H-1B & Green Card Salary Data and Market Analysis
Total Filings
All time (charts below use selected years)Median Salary
Across filings in selected periodFiling Growth
102 → 190 filings, FY2008 to FY2014Top Employers
Hiring This RoleSee all H-1B/PERM filings for this role →
| Employer | Filings | Median Salary | Salary Range | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genentech, Inc. | 43 | $88,000 | $62,000 - $128,000 | 95.3% |
| MedImmune, LLC | 42 | $69,054 | $59,000 - $121,188 | 85.7% |
| Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc. | 39 | $77,943 | $61,277 - $130,029 | 100.0% |
| Amgen Incorporated | 36 | $81,500 | $54,059 - $116,282 | 100.0% |
| MILLENNIUM PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. | 19 | $85,000 | $72,000 - $121,451 | 89.5% |
| Abbott Laboratories, Inc. | 17 | $74,000 | $55,000 - $108,534 | 70.6% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated | 15 | $87,000 | $62,000 - $120,000 | 100.0% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | 14 | $84,004 | $66,934 - $105,549 | 92.9% |
| University of Michigan | 11 | $48,464 | $38,556 - $62,830 | 100.0% |
| University of Utah | 9 | $39,390 | $37,856 - $51,000 | 88.9% |
| NOVARTIS VACCINES AND DIAGNOSTICS, INC. | 9 | $95,000 | $68,376 - $150,000 | 100.0% |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. | 8 | $91,098 | $62,795 - $118,630 | 100.0% |
| IMCLONE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED | 8 | $65,910 | $55,723 - $77,700 | 100.0% |
| SanofiAventis US LLC | 8 | $79,204 | $73,330 - $110,000 | 100.0% |
| Case Western Reserve University | 8 | $46,299 | $40,000 - $62,000 | 75.0% |
| City | State | Filings | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAMBRIDGE | MA | 78 | $79,057 |
| SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO | CA | 42 | $87,961 |
| Cambridge | MA | 34 | $90,320 |
| THOUSAND OAKS | CA | 31 | $77,000 |
| GAITHERSBURG | MD | 31 | $67,700 |
| NEW YORK | NY | 20 | $71,463 |
| South San Francisco | CA | 17 | $86,000 |
| Gaithersburg | MD | 15 | $69,100 |
| SAN DIEGO | CA | 12 | $52,447 |
| WHITEHOUSE STATION | NJ | 12 | $80,988 |
Across the 244,862 petitions we hold for the H-1B cap lottery as a whole, the I-129 filing records the beneficiary's actual pay alongside their country of birth, education and gender. A raw pay gap between two groups is mostly a statement about which jobs they hold — so each gap below is shown twice: as it looks raw, and again measured within the same job title. The second number is the one to read.
Gender is here as the control. Our decomposition of the H-1B gender pay gap found that gap is sorting almost entirely — it survives the correction at under a percent. Country of birth and education do not behave that way: part of each gap is job mix, and a real difference is still standing after the correction.
| Group | Petitions | Median actual pay | Raw gap vs everyone | Within the same job title | Explained by job mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 164,659 | $90,397 | -$2,288 | -$2,411 | — |
| China | 35,095 | $110,000 | +$17,315 | +$8,896 | 48.6% |
| Philippines | 1,863 | $64,000 | -$28,685 | -$594 | 97.9% |
60 other values (39,441 petitions) are not shown, because too few of their petitions sit in a job title big enough to compare within. Only a raw figure exists there — and a raw figure is the thing this table corrects, so ranking it beside these would mislead rather than inform.
| Group | Petitions | Median actual pay | Raw gap vs everyone | Within the same job title | Explained by job mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master's degree | 102,816 | $91,104 | -$896 | -$262 | — |
| Bachelor's degree | 88,784 | $90,000 | -$2,000 | -$1,219 | 39.0% |
| Doctorate degree | 11,783 | $128,400 | +$36,400 | +$17,739 | 51.3% |
| Professional degree | 2,272 | $150,000 | +$58,000 | +$24,154 | 58.4% |
One other value (103 petitions) is not shown, because too few of its petitions sit in a job title big enough to compare within. Only a raw figure exists there — and a raw figure is the thing this table corrects, so ranking it beside these would mislead rather than inform.
| Group | Petitions | Median actual pay | Raw gap vs everyone | Within the same job title | Explained by job mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 164,128 | $93,891 | +$1,206 | -$361 | — |
| Women | 80,734 | $90,000 | -$2,685 | +$469 | — |
How to read this. The within-occupation figure compares people holding the same job title, weighted by how many petitions sit in each title. Titles encode seniority, so equal pay within a title does not rule out differences in reaching that title — the same limitation that applies to any controlled pay-gap number. Figures are base pay only: the I-129 reports prospective base compensation, with no equity or bonus, so this is not total compensation. Coverage is FY2021–FY2024 cap-subject H-1B lottery petitions that carry both a pay figure and a job title — a one-time FOIA snapshot, not a live feed. Aggregates only, with small counts suppressed. Source: I-129 petition data sourced from USCIS, obtained by Bloomberg.
These roles are variations of Biochemists and Biophysicists with different seniority levels.
| Role | Experience Level | Filings | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biochemists and Biophysicists | Unspecified | 758 | $69,169 |
| Biochemists | Unspecified | 171 | $77,023 |
| Biochemists/Biophysicists | Unspecified | 4 | $68,017 |
| Biochemists & Biophysocists | Unspecified | 1 | $76,800 |
| Biochemists and Biophysiasts | Unspecified | 1 | $71,000 |
| Biochemists & Physicists | Unspecified | 1 | $54,642 |
| Fiscal Year | Filings | Median Salary | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 102 | $73,109 | 91.2% |
| 2010 | 183 | $70,000 | 96.7% |
| 2011 | 159 | $68,076 | 94.3% |
| 2012 | 149 | $68,715 | 95.3% |
| 2013 | 153 | $64,500 | 90.8% |
| 2014 | 190 | $70,666 | 91.1% |
Compare how top companies pay for this role.
| Company | Filings | Median Salary | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genentech, Inc. | 43 | $88,000 | 95.3% |
| MedImmune, LLC | 42 | $69,054 | 85.7% |
| Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc. | 39 | $77,943 | 100.0% |
| Amgen Incorporated | 36 | $81,500 | 100.0% |
| MILLENNIUM PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. | 19 | $85,000 | 89.5% |