Being a tester myself, I am sure you have wondered how much money a software tester makes. The truth is it isn’t set in stone and the wage can vary depending on your role, experience, company, and even the city you work in. I decided to do some research on software tester salaries.
In this blog post, I’ll share the average salary for a software tester in the US, the top-paying cities, and the average salaries for typical software testing roles. Let’s start with the short answer, then dig into the details.
How much can you make as a software tester?
According to Payscale, the salary for a Software Tester in the US ranges between $39,000 and $88,000, with an average of $56,600.
The average salary for software testers based on experience is:
| Experience Level | Salary Range | Average Salary |
| Entry level | $34k – $67k | $47,476.00 |
| Early Career | $39k – $80k | $52,789.00 |
| Mid Career | $49k – $93k | $68,533.00 |
| Experienced | $51k – $104k | $73,659.00 |
| Late Career | $51k – $109k | $80,924.00 |
The table above gives us a broad idea of a software testers’ salary, but getting into more detail the salary ranges can actually vary quite a bit.
Top Software Tester Salaries by City
OK, so I went through all the US Cities listed on Payscale that had data for average software tester salary.
According to Payscale, the top-paying city for software testing is Cary, North Carolina, topping the list of average salaries with a $95,772.00 average income.
According to Payscale, the worst-paying city for software testing is Irving, Texas, last on the list of average salaries with a $35,000.00 average income.
According to Payscale, the top-paying cities for software testers in the US are:
| City | Salary Range | Average Salary |
| Cary, North Carolina | $84k – $100k | $95,772.00 |
| Fairfax, Virginia | Not Available | $89,826.00 |
| Chantilly, Virginia | Not Available | $87,921.00 |
| San Francisco, California | $37k – $119k | $87,429.00 |
| San Diego, California | $62k – $92k | $79,996.00 |
| San Jose, California | Not Available | $76,000.00 |
| Miami, Florida | Not Available | $72,500.00 |
| Gaithersburg, Maryland | Not Available | $72,000.00 |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | $60k – $83k | $71,668.00 |
| Phoenix, Arizona | Not Available | $70,442.00 |
| Washington, District of Columbia | $39k – $103k | $70,228.00 |
| California City, California | Not Available | $70,000.00 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | $51k – $82k | $70,000.00 |
| Newark, New Jersey | $53k – $75k | $68,784.00 |
| Vienna, Virginia | Not Available | $68,000.00 |
| Arlington, Virginia | Not Available | $65,000.00 |
| Dallas, Texas | $51k – $70k | $65,000.00 |
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Not Available | $65,000.00 |
| Hartford, Connecticut | Not Available | $62,500.00 |
| Logan, Utah | Not Available | $62,500.00 |
| Houston, Texas | $37k – $74k | $62,403.00 |
| Reston, Virginia | Not Available | $61,042.00 |
| Lehi, Utah | Not Available | $61,000.00 |
| Austin, Texas | $26k – $78k | $60,678.00 |
| Milwaukee, Wisconsin | $57k – $68k | $60,565.00 |
| Richmond, Virginia | Not Available | $60,565.00 |
| New York, New York | $42k – $102k | $60,402.00 |
| Jacksonville, Florida | Not Available | $60,396.00 |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | $45k – $77k | $60,000.00 |
| Detroit, Michigan | $43k – $82k | $60,000.00 |
| Raleigh, North Carolina | $44k – $78k | $60,000.00 |
| St. Louis, Missouri | Not Available | $60,000.00 |
| Seattle, Washington | $36k – $107k | $59,778.00 |
| Alpharetta, Georgia | $45k – $72k | $57,938.00 |
| Los Angeles, California | $45k – $99k | $56,500.00 |
| Charlotte, North Carolina | $43k – $72k | $56,000.00 |
| Lansing, Michigan | Not Available | $55,955.00 |
| Nashville, Tennessee | Not Available | $55,750.00 |
| Bellevue, Washington | Not Available | $55,740.00 |
| Okemos, Michigan | $20k – $58k | $55,627.00 |
| Herndon, Virginia | Not Available | $55,000.00 |
| Baltimore, Maryland | Not Available | $54,795.00 |
| Atlanta, Georgia | $44k – $83k | $53,863.00 |
| Huntsville, Alabama | $46k – $64k | $53,846.00 |
| Denver, Colorado | $39k – $91k | $51,776.00 |
| Boston, Massachusetts | $50k – $69k | $51,349.00 |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | $41k – $67k | $51,000.00 |
| Chicago, Illinois | $38k – $83k | $50,952.00 |
| Lexington Park, Maryland | Not Available | $50,398.00 |
| Columbus, Ohio | $42k – $64k | $50,356.00 |
| Colorado Springs, Colorado | Not Available | $50,250.00 |
| Madison, Wisconsin | $40k – $88k | $50,146.00 |
| Plano, Texas | Not Available | $50,000.00 |
| Lexington, Kentucky | Not Available | $48,980.00 |
| Portland, Oregon | $46k – $55k | $48,623.00 |
| Cincinnati, Ohio | $34k – $71k | $47,500.00 |
| San Antonio, Texas | Not Available | $47,500.00 |
| Tampa, Florida | Not Available | $47,500.00 |
| Columbia, South Carolina | Not Available | $47,166.00 |
| Indianapolis, Indiana | $32k – $84k | $45,818.00 |
| Irvine, California | Not Available | $45,683.00 |
| Boise, Idaho | Not Available | $45,500.00 |
| Manhasset, New York | Not Available | $44,660.00 |
| McLean, Virginia | Not Available | $44,000.00 |
| Framingham, Massachusetts | Not Available | $43,450.00 |
| Redmond, Washington | $38k – $51k | $42,500.00 |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Not Available | $41,995.00 |
| Orlando, Florida | $32k – $50k | $40,000.00 |
| Cleveland, Ohio | $34k – $60k | $39,221.00 |
| Irving, Texas | Not Available | $35,000.00 |
Top Tester Salary by Role
Now, how about other roles in the software testing world? Searching once more through Payscale, we see that a Software tester is actually at the bottom of the payroll. Management and engineering or technical roles in software testing get better pay.
According to Payscale, the top tester salary by roles are:
| Role | Salary Range | Average Salary |
| Test Manager | $62k – $135k | $98,926.00 |
| Test Automation Engineer | $69k – $127k | $93,735.00 |
| Senior Performance Test Engineer | $83k – $98k | $90,964.00 |
| Test Engineer | $56k – $102k | $72,490.00 |
| Automation Tester | $45k – $111k | $69,906.00 |
| Performance Tester | $55k – $97k | $67,244.00 |
| Software Tester | $39k – $88k | $56,600.00 |
