H1B Report
Salary comparison

Computer and Information Research Scientists vs Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

Side-by-side H-1B prevailing-wage comparison using the same DOL LCA data that drives every page on H1B Report. Quartiles, hiring geography, top sponsors and yearly wage drift.

Occupation A
Computer and Information Research Scientists
SOC 15-1221Rank #42

Key metrics

Wage figures are offered annual wage; volume is total LCA count.

MetricComputer and Information Research ScientistsSoftware Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Median wage$140,670$81,600
P25 wage$99,700$68,715
P75 wage$178,928$100,005
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$79,228$31,290
Total filings26,948375,227
Wage samples26,891374,517
Rank#42#4

Median wage by year

Year-over-year drift of the typical offered wage.

Computer and Information Research Scientists
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$90k
FY2011$90k
FY2012$92k
FY2013$92k
FY2014$98k
FY2015$105k
FY2016$110k
FY2017$118k
FY2018$116k
FY2019$130k
FY2020$140k
FY2021$126k
FY2022$144k
FY2023$154k
FY2024$175k
FY2025$178k
FY2026$179k
Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$75k
FY2011$70k
FY2012$68k
FY2013$68k
FY2014$69k
FY2015$70k
FY2016$71k
FY2017$74k
FY2018$82k
FY2019$85k
FY2020$88k
FY2021$94k
FY2022$97k
FY2023$98k
FY2024$100k
FY2025$103k
FY2026$107k

Top 5 hiring states — Computer and Information Research Scientists

  • 1CA9,370$170,186
  • 2WA4,140$160,000
  • 3NY3,434$125,493
  • 4MA1,686$116,400
  • 5TX1,233$106,662

Top 5 hiring states — Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

  • 1CA70,691$96,325
  • 2TX39,545$83,303
  • 3NJ23,688$72,630
  • 4WA20,111$88,000
  • 5IL18,114$74,880

Top 5 sponsors — Computer and Information Research Scientists

Top 5 sponsors — Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

Swap an entity
Replace either occupation above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.