H-1B Wage Analytics

DOL Labor Condition Application disclosures — FY2026 Q1 (Oct–Dec 2025). Every certified LCA filing, every wage level, every lottery weight point.

FY2026 Q1 Only 120,532 LCA Records Source: DOL OFLC
▶  Live Query Tool →
71.7K
Unique LCA Filings
Distinct case numbers, certified
206.7K
Worker Positions Requested
Not lottery registrations — see note below
$133.5K
Median Offered Wage
Annual, certified + plausible filings
+27.9%
Avg Premium Over Prevailing
DOL wage vs employer offer
435K
Lottery Weight Points
FY2026 wage-based lottery currency
What is the 206,730 number?
This is the total worker positions requested across all certified LCA filings in Q1. Each LCA can cover multiple workers at the same employer/worksite. It is not the lottery count. USCIS separately reported ~120,141 registrations entered the FY2026 lottery across all cap-subject petitions. One employer may file one LCA covering 10 workers, contributing 10 to the 206K but only some of those workers may have entered the lottery.
Data period & completeness
This dataset covers FY2026 Q1 only (Oct–Dec 2025). No prior years are in the current database. When additional quarters are added, a year/quarter filter will appear in the Live Query tool. LCAs are a prerequisite for H-1B petitions but not all LCAs result in a filed petition.
Lottery weight explained
Under the FY2026 wage-based lottery, each H-1B registration earns points based on how far the offered wage exceeds the DOL prevailing wage. Higher offer = more weight = better lottery odds. The 435K weighted entries shown here correspond to cap-proxy filings only; non-cap and cap-exempt filings carry 0 weight in the lottery.
Wage Levels
Jobs & Lottery Weight by DOL Wage Level
Levels I–IV reflect experience tiers relative to the OES wage distribution for each occupation/area. Level I = entry (<17th pctile); Level IV = fully competent (>50th pctile).
Jobs by Wage Level
Certified + plausible filings. Level II holds the most positions by far.
Median Wage & Premium Over Prevailing by Level
Left: offered wage. Right (dashed): how far above the DOL floor employers are paying.
Lottery Weight Points by Wage Level
Cap-proxy filings only. Level II earns the most aggregate weight — mass volume beats high-level premiums in aggregate.
ⓘ  Level I employers pay 82.9% above prevailing on average — not generosity, but lottery strategy. Higher offer price buys more weight per registration.

Want to filter by wage level? →

Open Live Query Tool with Wage Level filter
Salary Distribution
Where Do H-1B Salaries Actually Land?
$150K–$200K is the single largest band. The curve is right-skewed — tech hubs and senior roles pull the mean above the median.
Jobs by Annual Salary Band
Certified + plausible filings. Annual wage (offered, from).

Drill into a specific band →

Filter by salary band in the Live Query Tool
Employers
Top 25 H-1B Employers by Jobs Requested
Qualcomm's 29,882 positions — 14.5% of all certified LCA jobs — is not a display error. Three Qualcomm entities (Technologies, Atheros, Innovation Center, Incorporated) together account for ~18,000+ additional positions.
Top 25 Employers — Positions vs. Median Wage
Bar = jobs (left axis). Diamond = median annual wage (top axis). Click any bar to drill into that employer in the query tool.

Search any employer →

Use Employer field in the Live Query Tool
Occupations
Top 20 Occupations by Jobs
Software Developers = 73,905 jobs (36% of certified positions). The gap between #1 and #2 is larger than most companies' entire H-1B footprint.
Top 20 SOC Titles — Positions vs. Median Wage
Click any bar to search that occupation in the query tool.
Geography
Where H-1B Workers Are Going
California's 66,638 jobs and $176K median are in their own tier. San Diego is #1 city — almost entirely due to Qualcomm.
Top 15 States — Jobs & Median Wage
Bar = jobs. Diamond = median wage.
Top 15 Cities — Jobs & Median Wage
Bar = jobs. Diamond = median wage. San Diego skewed by Qualcomm campus concentration.
Wage Level Mix by State — Top 10 States
Illinois's Level I spike is visible and notable: staffing/consulting firms drive unusually high entry-level volume out of Chicago.
Lottery Strategy
Cap Season vs. Year-Round: Do Employers Pay More in April?
Cap-season proxy filings (estimated April registration window) show higher median wages at Level III and IV. The wage premium at senior levels is a deliberate bid for lottery weight.
Median Wage by Level — Cap Season vs. Year-Round
Cap-season = estimated April H-1B registration window (heuristic). At Level IV, cap-season employers pay ~$15K more at median.
ⓘ  Cap-proxy flag is a heuristic (begin date Oct 1, filed Jan–Mar 2025). Not official USCIS data.
Methodology
Data & Definitions

Source, Definitions & Caveats

Source: DOL OFLC — LCA Disclosure Data FY2026 Q1 (cases received Oct–Dec 2025). Two files joined on case number + worksite sequence.

Filtered universe: 108,529 certified + plausible records (of 120,532 total). Excluded: non-certified cases, and statistical outliers where offered wage <50% or >500% of prevailing (wage_plausibility_flag = 'IMPLAUSIBLE').

206K "worker positions": Each LCA filing specifies how many workers it covers at a given worksite. This is an employer intention, not a headcount of lottery entrants. USCIS registered ~120,141 cap-subject registrations for FY2026; those two numbers measure different things.

Wage level: DOL assigns Level I–IV based on OES percentile for the occupation/geography. Higher level = higher DOL floor.

Lottery weight & premium: Under FY2026 rules, each registration earns weight proportional to the wage-over-prevailing ratio. Higher wage offer → more weight → better lottery odds.

Pipeline: Python + pandas for ETL · DuckDB as the query engine · DuckDB-WASM for browser-side live queries · Plotly.js for charts · GitHub Pages