H1B Report
Salary comparison

Physicists 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
Physicists
SOC 19-2012Rank #40

Key metrics

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

MetricPhysicistsSoftware Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Median wage$80,205$81,328
P25 wage$62,000$68,549
P75 wage$120,000$100,000
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$58,000$31,451
Total filings27,908367,097
Wage samples27,788366,392
Rank#40#4

Median wage by year

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

Physicists
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$65k
FY2011$67k
FY2012$67k
FY2013$69k
FY2014$70k
FY2015$70k
FY2016$73k
FY2017$73k
FY2018$80k
FY2019$80k
FY2020$95k
FY2021$93k
FY2022$100k
FY2023$97k
FY2024$85k
FY2025$89k
FY2026$107k
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 — Physicists

  • 1CA5,197$132,000
  • 2NY3,097$85,000
  • 3MA2,675$77,000
  • 4TX2,242$63,500
  • 5WA1,948$101,325

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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Physicists vs Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers — H-1B Salary Comparison · H1B Report