Software quality assurance analysts and testers job market in Kentucky
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Kentucky industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Software quality assurance analysts and testers in Kentucky.
Occupation pay
What Software quality assurance analysts and testers earn in Kentucky
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$79,100Kentucky- Middle 50% of published wages
- $62,310 – $102,240
- U.S. median annual wage
- $104,300
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Kentucky
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Software quality assurance analysts and testers, compared with the Kentucky median of $79,100.
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$87,940+11.2% vs. state
Paducah, KY-IL$79,340+0.3% vs. state
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN$79,040−0.1% vs. state
Lexington-Fayette, KY$78,800−0.4% vs. state
Elizabethtown, KY$65,710−16.9% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Kentucky median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Kentucky’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 52,101 represented establishments, 82.24% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Kentucky
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
Kentucky's share of employment in software quality assurance analysts and testers differs from the national share in OEWS May 2025. The published location quotient of 0.37 expresses the state share as 0.37 times the national share. The state estimate is 890 jobs, 0.5% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.45 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The ratio describes employment concentration, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
Median annual pay in Kentucky stands 24.2% below the U.S. estimate for software quality assurance analysts and testers. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $79,100 for the state and $104,300 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry groups are pulling in opposite directions
A single industry employment figure combines an increase and a decrease in Kentucky in January to March 2026. Among the leading industry groups for this occupation, Professional and business services changed +0.7% year over year and Manufacturing changed -3.4%. The groups examined cover 98.1% of the occupation's national industry mix.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPay differs widely between metro areas
Elizabethtown, KY and Paducah, KY-IL define the low and high ends of this published median-pay comparison for Kentucky. Their estimates are $65,710 and $79,340, respectively, in OEWS May 2025; the high end is 20.7% higher. The comparison includes 4 metro areas on the same wage basis and does not measure living costs or job availability.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSMetro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.
Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Kentucky industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Kentucky · 2026 Q10.0%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.3%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Kentucky | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -1.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | -2.5% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | -2.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | -1.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | -0.7% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | 0.0% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Kentucky’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.3%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Software quality assurance analysts and testers Work
The occupation mix determines which Kentucky industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | 52.0% | +0.7% | 32,895 | $1,427 |
| Information | 16.7% | -1.4% | 4,439 | $1,757 |
| Financial activities | 13.5% | +0.8% | 14,767 | $2,042 |
| Manufacturing | 8.6% | -3.4% | 7,646 | $1,566 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 4.5% | -0.6% | 30,548 | $1,148 |
| Private education and health services | 2.8% | +1.1% | 27,969 | $1,259 |
Which industries are growing?
3 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Kentucky employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+1.1%
- Financial activities+0.8%
- Professional and business services+0.7%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Kentucky context
Current Kentucky Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Kentucky. They are not Software quality assurance analysts and testers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Kentucky
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 100.82 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 100.32 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 99.22 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 98.73 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 98.90 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 99.06 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 99.83 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 101.12 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 101.43 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 102.87 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 102.25 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 102.87 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 102.68 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 102.78 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Software quality assurance analysts and testers in Kentucky FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Software quality assurance analysts and testers in Kentucky?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Kentucky industries weighted to Software quality assurance analysts and testers changed 0.0% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.3% nationwide.
Are wages for Software quality assurance analysts and testers rising in Kentucky?
QCEW does not publish pay for Software quality assurance analysts and testers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +3.2% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Kentucky industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Software quality assurance analysts and testers openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers
- SOC code
- 15-1253
- State
- Kentucky
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- 0.0%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.3%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.3 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +1.3%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +3.2%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/software-quality-assurance-analysts-and-testers/kentucky#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.