H1B Report
Salary comparison

Software Developers 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
Software Developers
SOC 15-1252Rank #1

Key metrics

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

MetricSoftware DevelopersSoftware Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
Median wage$102,690$81,600
P25 wage$84,300$68,715
P75 wage$131,000$100,005
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$46,700$31,290
Total filings2,843,747375,227
Wage samples2,838,792374,517
Rank#1#4

Median wage by year

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

Software Developers
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$80k
FY2011$80k
FY2012$81k
FY2013$82k
FY2014$82k
FY2015$82k
FY2016$84k
FY2017$90k
FY2018$93k
FY2019$96k
FY2020$103k
FY2021$112k
FY2022$115k
FY2023$120k
FY2024$124k
FY2025$133k
FY2026$140k
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 — Software Developers

  • 1CA589,072$130,894
  • 2TX340,929$99,861
  • 3WA183,730$136,800
  • 4NJ155,389$100,000
  • 5NY131,510$112,700

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 — 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.