QA Engineer Salary: $92K US Median

The 2026 US national median QA Engineer salary is $92,000 per year. Entry-level (25th percentile) starts at $59,800, while experienced professionals (90th percentile) earn $151,800 or more. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, blended with 2026 market data from Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and Robert Half.

Yes — QA Engineer salaries grew approximately 520.0% year-over-year, from $14,839 in 2025 to $92,000 in 2026 (+$77,161). This reflects the Technology sector's 2025-2026 wage growth, driven by demand for Playwright and Cypress.

The 5 highest-paying US cities for QA Engineers: San Francisco, CA ($143K); Oakland, CA ($129K); New York, NY ($124K); Seattle, WA ($121K); Washington, DC ($120K). Note these higher salaries usually correspond to higher cost-of-living — see individual city pages for purchasing-power-adjusted figures.

Lowest-paying metros for QA Engineers: Wichita ($78K), El Paso ($78K), Tulsa ($81K). However, these cities also have proportionally lower cost-of-living, so real purchasing power may exceed expensive metros.

QA engineer roles projected to grow 10% through 2034. Shift-left testing and test automation skills commanding premiums. BLS projects 10% employment growth from 2024-2034 — faster than average compared to all US occupations.

The hottest 2026 skills are: Playwright, Cypress, API testing, CI/CD test pipelines, AI-assisted testing, performance testing. These appear in the highest-paying job listings, command 15-30% salary premiums, and are heavily weighted by ATS keyword filters. Adding them to your resume — naturally and in context — significantly improves your match rate.

Bachelor's degree or equivalent (bootcamps acceptable). However, the 2026 market increasingly values demonstrable skills, portfolios, and certifications alongside (or in place of) traditional degrees — particularly in Technology. Top recognized credentials: ISTQB Foundation, Certified Software Tester (CSTE), Selenium WebDriver.

Based on levels.fyi data and what I'm seeing from comparable offers, total compensation for this level is closer to $X base plus equity. Can we close the gap on base or front-load the RSU grant? Key leverage points for Technology: Reference levels.fyi total compensation data for your level (L4/L5/etc.) at comparable companies; Quantify recent shipped impact: latency reduced, revenue driven, on-call incidents resolved; Hold a competing offer (or credible interview pipeline) before the salary conversation. Beyond base salary, negotiate: Sign-on bonus ($25K-$100K is standard at Big Tech), RSU refreshers and accelerated vesting cliffs, Remote/hybrid flexibility and home-office stipend, Annual learning budget and conference allowance.

Major US employers hiring QA Engineers include: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Oracle, Adobe, Cisco, Capgemini. Most use ATS software (Workday, Greenhouse, Taleo, iCIMS) to screen resumes — meaning your resume must be ATS-optimized to even reach a human recruiter.

Entry-level (0–1 year) QA Engineers typically earn around $66,019. By year 2–3, salary climbs to $71,760. With 7–10 years of experience, QA Engineers earn $121,440 on average. Senior/lead roles (15+ years) reach $136,620 or more.