QA Salary Trends 2026 — What To Ask For

Use public sources, not anecdotes, to anchor your number:

• levels.fyi — comp at top tech employers, broken out by level and location.
• BLS Occupational Employment Statistics — median pay for "Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers" in the US.
• Glassdoor / Levels.fyi salary pages — role + city.

Rule of thumb for 2026:

• Entry manual QA: anchor at the 50th percentile for your metro.
• Automation engineer with 2+ years: anchor at the 75th.
• Remote roles: pay band usually follows the company's HQ city, not yours.

Never give the first number. When asked, say "based on the market for this role and location, I'm targeting X–Y."