Lawyers advise and represent clients on legal matters, drawing the highest median salaries among sponsored occupations. Based on 7,177 certified H-1B and PERM filings from U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data, the median sponsored salary for a Attorney / Lawyer is $185,000 per year.
| Percentile | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| 10th (entry) | $82,118 |
| 25th | $119,704 |
| 50th (median) | $185,000 |
| 75th | $250,000 |
| 90th (senior) | $320,000 |
Every other salary site shows the LCA-posted wage — the wage for the position. Using USCIS I-129 petition data, we can compare that against the actual pay the sponsored worker received, and the prevailing-wage floor, across 1,634 matched Attorney / Lawyers petitions.
The median worker is paid essentially at the posted LCA wage, but the mean actual pay runs 2.1% above the mean posted wage — so the upside is concentrated in the top earners. 15.2% are paid above their posted wage, 78.9% at it, and 5.9% below.
Actual-pay data covers FY2021–FY2024 cap-subject H-1B lottery petitions matched to certified LCAs (aggregates only). Base wage excludes equity and bonuses, so it is not total compensation. Source: I-129 petition data sourced from USCIS, obtained by Bloomberg.
Of 7,177 filings, 2,437 are H-1B (temporary work visa) and 4,740 are PERM (green-card labor certification, 66% of the total).
| # | Employer | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LATHAM & WATKINS LLP | 244 | $273,386 |
| 2 | Kirkland & Ellis LLP | 194 | $286,526 |
| 3 | WHITE & CASE LLP | 140 | $263,350 |
| 4 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP | 132 | $299,318 |
| 5 | WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP | 109 | $286,974 |
| 6 | Davis Polk Wardwell LLP | 103 | $273,638 |
| 7 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Garrison LLP | 102 | $267,056 |
| 8 | AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC. | 95 | $164,517 |
| 9 | SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP | 91 | $272,064 |
| 10 | SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP | 73 | $252,055 |
| 11 | DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP | 68 | $292,031 |
| 12 | ROPES & GRAY LLP | 65 | $256,565 |
| 13 | Milbank LLP | 61 | $312,812 |
| 14 | FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER LLP | 57 | $244,597 |
| 15 | CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN HAMILTON LLP | 51 | $231,373 |
| 16 | Sullivan Cromwell LLP | 51 | $253,782 |
| 17 | DLA Piper LLP (US) | 50 | $270,400 |
| 18 | Morrison & Foerster LLP | 50 | $198,075 |
| 19 | COOLEY LLP | 49 | $281,959 |
| 20 | Goodwin Procter LLP | 47 | $296,670 |
| State | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 3,074 | $222,516 |
| California | 1,144 | $185,518 |
| Florida | 394 | $104,781 |
| Texas | 268 | $164,270 |
| District of Columbia | 215 | $196,887 |
| Illinois | 212 | $165,961 |
| Washington | 176 | $154,356 |
| New Jersey | 133 | $127,168 |
| Massachusetts | 107 | $164,383 |
| Virginia | 92 | $123,127 |
| Georgia | 90 | $133,708 |
| Pennsylvania | 67 | $151,417 |
Specific titles employers file under this occupation. Click through for a per-title salary profile.
Salaries are the certified offered annual wage on public U.S. Department of Labor H-1B (LCA) and PERM disclosure filings, not a guarantee of pay. Occupation is the DOL-assigned Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code.