820 to $169,200; 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.
- The Virginia take-home of $88,138, on $121,590 for work ranking 44 of 489 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 44 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $87,483 — the adjusted value of that $121,590 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 44 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $78,820, the highest tenth $169,200, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $87,483 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $88,138.
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 ($78,820) and the ninetieth ($169,200) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $87,483 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 $88,138 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.