Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$99,082
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$29,398
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,268
Washington costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Washington — 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
$128,480
Kept after tax
$99,082
Worth in national money
$91,268
State rank
2
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Washington is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $128,480, which ranks 2 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 23.18% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Washington. It ranks 54 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $128,480 the take-home is $99,082. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $91,268 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $131,090, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 2 of 46 states publishing a median for software quality assurance analysts and testers, at $128,480 — about 23.18% 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 Washington, software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 54 of 493 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $99,082 for software quality assurance analysts and testers, from $128,480. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $91,268. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $131,090 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 | $74,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $128,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $202,730 |
| This salary | $128,480 |
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 Washington | $99,082 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,082 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,695 |
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 | $128,480 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,963 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Washington earn less than $128,480. The published range is $74,180 up to $202,730, 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 Washington's $99,082, worked from $128,480. 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 54 of 493.
- Two cautions on $91,268, the adjusted value of that $128,480 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. 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 54 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Washington the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $74,180 to $202,730. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Washington take-home of $99,082, on $128,480 for work ranking 54 of 493 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 54 of 493 in the state.
- This $91,268 adjusted figure, worked from $128,480, 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 54 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 54 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $74,180, the highest tenth $202,730, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $91,268 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $99,082 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 ($74,180) and the ninetieth ($202,730) 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?
Washington's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $91,268 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Washington levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $99,082 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.