Data Scientist H-1B & PERM Salary

Data scientists apply statistics and machine learning to extract insight from data — a fast-growing H-1B occupation. Based on 36,459 certified H-1B and PERM filings from U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data, the median sponsored salary for a Data Scientist is $114,950 per year.

Data Scientist salary percentiles

What Data Scientists are actually paid

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 10,916 matched Data Scientists petitions.

The median worker is paid 6.6% above the posted LCA wage, but the mean actual pay runs 9.9% above the mean posted wage — so the upside is concentrated in the top earners. 31.4% are paid above their posted wage, 66.6% at it, and 2.0% 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 36,459 filings, 1,422 are H-1B (temporary work visa) and 35,037 are PERM (green-card labor certification, 96% of the total).

Top employers sponsoring Data Scientists

Where Data Scientist jobs are sponsored

Common Data Scientist job titles

Specific titles employers file under this occupation. Click through for a per-title salary profile.

Frequently asked questions

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.