Test Engineer salary
What a test engineer actually earns, from 77 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-28.
What the number means
A test engineer earns a blended US median near 134,824 dollars, with the typical middle running from 108,210 dollars to 179,421 dollars. The official OEWS median is 117,750 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 19 percent since 2019. Demand is rated high, and 4% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is qa engineer, at 60 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open test engineer roles
Live openings, freshest first. Apply at the source.
- Ingénieur Essais & Intégration (H/F) at Direct employerBrest, FRTodayUnlock
- Avionics Systems Verification & Validation Engineer at Direct employerDerby, GB · RemoteTodayUnlock
- ASIC Design Verification Engineer - 5 years to 13Years - Bangalore at Direct employerBangalore, IndiaTodayUnlock
- Functional Verification Engineer at Direct employerBengaluruTodayUnlock
- Senior Staff Design Verification Engineer at Direct employerIND - Karnataka - Bengaluru - CentralTodayUnlock
- Sr Cloud Test Development Engineer, Manufacturing at Direct employerFlorence, KY1d agoUnlock
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- New Mexico$142,520
- Massachusetts$132,020
- California$128,830
- Washington$125,080
- Texas$115,950
- Georgia$115,790
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a test engineer profile already covers.
- 140 open hardware engineer roles$160,338 median · +$25,514 · 51% readiness
- 1642 open systems engineer roles$150,319 median · +$15,495 · 49% readiness
- 766 open research scientist roles$142,599 median · +$7,775 · 41% readiness
- 146 open aerospace engineer roles$134,841 median · +$17 · 53% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for a test engineer.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- QA Engineer salary$120,695 median
- Aerospace Engineer salary$134,841 median
- Robotics Engineer salary$133,000 median
Quick answers
How much does a test engineer make?
The blended US median is about 134,824 dollars, with a typical range from 108,210 dollars to 179,421 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 117,750 dollars.
Is test engineer a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 4% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a test engineer move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is qa engineer, at 60 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 17-2199. Live corpus 77 observations, 2026-09-28. Definitions in the glossary.