The median H1B worker earned $108,000 in FY2025 — but that average hides a $70,000 gap between IT consulting firms paying Level I prevailing wages and Big Tech firms paying Level IV. This guide explains exactly how H1B wages work, what you should be earning, and what you can do if you are not.
$108,000
FY2025 Median H1B Wage
$175,000+
Big Tech Median (Level IV)
$80,000
IT Consulting Median (Level I–II)
500,000+
Annual LCA Certifications
The prevailing wage is the legally required minimum salary your employer must pay for your H1B position. It is calculated by the Department of Labor (DOL) using the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, based on your occupation code (SOC), geographic work location, and experience level. Every H1B employer must certify a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with DOL before filing the I-129 petition — and the LCA wage must meet or exceed the prevailing wage.
The prevailing wage rule exists to prevent employers from using H1B workers to undercut American workers on wages. In practice, the wage structure has created a bifurcated H1B labor market: IT consulting firms routinely certify at Level I (17th percentile), while direct-hire tech employers certify at Level III or IV. Both are legally compliant, but the wage gap between them is substantial — often $70,000–$100,000 per year for the same occupation.
DOL assigns wage levels I–IV based on the OES wage distribution for each occupation in each MSA. Level I = 17th percentile, Level II = 34th, Level III = 50th (median), Level IV = 67th. Source: DOL OFLC Foreign Labor Certification Prevailing Wage Methodology, FY2025.
Workers with limited experience performing routine tasks under close supervision.
Workers with some experience performing moderately complex tasks with limited supervision.
Fully experienced workers performing a wide range of tasks with minimal supervision.
Expert-level workers with specialized skills, often in supervisory or lead roles.
Median wages and LCA volumes from DOL OFLC FY2025 disclosure data. "Median" reflects Level III (50th percentile) prevailing wage. Actual certified wages vary by employer, location, and level.
| Occupation | SOC | Median (Lvl III) | Full Range | LCA Volume | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers & Engineers | 15-1252 | $138,500 | $95,000 – $210,000 | ~185,000 LCAs/yr | ↑ |
| Data Scientists & ML Engineers | 15-2051 | $148,000 | $100,000 – $225,000 | ~42,000 LCAs/yr | ↑ |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 15-1211 | $112,000 | $85,000 – $148,000 | ~38,000 LCAs/yr | → |
| Network & Cloud Architects | 15-1244 | $142,000 | $100,000 – $185,000 | ~18,000 LCAs/yr | ↑ |
| Financial & Investment Analysts | 13-2051 | $98,000 | $68,000 – $145,000 | ~22,000 LCAs/yr | → |
| Management Analysts / Consultants | 13-1111 | $94,000 | $65,000 – $138,000 | ~35,000 LCAs/yr | → |
| Civil & Structural Engineers | 17-2051 | $95,000 | $68,000 – $128,000 | ~12,000 LCAs/yr | → |
| Mechanical Engineers | 17-2141 | $92,000 | $65,000 – $125,000 | ~9,500 LCAs/yr | → |
| Family Medicine Physicians | 29-1215 | $228,000 | $180,000 – $290,000 | ~14,000 LCAs/yr | ↑ |
| Accountants & Auditors | 13-2011 | $82,000 | $58,000 – $112,000 | ~9,000 LCAs/yr | ↓ |
| Medical Scientists & Researchers | 19-1042 | $98,000 | $72,000 – $145,000 | ~8,500 LCAs/yr | → |
| Computer & IT Managers | 11-3021 | $162,000 | $118,000 – $225,000 | ~11,000 LCAs/yr | ↑ |
Source: DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data FY2025. Ranges reflect Level I (entry) through Level IV (expert) nationally. Physician wages include all H1B-sponsored medical specialties.
H1B wage geography mirrors US tech and finance industry clustering. Washington state leads due to Microsoft and Amazon's concentration in Redmond and Seattle. Bay Area California commands a premium driven by Google, Apple, Meta, and Nvidia. Source: DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data, FY2025.
Washington
Seattle / Redmond
Microsoft, Amazon, Meta
California
Bay Area / LA / San Diego
Google, Apple, Nvidia
New York
NYC / Manhattan
JPMorgan, Goldman, Citi
Massachusetts
Boston / Cambridge
HubSpot, Biogen, MIT Lincoln Lab
Texas
Austin / Dallas / Houston
Dell, Samsung, Schlumberger
Illinois
Chicago
Accenture, Deloitte, Morningstar
Georgia
Atlanta
NCR, Cognizant, Delta Airlines
North Carolina
Research Triangle / Charlotte
Lenovo, Cisco, Fidelity
New Jersey
Newark / Princeton Corridor
Johnson & Johnson, Cognizant
Florida
Miami / Tampa / Orlando
Chewy, Amazon, HCA Healthcare
Median certified LCA wage across all occupations. States without major tech/finance hubs (Midwest, Southeast, Plains states) typically show medians of $75,000–$92,000.
H1B employer wages span a 2.5× range. Big Tech pays at or above Level III–IV prevailing wages. IT consulting firms pay Level I–II — legally compliant but $50,000–$100,000 below market for equivalent experience. This is the core structural wage inequality in the H1B program. Source: DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data FY2025.
| Employer | Avg H1B Wage | H1B Volume | Notes | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms | $192,000 | ~4,200/yr | Highest median tech H1B wage; Level III–IV dominant | S |
| Google / Alphabet | $182,000 | ~6,800/yr | Largest tech H1B user by volume | S |
| Apple | $175,000 | ~3,100/yr | High Level IV concentration in hardware/ML roles | S |
| Microsoft | $168,000 | ~5,200/yr | Azure + AI roles driving wage increase since FY2023 | S |
| Amazon | $155,000 | ~9,500/yr | Largest overall H1B sponsor including fulfillment tech | A |
| Nvidia | $178,000 | ~1,800/yr | AI/GPU hardware engineering premium | S |
| Intel | $138,000 | ~2,400/yr | Hardware engineering; below Big Tech software wages | A |
| Salesforce | $158,000 | ~1,600/yr | CRM/cloud platform engineering roles | A |
| Cognizant | $82,000 | ~11,000/yr | IT consulting; predominantly Level I–II wages | C |
| Tata Consultancy (TCS) | $78,000 | ~8,500/yr | IT outsourcing; lowest average wage among top-10 sponsors | C |
| Infosys | $84,000 | ~7,200/yr | IT services; Level I–II dominant | C |
| Wipro | $80,000 | ~4,800/yr | IT services; similar to TCS/Infosys profile | C |
Every H1B worker has the right — and the practical ability — to independently verify the prevailing wage for their role. The data is public. Here is how to use it in under 10 minutes.
Navigate to flag.dol.gov — the Official Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) Online Wage Library. Select "Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)" search mode. This database reflects OES survey data used to calculate all four prevailing wage levels.
Enter the 6-digit SOC code for your occupation (e.g., 15-1252 for Software Developers). Enter the county or Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) where you will work. If work-from-home with no fixed work site, use the employer's headquarters county.
The table shows annual wages for Levels I through IV. Your employer must offer at least the Level matching your experience and job duties. Most H1B petitions certified at Level I or II — which is legal but significantly below market rates at top firms.
Your employer files a Labor Condition Application (LCA) with DOL before the I-129. The LCA lists the certified wage and the wage level. You have the right to review this document. Request it from HR or your attorney — employers are legally required to provide it within 1 business day.
USCIS publishes the H-1B Employer Data Hub at uscis.gov/tools/reports-and-studies. Search your employer's name to see approval counts, denial rates, initial vs. continuing approvals, and NAICS industry code. This is publicly available data — use it.
H1B workers have statutory wage rights under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 212(n). These are federal rights — not contractual niceties that your employer can waive. The DOL Wage and Hour Division enforces them. In FY2024, DOL assessed over $15 million in back wages and civil money penalties against H1B employers (DOL WHD Annual Report, FY2024).
Your employer must pay you at least the wage listed on the LCA and I-129, for all hours you are required to be available — including periods of "benching" (waiting for assignment). Paying less than the LCA wage is a federal violation.
Within 1 business day of your written request, your employer must provide a copy of the LCA. The LCA shows your prevailing wage level, your certified wage, and the validity period. If they refuse, that is a violation reportable to DOL Wage and Hour Division.
If your employer places you in nonproductive status due to lack of work — not due to any reason of your own — they must continue paying your H1B wage. Bench-and-don't-pay is illegal. Affected workers can file a complaint with DOL WHD.
Your employer can only require you to work at the location certified on the LCA. If you are deployed to a different client site or city for 30+ consecutive days, a new LCA may be required. Violations can trigger DOL audits of the entire LCA program.
DOL Wage and Hour Division accepts complaints about H1B wage violations. Complaining is protected — employer retaliation is illegal. Successful complaints can result in back pay awards, fines to the employer, and debarment from future H1B sponsorship.
H1B median wages have grown steadily at 1–2% per year in nominal terms since FY2022, driven primarily by the wage-based lottery incentive structure introduced in FY2025 and the concentration of LCA volume in high-wage tech occupations. The shift away from IT consulting dominance is structural, not cyclical.
| Fiscal Year | Median H1B Wage | Key Driver |
|---|---|---|
| FY2022 | $105,000 | Post-pandemic hiring surge; tech Level III–IV dominated |
| FY2023 | $107,500 | Multiple-registration gaming inflated volume; wage data clean |
| FY2024 | $108,000 | Record 780K registrations; median wage stable despite volume |
| FY2025 | $110,000 | Unique-passport rule reduced registrations; wages rose marginally |
| FY2026 (est.) | $112,000–$115,000 | Wage-based lottery incentivizes higher wage filings |
Wage-Based Lottery Effect
Employers who pay Level III–IV wages have higher selection probability under the FY2025+ lottery rules. This creates a structural incentive to certify higher wages — gradually compressing the gap between consulting and tech H1B wages.
AI Occupation Premium
ML engineers and AI researchers represent the fastest-growing H1B occupation segment with the highest wage growth. DOL OES data for SOC 15-2051 (Data Scientists) shows a 12% wage increase from FY2023 to FY2025.
IT Consulting Compression
Volume from the big four Indian IT firms (TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro) dropped 32% between FY2023 and FY2025 due to the unique-passport rule and registration fee. This shifts the overall H1B wage distribution upward.
Balaji Ingole
SMIEEE · FBCS · FIETE · Data Scientist of the Year 2025
16+ years in data engineering and immigration data analysis. Author of 30+ peer-reviewed papers on labor market analytics and workforce data systems. H1BVisaJobs.com is built on the largest public H1B LCA dataset outside of DOL — FY2022 through FY2025, covering over 2 million certified applications across 6,750+ sponsoring employers. All wage data on this site is sourced directly from DOL OFLC public disclosure files. Read full bio →