New Hampshire·Computer and Mathematical Occupations·SOC 15-1253

Best Software Quality Assurance Analyst programs in New Hampshire, ranked by enrollment

Develop and execute software tests to identify software problems and their causes. Test system modifications to prepare for implementation.

16 schools in New Hampshire run programs that feed this job, graduating 4,457 people a year. The job pays a median of $107,100 in New Hampshire across about 770 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSoftware Test EngineerSoftware Quality EngineerQuality Assurance Analyst (QA Analyst)Software Quality Assurance Engineer (SQA Engineer)Beta TesterGame TesterData ModelerTest Engineer
Graduates / yr
4,457
in New Hampshire
Median pay · New Hampshire
$107,100
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
770
people employed
Schools
16
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
49%
across those schools
Median net price
$29,600
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Hampshire that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

7 programs in New Hampshire that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Hampshire (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New Hampshire page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
12,238
50.2%
10$57,986$24,286
22,098
47.1%
7$70,374$23,250
386
1.9%
5$57,986$24,286
415
0.3%
1$78,333$24,098
513
0.3%
1$78,333$24,098
64
0.1%
2$46,719$20,729
73
0.1%
2$48,829$21,696

Top 16 schools in New Hampshire

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 6 of the 16 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Southern New Hampshire University
Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
3,233Computer and Information Sciences, General$61,32243%$34,565100%
2Rivier University
Nashua, NH Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
560Computer Science52%$25,06583%
3New England College
Henniker, NH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
226Computer and Information Sciences, General35%$30,08692%
4Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
180Computer Science$132,91996%$14,6895%
5University of New Hampshire - Main Campus
Durham, NH Public · 3 feeder programs
105Computer and Information Sciences, General$75,15676%88%
6University of New Hampshire at Manchester
Manchester, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
47Information Technology$75,15650%81%
7Keene State College
Keene, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
24Computer and Information Sciences, General$48,00360%90%
8Nashua Community College
Nashua, NH Public · 3 feeder programs
17Computer Science38%
9Plymouth State University
Plymouth, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
15Computer Science$59,20352%88%
10Great Bay Community College
Portsmouth, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
14Computer and Information Sciences, General34%
11Saint Anselm College
Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
9Computer Science80%$29,60078%
12University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online
Manchester, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
8Information Technology30%
13Manchester Community College
Manchester, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
7Computer Science41%
14NHTI - Concord's Community College
Concord, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
7Information Technology29%
15River Valley Community College
Claremont, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
4Computer and Information Sciences, General22%
16Lakes Region Community College
Laconia, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
1Computer and Information Sciences, General46%

All 16 schools in New Hampshire

Every school in New Hampshire with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in New Hampshire that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchesterPrivate not-for-profit3,2333
Rivier UniversityNashuaPrivate not-for-profit5602
New England CollegeHennikerPrivate not-for-profit2261
Dartmouth CollegeHanoverPrivate not-for-profit1801
University of New Hampshire - Main CampusDurhamPublic1053
University of New Hampshire at ManchesterManchesterPublic471
Keene State CollegeKeenePublic241
Nashua Community CollegeNashuaPublic173
Plymouth State UniversityPlymouthPublic152
Great Bay Community CollegePortsmouthPublic142
Saint Anselm CollegeManchesterPrivate not-for-profit92
University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies OnlineManchesterPublic81
Manchester Community CollegeManchesterPublic72
NHTI - Concord's Community CollegeConcordPublic72
River Valley Community CollegeClaremontPublic41

What software quality assurance analysts and testers earn in New Hampshire

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in New Hampshire
$107,100
Mean annual
$108,730
Jobs in state
770
What the range looks like
10th pct$56,190Median$107,10090th pct$160,190
Versus the national median
+2.7%

U.S. median $104,300. New Hampshire pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.94×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in New Hampshire

Manchester-Nashua, NH
$115,000median
280 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+10.0%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
14,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
20,200
201,700 → 221,900
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers page.

How to become a Software Quality Assurance Analyst

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in New Hampshire

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 15 majors mapped to Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers15 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 11.0101Computer and Information Sciences, General
  • 11.0103Information Technology
  • 11.0104Informatics
  • 11.0201Computer Programming/Programmer, General
  • 11.0202Computer Programming, Specific Applications
  • 11.0203Computer Programming, Vendor/Product Certification
  • 11.0204Computer Game Programming
  • 11.0205Computer Programming, Specific Platforms
  • 11.0501Computer Systems Analysis/Analyst
  • 11.0701Computer Science
  • 14.0901Computer Engineering, General
  • 14.0903Computer Software Engineering
  • 15.1201Computer Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.1202Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician
  • 15.1204Computer Software Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing software quality assurance analysts and testers programs in New Hampshire.

What degree do you need to become a Software Quality Assurance Analyst?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Computer and Information Sciences, General, which awarded 2,238 degrees in New Hampshire in 2024-25, 50.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Software Quality Assurance Analyst?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Computer and Information Sciences, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Programming, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 4,457 people a year in New Hampshire.

How much do software quality assurance analysts and testers earn in New Hampshire?+

The median is $107,100 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.7% above the U.S. median of $104,300. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for software quality assurance analysts and testers growing?+

BLS projects a +10.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 14,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New Hampshire?+

16 institutions in New Hampshire reported graduates from at least one of the 7 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do software quality assurance analysts and testers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Software Test Engineer, Software Quality Engineer, Quality Assurance Analyst (QA Analyst), Software Quality Assurance Engineer (SQA Engineer) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-1253.

Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in other statesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkFloridaIllinoisMassachusettsNorth CarolinaGeorgia

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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