Every year, US companies file hundreds of thousands of Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) as part of the H-1B visa process. These filings are public record, and they contain something that most salary surveys cannot offer: verified compensation data tied to specific companies, job titles, and locations.

Unlike self-reported salary surveys where respondents can exaggerate or misremember, LCA data reflects what companies have legally committed to paying. It is one of the most reliable compensation datasets available—and most tech workers, whether on a visa or not, have never looked at it.

Here is what the data actually shows.

How H-1B Salary Data Works

When a US employer wants to hire a foreign worker on an H-1B visa, they must first file a Labor Condition Application with the Department of Labor. The LCA includes the job title, the work location, and the offered salary. Critically, the salary must meet or exceed the "prevailing wage" for that occupation in that geographic area.

The Department of Labor defines four wage levels:

| Wage Level | Description | Typical Experience | Percentile | |---|---|---|---| | Level 1 | Entry-level | 0–2 years | 17th percentile | | Level 2 | Qualified | 2–5 years | 34th percentile | | Level 3 | Experienced | 5–10 years | 50th percentile | | Level 4 | Fully competent / Expert | 10+ years | 67th percentile |

These levels set the floor, not the ceiling. Companies—especially top tech firms—routinely pay well above the prevailing wage. The gap between what the law requires and what companies actually offer reveals how aggressively they compete for talent.

A Level 1 prevailing wage for a software engineer in San Francisco is approximately $130,000. Google's actual Level 1 (L3 new grad) H-1B filings show base salaries of $150,000–$175,000. At Level 4, the prevailing wage is roughly $210,000, while Google's corresponding filings show $250,000–$300,000+ in base salary alone—before stock and bonuses.

Top-Paying Companies: What the Filings Reveal

We analyzed LCA filings for software engineering roles at major tech companies. The figures below represent base salary ranges from filed LCAs. Total compensation (including stock, bonuses, and sign-on packages) is typically 30–80% higher than base salary at these companies.

The Top 10 by Median H-1B Base Salary (Software Engineers, 2025–2026 Filings)

| Rank | Company | Median Base Salary | Base Salary Range | Est. Total Comp Range | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Netflix | $270,000 | $220K–$340K | $300K–$500K+ | | 2 | Stripe | $225,000 | $190K–$285K | $280K–$450K | | 3 | Google (Alphabet) | $210,000 | $150K–$300K | $220K–$500K+ | | 4 | Meta (Facebook) | $205,000 | $150K–$285K | $220K–$480K | | 5 | Apple | $200,000 | $155K–$280K | $210K–$420K | | 6 | Microsoft | $185,000 | $130K–$260K | $190K–$400K | | 7 | Databricks | $195,000 | $165K–$265K | $250K–$430K | | 8 | Uber | $190,000 | $155K–$250K | $230K–$400K | | 9 | Amazon | $175,000 | $130K–$220K | $200K–$380K | | 10 | Airbnb | $195,000 | $165K–$255K | $240K–$420K |

Several patterns stand out:

Netflix pays the highest base salaries because their compensation model is almost entirely cash and stock with no separate bonus structure. Their base figures include what other companies split across base, bonus, and RSUs.

Amazon shows a lower base salary range but compensates heavily with RSUs. Amazon's famously back-loaded vesting schedule (5/15/40/40%) means total compensation in years 3–4 is significantly higher than years 1–2. The LCA data captures only the base, making Amazon look cheaper than it actually is.

Google and Meta cluster closely in both base and total compensation ranges, reflecting their intense competition for the same talent pool. Both companies use four-year RSU grants with relatively even annual vesting.

Explore detailed salary breakdowns for software engineers and engineering managers across these companies and others.

City-by-City Analysis: Where H-1B Salaries Are Highest

H-1B salary data is filed by work location, making it one of the best sources for geographic compensation comparisons. Here is how median H-1B base salaries for software engineers compare across major tech hubs:

Median H-1B Software Engineer Base Salary by City

| City | Median Base (Level 2–3) | Median Base (Level 4) | YoY Change | |---|---|---|---| | San Francisco / Bay Area | $195,000 | $255,000 | +4.8% | | Seattle / Bellevue | $190,000 | $248,000 | +5.2% | | New York City | $185,000 | $240,000 | +4.1% | | San Jose / South Bay | $192,000 | $250,000 | +3.9% | | Los Angeles | $170,000 | $225,000 | +3.5% | | Boston / Cambridge | $172,000 | $228,000 | +4.6% | | Austin | $165,000 | $215,000 | +6.2% | | Denver / Boulder | $162,000 | $210,000 | +5.8% | | Chicago | $158,000 | $205,000 | +3.2% | | Atlanta | $155,000 | $200,000 | +4.0% |

Key findings:

The Bay Area and Seattle are essentially tied at the top when you account for the overlap between San Francisco, San Jose, and surrounding cities. Seattle has seen slightly faster growth (5.2% YoY vs. 4.8% for SF), driven by continued hiring at Amazon, Microsoft, and the growing presence of Google and Meta offices.

Austin and Denver are growing the fastest as companies establish engineering hubs in these cities. Austin's 6.2% year-over-year increase reflects aggressive hiring by Tesla, Apple, Google, Meta, and Oracle, all of which have expanded their Austin presence significantly.

The gap between top and bottom cities is approximately 25%. A Level 3 H-1B software engineer in San Francisco earns roughly $195K base versus $155K in Atlanta—a $40K difference. When you add the typically larger equity grants at Bay Area companies, the total compensation gap widens to 35–50%.

Use our cost of living comparison tool to see whether these salary differences hold up after adjusting for housing, taxes, and daily expenses.

Level Analysis: Entry vs. Expert

One of the most valuable aspects of H-1B data is the wage level classification. While imperfect, it provides a rough proxy for seniority that lets us analyze how compensation scales with experience.

Software Engineer H-1B Salary Progression (Bay Area, Top-Tier Companies)

| Wage Level | Typical Mapping | Median Base | Median Total Comp | Years of Experience | |---|---|---|---|---| | Level 1 | New Grad / Junior (L3) | $155,000 | $200,000 | 0–2 | | Level 2 | Mid-Level (L4) | $185,000 | $270,000 | 2–5 | | Level 3 | Senior (L5) | $215,000 | $340,000 | 5–10 | | Level 4 | Staff+ (L6+) | $265,000 | $450,000+ | 8+ |

The jump from Level 2 to Level 3 (mid to senior) represents a 16% increase in base salary but a 26% increase in total compensation. This is because equity grants scale faster than base salary at senior levels.

The jump from Level 3 to Level 4 (senior to staff) is even more dramatic: 23% in base salary but 32%+ in total compensation. This is the most significant single-level compensation jump in most engineering ladders.

For context on what these levels mean for career growth, our analysis of cities for career growth examines which markets offer the fastest paths to senior and staff-level roles.

Debunking the "Cheap Labor" Myth

A persistent misconception is that H-1B visas are primarily used to hire cheaper foreign workers. The LCA data tells a different story.

H-1B workers at major tech companies earn the same as or more than their domestic counterparts. Google does not file different salary ranges for H-1B engineers versus US citizen engineers at the same level—the compensation bands are identical. The LCA filing represents the actual offered salary, not a discounted rate.

The median H-1B salary in tech far exceeds the national average. The overall median H-1B salary across all industries and occupations is approximately $118,000 (2025 data). For software engineers specifically at tech companies, the median is $185,000–$210,000—well above the 67th percentile prevailing wage.

Outsourcing firms are a separate phenomenon. The controversy around H-1B compensation is largely driven by IT staffing and consulting firms (Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Cognizant) that file at Level 1 wages. These firms account for a significant share of total H-1B filings but represent a fundamentally different use case than direct-hire engineering roles at product companies.

When the data is segmented by company type, the picture is clear:

| Company Type | Median H-1B Base (SWE) | % Filed at Level 1 | |---|---|---| | FAANG+ (Google, Meta, Apple, etc.) | $200,000 | 12% | | Top-tier tech (Stripe, Airbnb, etc.) | $190,000 | 15% | | Mid-tier tech / startups | $165,000 | 25% | | IT consulting / outsourcing | $95,000 | 65% | | Non-tech Fortune 500 | $135,000 | 35% |

The distinction matters. If you are negotiating a software engineering offer at a product company, the relevant comparison is the first two rows—not the aggregate data that includes outsourcing firms.

How to Use H-1B Data for Your Own Negotiation

Whether or not you are on an H-1B visa, this data is a powerful negotiation tool. Here is how to use it:

1. Establish Your Market Value with Public Data

LCA data is searchable through the Department of Labor's disclosure database and several third-party tools. Search for your target company, job title, and location to find what they have actually filed—not what a recruiter claims is "top of band."

If Google's LCA filings for senior software engineers in Seattle show a range of $185K–$260K, and you are being offered $175K base, you have a concrete, verifiable data point that the offer is below their own filing range.

Combine this with our salary calculator to build a complete picture of your market value across multiple data sources.

2. Identify Level Mismatches

If a company is trying to hire you at Level 2 (qualified) wages but your experience clearly maps to Level 3 or 4, the LCA data gives you ammunition. You can point to the prevailing wage levels and demonstrate that your qualifications align with a higher tier.

3. Compare Across Companies

LCA data lets you compare what different companies pay for the same role in the same city. If Company A is offering $175K base for a senior role in SF but Companies B, C, and D are all filing at $195K+, you have leverage to negotiate upward—or to prioritize your job search toward the higher-paying companies.

Browse our compare tool to see side-by-side compensation data across cities and roles.

4. Negotiate Location-Based Pay

If your company offers location-adjusted salaries and you are being offered a lower amount for a specific city, LCA data shows what other companies are actually paying in that same metro area. This is particularly useful for remote workers whose employers use geographic pay bands.

5. Validate Equity and Bonus Claims

LCA filings only include base salary. If a company claims "our total comp is competitive" but their base salary is significantly below peers, you can calculate the implied equity and bonus and ask whether those numbers are realistic. A company filing at $160K base while claiming $280K TC needs to provide $120K in annual equity and bonuses—a claim worth verifying.

Where to Access H-1B Salary Data

The primary sources for H-1B LCA data:

  • Department of Labor LCA Disclosure Data: The official source, published quarterly. Raw CSV files that require some data processing but contain every filing.
  • H1BData.info: A searchable database that makes LCA data accessible without data processing skills. Filter by employer, job title, city, and year.
  • MyVisaJobs.com: Adds rankings and trend analysis on top of the raw LCA data.
  • levels.fyi H-1B section: Cross-references LCA data with self-reported compensation for a more complete picture including equity.

For broader salary benchmarking beyond H-1B data, our salary insights pages aggregate multiple data sources including employer filings, survey data, and verified self-reports across hundreds of cities and roles.

The Bottom Line

H-1B salary data is one of the most underused resources in tech compensation research. It provides verified, company-specific salary information that cuts through the noise of anonymous self-reports and recruiter-quoted ranges.

The data shows that top tech companies pay H-1B workers at or above market rates, that San Francisco and Seattle remain the highest-paying markets for software engineers, and that the compensation gap between entry-level and expert-level H-1B filings has widened to roughly 70%.

Whether you are negotiating your next offer, evaluating a relocation, or simply trying to understand where you stand relative to the market, H-1B LCA data deserves a place in your research toolkit. It is public, it is verified, and it tells you what companies actually pay—not what they say they pay.