Side-by-side distribution
QA Engineer
$136,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35.8%
- Live roles
- 2,129
Software Engineer
$191,125
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 15,329
Highest-paying jobs
Senior QA Engineer
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
Senior Associate - Test Automation & Tools Development Engineer
Senior/Staff Design for Test Engineer
Principal Electrical Engineer, Integration & Test
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Staff SDET)
Embedded Software Test Engineer, Onboard Test Automation
Principal Software Engineer in Test (SDET)
Manufacturing Software Test Engineer
Software Engineer, Manufacturing Test Systems
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Growth
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Software Engineer - Stellar
Software Engineer - EVM
Software Engineer - Compliance
Software Engineer - Solana
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Node Infra
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$164,500 | 101 |
Air Apps
|
$61,692 | 43 |
Relativity Space
|
$153,375 | 30 |
SpaceX
|
$108,750 | 18 |
|
PlayStation Global
|
$209,700 | 15 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$117,500 | 15 |
Vast
|
$166,656 | 11 |
Archer
|
$162,000 | 11 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 298 |
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 112 |
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
Databricks
|
$214,700 | 98 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 83 |
Applied Intuition
|
$180,000 | 83 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 74 |
|
SpaceX
|
$137,500 | 66 |
QA Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Seattle | $162,500 | 9 |
| San Francisco | $161,000 | 39 |
| Austin | $155,000 | 7 |
| Atlanta | $152,750 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $152,500 | 25 |
| Boston | $136,400 | 12 |
| New York | $134,750 | 12 |
| Denver | $115,000 | 4 |
| Toronto | $106,250 | 20 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,000 | 1,403 |
| Sydney | $224,060 | 8 |
| New York | $213,300 | 1,158 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 420 |
| Austin | $197,950 | 138 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 227 |
| Los Angeles | $182,500 | 164 |
| Bangalore | $181,219 | 4 |
| Chicago | $179,250 | 138 |
| Atlanta | $173,875 | 58 |
QA Engineer vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for QA Engineer is $136,000 per year (typically $107,500–$170,000), versus $191,125 for Software Engineer ($152,900–$225,000). That puts Software Engineer about 41% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so QA Engineer and Software Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.