What a QA tester costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 186,740 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $104,300
- Hourly wage
- $50.14
- Loaded per hour
- $62.45
- Middle half earns
- $80,310 to $133,180
- Jobs in the US
- 186,740
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A QA tester in the US is paid a median $104,300 a year, $50.14 an hour, across 186,740 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $129,910. Of its 10 core tasks, 6 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 5 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for software quality assurance analysts and testers, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Identify, analyze, and document problems with program function, output, online screen, or content.Claude.ai: 81% did the task, 19% helped · API: 96% did the task
- 02Document software defects, using a bug tracking system, and report defects to software developers.Claude.ai: 54% did the task, 46% helped · API: 99% did the task
- 03Develop testing programs that address areas such as database impacts, software scenarios, regression testing, negative testing, error or bug retests, or usability.API: 88% did the task, 12% helped
- 04Design test plans, scenarios, scripts, or procedures.API: 97% did the task, 3% helped
- 05Document test procedures to ensure replicability and compliance with standards.Claude.ai: 71% did the task, 29% helped · API: 95% did the task
- 06Provide feedback and recommendations to developers on software usability and functionality.Claude.ai: 41% did the task, 59% helped · API: 78% did the task
- 07Install, maintain, or use software testing programs.API: 100% did the task, 0% helped
- 08Test system modifications to prepare for implementation.Claude.ai: 97% did the task, 3% helped · API: 96% did the task
- 09Create or maintain databases of known test defects.
- 10Monitor bug resolution efforts and track successes.Claude.ai: 97% did the task, 3% helped · API: 99% did the task
6 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026, and 3 more only in its sample of API traffic, where businesses run Claude inside their own software. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 1.32% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. California pays the most, $128,740; West Virginia the least, $62,300. BLS publishes no figure where its sample is too small, which leaves 5 gaps here.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $101,500 | $126,420 | $78,520 to $130,320 | 1,760 |
| Alaska | Not published | · | · | · |
| Arizona | $100,650 | $125,360 | $77,180 to $124,840 | 3,890 |
| Arkansas | Not published | · | · | · |
| California | $128,740 | $160,350 | $93,530 to $165,530 | 27,710 |
| Colorado | $123,690 | $154,060 | $96,310 to $143,780 | 5,110 |
| Connecticut | $97,740 | $121,740 | $75,020 to $123,420 | 1,160 |
| Delaware | $106,060 | $132,100 | $88,410 to $131,770 | 520 |
| District of Columbia | $103,340 | $128,710 | $80,710 to $130,920 | 760 |
| Florida | $100,210 | $124,810 | $76,760 to $125,280 | 10,320 |
| Georgia | $103,040 | $128,340 | $82,620 to $125,610 | 7,110 |
| Hawaii | $102,930 | $128,200 | $78,180 to $130,860 | · |
| Idaho | Not published | · | · | 560 |
| Illinois | $104,910 | $130,670 | $83,020 to $130,290 | 6,530 |
| Indiana | $87,020 | $108,380 | $72,290 to $105,800 | 1,610 |
| Iowa | $88,590 | $110,340 | $76,270 to $105,930 | 1,000 |
| Kansas | $94,490 | $117,690 | $72,750 to $105,090 | 1,140 |
| Kentucky | $79,100 | $98,520 | $62,310 to $102,240 | 890 |
| Louisiana | $66,810 | $83,210 | $39,830 to $84,400 | 450 |
| Maine | $86,050 | $107,180 | $68,050 to $100,600 | 390 |
| Maryland | $111,100 | $138,380 | $100,600 to $140,880 | 5,880 |
| Massachusetts | $122,210 | $152,210 | $80,160 to $141,500 | 6,640 |
| Michigan | $98,720 | $122,960 | $74,640 to $115,500 | 3,480 |
| Minnesota | $101,700 | $126,670 | $80,610 to $128,450 | 2,630 |
| Mississippi | $79,890 | $99,500 | $61,400 to $99,700 | 350 |
| Missouri | $85,530 | $106,530 | $71,190 to $109,400 | 2,930 |
| Montana | $103,930 | $129,440 | $84,050 to $134,650 | 150 |
| Nebraska | $98,010 | $122,070 | $78,900 to $119,960 | 1,240 |
| Nevada | Not published | · | · | 1,270 |
| New Hampshire | $107,100 | $133,390 | $78,960 to $138,350 | 770 |
| New Jersey | $119,470 | $148,800 | $91,370 to $138,690 | 6,550 |
| New Mexico | $116,580 | $145,200 | $91,780 to $132,050 | 450 |
| New York | $121,240 | $151,000 | $86,260 to $153,680 | 10,460 |
| North Carolina | $100,390 | $125,040 | $74,250 to $128,190 | 8,890 |
| North Dakota | $83,920 | $104,520 | $78,520 to $87,380 | 200 |
| Ohio | $98,000 | $122,060 | $78,380 to $106,430 | 4,400 |
| Oklahoma | $77,700 | $96,780 | $60,940 to $96,090 | 1,620 |
| Oregon | $108,440 | $135,060 | $79,400 to $146,120 | 1,840 |
| Pennsylvania | $93,030 | $115,870 | $69,720 to $113,190 | 4,530 |
| Rhode Island | $101,790 | $126,780 | $89,220 to $131,050 | 400 |
| South Carolina | $97,500 | $121,440 | $79,990 to $108,340 | 1,740 |
| South Dakota | $68,120 | $84,840 | $55,400 to $84,950 | 220 |
| Tennessee | $91,040 | $113,390 | $75,570 to $105,000 | 1,530 |
| Texas | $101,850 | $126,850 | $79,670 to $127,760 | 19,590 |
| Utah | $82,100 | $102,260 | $61,530 to $106,030 | 2,600 |
| Vermont | $76,580 | $95,380 | $65,070 to $104,160 | 170 |
| Virginia | $121,590 | $151,440 | $98,120 to $136,870 | 10,160 |
| Washington | $128,480 | $160,020 | $96,740 to $164,470 | 7,970 |
| West Virginia | $62,300 | $77,590 | $48,200 to $102,080 | 390 |
| Wisconsin | $89,400 | $111,350 | $65,770 to $118,670 | 3,800 |
| Wyoming | Not published | · | · | · |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 15-1253 (Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 15-1253.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $129,910 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index