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

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

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

123 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 15,683 people a year. The job pays a median of $121,240 in New York across about 10,460 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
15,683
in New York
Median pay · New York
$121,240
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
10,460
people employed
Schools
123
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
54%
across those schools
Median net price
$25,812
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New York that lead to this job

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

12 programs in New York that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New York (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 York page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 11.0701In New York
7,612
48.5%
79$70,374$23,250
2
CIP 11.0101In New York
4,327
27.6%
42$57,986$24,286
3
CIP 11.0103In New York
1,511
9.6%
33$57,986$24,286
4
CIP 14.0901In New York
947
6.0%
14$78,333$24,098
5
CIP 11.0104In New York
548
3.5%
5$57,986$24,286
6
CIP 11.0201In New York
184
1.2%
10$46,719$20,729
7
CIP 14.0903In New York
183
1.2%
5$78,333$24,098
8
CIP 15.1201In New York
172
1.1%
8$48,829$21,696
9
CIP 15.1202In New York
98
0.6%
6$48,829$21,696
10
CIP 11.0501In New York
46
0.3%
2$51,805$46,000
11
CIP 11.0204In New York
30
0.2%
3$46,719$20,729
12
CIP 11.0202In New York
25
0.2%
3$46,719$20,729

Top 25 schools in New York

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 39 of the 123 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1New York University
New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
1,859Computer and Information Sciences, General$87,60888%$29,0239%
2Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
1,568Computer Science$118,63696%$15,3154%
3Cornell University
Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
1,453Computer Science$152,65695%$17,6139%
4University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY Public · 3 feeder programs
821Computer and Information Sciences, General75%74%
5Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 7 feeder programs
796Computer Science$94,61170%$28,13367%
6Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
762Computer Science76%49%
7Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
619Computer and Information Sciences, General$82,37884%$28,85146%
8Pace University
New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
580Computer Science$60,55160%$29,99476%
9Binghamton University
Vestal, NY Public · 3 feeder programs
530Computer Science$82,32982%39%
10Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
432Computer Science$104,94384%$28,90063%
11University at Albany
Albany, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
409Computer Science61%69%
12CUNY Hunter College
New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
346Computer Science$76,74757%54%
13CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College
New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
280Computer Science25%
14CUNY New York City College of Technology
Brooklyn, NY Public · 3 feeder programs
276Computer and Information Sciences, General$21,37521%80%
15New York Institute of Technology
Old Westbury, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
229Computer and Information Sciences, General$43,80159%$22,15881%
16University of Rochester
Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
216Computer Science$99,87885%$25,87440%
17CUNY Brooklyn College
Brooklyn, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
215Computer and Information Sciences, General$51,86254%58%
18Monroe University
Bronx, NY Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs
210Computer Science57%$12,02868%
19CUNY Queens College
Queens, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
198Computer Science$63,63253%64%
20CUNY LaGuardia Community College
Long Island City, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
172Computer Science$24,88824%
21Farmingdale State College
Farmingdale, NY Public · 3 feeder programs
171Computer Programming/Programmer, General$45,38353%63%
22CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs
165Information Technology72%48%
23SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Utica, NY Public · 3 feeder programs
158Computer Science55%81%
24Fordham University
Bronx, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
153Computer and Information Sciences, General$64,61482%$38,93159%
25Marist University
Poughkeepsie, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
145Computer and Information Sciences, General$77,31580%$33,86757%

All 123 schools in New York

Every school in New York 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 York that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
New York UniversityNew YorkPrivate not-for-profit1,8594
Columbia University in the City of New YorkNew YorkPrivate not-for-profit1,5684
Cornell UniversityIthacaPrivate not-for-profit1,4533
University at BuffaloBuffaloPublic8213
Rochester Institute of TechnologyRochesterPrivate not-for-profit7967
Stony Brook UniversityStony BrookPublic7622
Syracuse UniversitySyracusePrivate not-for-profit6194
Pace UniversityNew YorkPrivate not-for-profit5804
Binghamton UniversityVestalPublic5303
Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteTroyPrivate not-for-profit4323
University at AlbanyAlbanyPublic4092
CUNY Hunter CollegeNew YorkPublic3461
CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community CollegeNew YorkPublic2802
CUNY New York City College of TechnologyBrooklynPublic2763
New York Institute of TechnologyOld WestburyPrivate not-for-profit2292

What software quality assurance analysts and testers earn in New York

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

Median annual in New York
$121,240
Mean annual
$122,950
Jobs in state
10,460
What the range looks like
10th pct$58,180Median$121,24090th pct$182,910
Versus the national median
+16.2%

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

Job concentration
0.90×

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

Metro areas in New York

Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY
$130,710median
170 jobs
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
$130,540median
11,460 jobs
Utica-Rome, NY
$99,880median
50 jobs
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
$100,690median
430 jobs
Binghamton, NY
$105,170median
110 jobs
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
$101,880median
340 jobs
Ithaca, NY
$94,990median
40 jobs
Rochester, NY
$97,840median
490 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 York

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 York.

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 Science, which awarded 7,612 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 48.5% 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 12 programs to this occupation. The largest are Computer Science, Computer and Information Sciences, Computer Engineering, Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, plus 2 more. Together they graduate about 15,683 people a year in New York.

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

The median is $121,240 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 16.2% 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 York?+

123 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 12 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 statesCaliforniaTexasFloridaIllinoisMassachusettsNorth CarolinaGeorgiaUtah

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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