H1B Report
Salary comparison

Economists 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
Economists
SOC 19-3011Rank #65

Key metrics

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

MetricEconomistsSoftware Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Median wage$94,924$81,328
P25 wage$75,000$68,549
P75 wage$129,485$100,000
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$54,485$31,451
Total filings12,851367,097
Wage samples12,796366,392
Rank#65#4

Median wage by year

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

Economists
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$85k
FY2011$81k
FY2012$81k
FY2013$80k
FY2014$80k
FY2015$82k
FY2016$85k
FY2017$85k
FY2018$89k
FY2019$95k
FY2020$94k
FY2021$102k
FY2022$110k
FY2023$114k
FY2024$120k
FY2025$120k
FY2026$150k
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$110k

Top 5 hiring states — Economists

  • 1NY2,601$102,482
  • 2CA1,853$100,000
  • 3DC1,003$125,000
  • 4MA950$95,763
  • 5TX813$90,000

Top 5 hiring states — Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

  • 1CA69,271$96,325
  • 2TX38,277$82,710
  • 3NJ23,266$72,030
  • 4WA19,761$87,942
  • 5IL17,732$74,818

Top 5 sponsors — Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

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Replace either occupation above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.
Economists vs Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers — H-1B Salary Comparison · H1B Report