H1B Report
Salary comparison

Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers vs Computer Programmers

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 B
Computer Programmers
SOC 15-1251Rank #6

Key metrics

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

MetricSoftware Quality Assurance Analysts and TestersComputer Programmers
Median wage$81,328$68,640
P25 wage$68,549$61,000
P75 wage$100,000$80,000
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$31,451$19,000
Total filings367,097307,209
Wage samples366,392305,925
Rank#4#6

Median wage by year

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

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
Computer Programmers
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$60k
FY2011$62k
FY2012$62k
FY2013$63k
FY2014$65k
FY2015$67k
FY2016$68k
FY2017$69k
FY2018$74k
FY2019$77k
FY2020$78k
FY2021$85k
FY2022$87k
FY2023$86k
FY2024$94k
FY2025$94k
FY2026$99k

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 hiring states — Computer Programmers

  • 1CA37,498$75,000
  • 2TX37,159$69,200
  • 3NJ28,375$70,000
  • 4IL21,419$66,082
  • 5NY15,839$70,500

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