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The differences between quality assurance chemists and quality control analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality assurance chemist has an average salary of $59,242, which is higher than the $59,217 average annual salary of a quality control analyst.
The top three skills for a quality assurance chemist include lab equipment, R and HPLC. The most important skills for a quality control analyst are QC, lab equipment, and microbiology.
| Quality Assurance Chemist | Quality Control Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $59,242 | $59,217 |
| Hourly rate | $28.48 | $28.47 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 66,457 | 85,546 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 83% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Quality Assurance Chemists generally offer pay of around $54K per year and require strong skills in analysis and instrumentation and general knowledge of chemistry, attention to detail, and various organizational skills. Also, they must be able to investigate and analyze problems whenever they crop up. This career choice requires a bachelor's or advanced degree in chemistry, depending on the industry, and will often be offered in pharmaceutical fields, where standard duties consist of the measurement and testing of lab materials and products according to industry standards.
Quality assurance representatives are professionals who are responsible for ensuring the quality of units produced or manufactured is following the standards set by the industry. These representatives supervise the entire production process to identify erroneous methods or tools being used by workers and observing produced for visible defects. They are required to perform various tests to check for the durability of the product and other desirable characteristics. Quality assurance representatives must also collaborate with the manufacturing engineer to implement quality control programs and preparing training manuals and quality guidelines.
Quality assurance chemists and quality control analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Assurance Chemist | Quality Control Analyst | |
| Average salary | $59,242 | $59,217 |
| Salary range | Between $42,000 And $82,000 | Between $40,000 And $86,000 |
| Highest paying City | East Windsor, NJ | Raleigh, NC |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | North Carolina |
| Best paying company | Clariant | Barclays |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a quality assurance chemist and a quality control analyst in terms of educational background:
| Quality Assurance Chemist | Quality Control Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 83% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Biology |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality assurance chemists' and quality control analysts' demographics:
| Quality Assurance Chemist | Quality Control Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 60.1% Female, 39.9% | Male, 45.7% Female, 54.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 18.2% White, 59.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 12.8% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 8% |