Key findings
- US annual posted ranges (n=289) have a median midpoint of $136k; the middle half sits between $110k and $185k.
- Senior midpoints (n=73) have a median of $185k; mid-level (n=139) $114k. Junior midpoints (n=7) have a median of $75k.
- By role, the highest median among roles with at least 5 ranges is Security / Penetration Tester ($235k); the lowest is Technical Writer (QA / Docs) ($92k).
- US hourly ranges (n=55) have a median midpoint of $37 an hour. Annual ranges are 29% wide at the median, so the top of a range is not the offer.
01What the sample is
PassRidge's salary model is calibrated on 3,686 posted pay ranges (2,479 of them US) taken from public employer job boards and job feeds. The 3,863 listings in this snapshot carry 605 employer-published ranges, of which 289 are US annual ranges in dollars and 55 are US hourly ranges. Those are the ranges we can break down below.
02Pay by level
Levels with fewer than five ranges are left out. The chart shows, for each level, the spread of range midpoints for US annual postings: the thin line runs from the lowest to the highest midpoint (cut at the edge of the chart when it runs further), the red box is the middle half and the dark tick is the median.
- Middle half of ranges
- Median
- Lowest to highest
- › line continues past the axis
The median goes from $114k at mid-level (n=139) to $185k at senior (n=73), a difference of $71k. Lead (n=70) has a median of $152k, below senior: lead postings include manager roles, and with this few ranges one or two postings move the median.
03Pay by role
Roles with at least five US annual ranges are shown below. The last two columns are our own US model for a mid-level and a senior hire in the same role (salary pages). The posted figure mixes levels, so it is not directly comparable to either column.
| Role | n | Posted median | Middle half | Model mid | Model senior |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual QA Tester | 84 | $118k | $88k–$155k | $82k | $102k |
| QA Automation Engineer | 59 | $140k | $113k–$185k | $121k | $154k |
| SDET | 49 | $140k | $110k–$185k | $131k | $167k |
| QA Lead / Manager | 37 | $140k | $125k–$165k | $110k | $140k |
| Business / Test Analyst | 15 | $110k | $96k–$118k | $89k | $114k |
| Security / Penetration Tester | 15 | $235k | $182k–$235k | $181k | $231k |
| Technical Writer (QA / Docs) | 8 | $92k | $88k–$96k | $90k | $119k |
| AI / LLM Evaluation QA | 7 | $205k | $165k–$238k | $104k | $148k |
| Performance Test Engineer | 7 | $190k | $172k–$460k | $147k | $194k |
The highest posted median is Security / Penetration Tester ($235k) and the lowest Technical Writer (QA / Docs) ($92k). Posted medians can sit above our model because they come from US employers that publish ranges, mostly technology companies, and because a role name hides different levels. Release / DevOps Engineer, Mobile QA Engineer, Accessibility Tester and Data / ETL QA Engineer have fewer than five US annual ranges each, so we do not publish a posted median for them. Where posted data is thin, the salary pages lean on the model and say so.
04Hourly and contract ranges
55 US ranges in the listings are hourly.
| Role | n | Median midpoint | Lowest to highest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual QA Tester | 33 | $37 | $18–$90 |
| SDET | 5 | $65 | $40–$82 |
| QA Automation Engineer | 5 | $37 | $28–$90 |
| Technical Writer (QA / Docs) | 3 | $39 | $36–$42 |
| Performance Test Engineer | 2 | $47.5 | $22–$70 |
| QA Lead / Manager | 2 | $44.5 | $30–$65 |
| Game QA Tester | 2 | $15.5 | $10–$25 |
| AI / LLM Evaluation QA | 1 | $62.5 | $40–$85 |
| Business / Test Analyst | 1 | $35 | $30–$40 |
| Localization QA Tester | 1 | $32 | $32–$32 |
Annualised at 2,080 hours, the median hourly midpoint ($37) is $77k a year. Contract rates have to cover benefits, tax and gaps between jobs, so do not compare them one-to-one with a salary.
05Outside the United States
Outside the US the sample is far smaller. Three countries have enough ranges to show at all, and none has enough to publish a role-by-role table.
| Country | n | Median midpoint | Currencies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 132 | $102k | CAD/USD |
| United Kingdom | 29 | $57k | EUR/GBP/USD |
| Germany | 8 | $74k | EUR/USD |
261 of the 605 posted ranges are not US dollar ranges. Most employers outside the US and Canada do not publish a range at all; the pay transparency article shows by how much.
06Method and limits
Sample: 3,863 public postings harvested 20 Oct 2026 from employer career pages and public job feeds. Listings are postings, not people or confirmed openings: one role open in several cities counts several times (2,417 distinct titles across 3,863 postings). PassRidge talent-pipeline roles (149) are excluded from every statistic.
The calibration set (3,686 observations) and the listing-level ranges used here (605) come from the same harvest but are counted differently, so the two numbers differ.
Pay figures use only ranges the employer published (605 postings). Ranges in other currencies are converted at the indicative rates in our rate table dated 2026-10-01; hourly ranges are annualised at 2,080 hours. Employers that publish a range are not a random sample of employers, and most of them are US companies.
The method for roles, tools and pay is documented on our salary methodology page. Spot an error? Write to [email protected].
Go deeper
Sources
- PassRidge public listing snapshot, 20 Oct 2026
- PassRidge pay model calibration set