Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2019

15-1256 Software Developers and Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

This occupation includes the 2018 SOC occupations 15-1252 Software Developers and 15-1253 Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers and the 2010 SOC occupations 15-1132 Software Developers, Applications and 15-1133 Software Developers, Systems Software.

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National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
Geographic profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
1,406,870	0.8 %	$53.66	$111,620	0.7 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$30.88	$39.63	$51.69	$65.54	$79.13
Annual Wage (2)	$64,240	$82,430	$107,510	$136,320	$164,590

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Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	472,180	21.72	$52.52	$109,240
Software Publishers	122,320	28.33	$57.81	$120,250
Management of Companies and Enterprises	69,940	2.84	$52.35	$108,880
Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services	48,050	14.29	$52.83	$109,890
Other Information Services	40,670	12.53	$60.52	$125,890

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Software Publishers	122,320	28.33	$57.81	$120,250
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing	35,780	22.54	$63.34	$131,750
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	472,180	21.72	$52.52	$109,240
Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services	48,050	14.29	$52.83	$109,890
Other Information Services	40,670	12.53	$60.52	$125,890

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers	70	0.14	$101.64	$211,400
Support Activities for Water Transportation	50	0.05	$63.88	$132,870
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing	35,780	22.54	$63.34	$131,750
Cable and Other Subscription Programming	2,120	3.99	$62.50	$130,010
Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities	26,450	2.81	$61.58	$128,090

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Geographic profile for this occupation: Top

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	249,620	14.36	1.50	$64.60	$134,370
Texas	109,510	8.81	0.92	$51.89	$107,940
New York	78,890	8.28	0.86	$57.48	$119,570
Washington	77,650	23.40	2.44	$63.40	$131,870
Virginia	73,310	18.90	1.97	$55.02	$114,440

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Washington	77,650	23.40	2.44	$63.40	$131,870
Virginia	73,310	18.90	1.97	$55.02	$114,440
Colorado	44,510	16.62	1.73	$53.62	$111,540
Massachusetts	55,710	15.39	1.61	$55.42	$115,270
California	249,620	14.36	1.50	$64.60	$134,370

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	249,620	14.36	1.50	$64.60	$134,370
Washington	77,650	23.40	2.44	$63.40	$131,870
New York	78,890	8.28	0.86	$57.48	$119,570
District of Columbia	5,880	8.12	0.85	$57.01	$118,580
Maryland	29,710	11.00	1.15	$55.81	$116,080

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	100,470	10.41	1.09	$58.76	$122,230
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	81,950	71.83	7.50	$70.06	$145,730
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	71,940	35.60	3.72	$64.47	$134,090
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	70,780	22.26	2.32	$56.79	$118,110
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	65,790	26.61	2.78	$69.83	$145,250
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	56,260	9.02	0.94	$58.25	$121,150
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	55,260	19.75	2.06	$55.74	$115,940
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	51,370	14.05	1.47	$53.05	$110,340
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	46,970	10.04	1.05	$50.30	$104,610
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	40,400	14.73	1.54	$49.75	$103,490