Computer hardware engineers research, design, and test computer systems and components such as processors and circuit boards. Based on 3,440 certified H-1B and PERM filings from U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data, the median sponsored salary for a Computer Hardware Engineer is $122,741 per year.
| Percentile | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| 10th (entry) | $80,223 |
| 25th | $98,327 |
| 50th (median) | $122,741 |
| 75th | $151,925 |
| 90th (senior) | $179,566 |
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 630 matched Computer Hardware Engineers petitions.
The median worker is paid 2.6% above the posted LCA wage, but the mean actual pay runs 3.3% above the mean posted wage — so the upside is concentrated in the top earners. 19.5% are paid above their posted wage, 78.9% at it, and 1.6% 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 3,440 filings, 86 are H-1B (temporary work visa) and 3,354 are PERM (green-card labor certification, 98% of the total).
| # | Employer | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intel Corporation | 706 | $112,928 |
| 2 | Microsoft Corporation | 605 | $140,179 |
| 3 | APPLE INC. | 356 | $151,148 |
| 4 | Google LLC | 101 | $142,790 |
| 5 | AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC. | 94 | $154,271 |
| 6 | NVIDIA Corporation | 81 | $147,446 |
| 7 | Cisco Systems Capital Corporation | 71 | $112,598 |
| 8 | ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. (AMD) | 51 | $86,507 |
| 9 | Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC. | 43 | $133,005 |
| 10 | Facebook, Inc. | 36 | $174,079 |
| 11 | Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. | 33 | $87,851 |
| 12 | Super Micro Computer, Inc | 31 | $106,775 |
| 13 | TESLA, INC. | 27 | $188,612 |
| 14 | IBM CORPORATION | 22 | $116,576 |
| 15 | ARM, INC. | 22 | $142,641 |
| 16 | META PLATFORMS, INC. | 20 | $196,989 |
| 17 | NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS | 18 | $70,652 |
| 18 | Cruise LLC | 16 | $201,870 |
| 19 | Oracle America, Inc. | 15 | $119,210 |
| 20 | HCL GLOBAL SYSTEMS INC | 12 | $77,672 |
| State | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1,981 | $129,317 |
| Washington | 410 | $134,796 |
| Texas | 140 | $107,956 |
| Michigan | 132 | $83,115 |
| North Carolina | 84 | $112,373 |
| New Jersey | 42 | $95,805 |
| Oregon | 40 | $116,442 |
| New York | 40 | $111,880 |
| Illinois | 29 | $105,370 |
| Massachusetts | 25 | $118,767 |
| Maryland | 20 | $78,949 |
| Florida | 18 | $85,828 |
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.