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
22 → 1 filings, FY2008 to FY2018Top Employers
Hiring This RoleSee all H-1B/PERM filings for this role →
| Employer | Filings | Median Salary | Salary Range | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 8 | $79,600 | $75,200 - $90,000 | 87.5% |
| UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO | 7 | $58,000 | $58,000 - $75,000 | 42.9% |
| UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST | 7 | $70,573 | $66,000 - $76,149 | 100.0% |
| University of California, Berkeley | 6 | $90,150 | $80,700 - $99,200 | 100.0% |
| STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON | 5 | $75,000 | $70,000 - $81,000 | 100.0% |
| University of Chicago | 4 | $79,750 | $38,200 - $155,000 | 100.0% |
| UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS | 4 | $64,500 | $60,000 - $70,000 | 75.0% |
| UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA | 3 | $60,000 | $60,000 - $60,605 | 100.0% |
| UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS | 3 | $66,000 | $43,146 - $68,000 | 100.0% |
| New York University | 3 | $95,000 | $78,000 - $95,000 | 100.0% |
| University of Minnesota | 3 | $75,000 | $63,000 - $75,000 | 100.0% |
| WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY | 3 | $75,000 | $70,000 - $83,000 | 100.0% |
| THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA | 3 | $80,000 | $77,000 - $80,000 | 66.7% |
| University of Michigan | 3 | $102,666 | $84,000 - $102,666 | 100.0% |
| Yale University | 3 | $80,000 | $80,000 - $90,000 | 100.0% |
| City | State | Filings | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| BOULDER | CO | 6 | $64,000 |
| BINGHAMTON | NY | 5 | $75,000 |
| CAMBRIDGE | MA | 5 | $75,200 |
| Amherst | MA | 4 | $73,933 |
| NEW YORK | NY | 4 | $76,500 |
| LAWRENCEVILLE | GA | 4 | $58,000 |
| PHILADELPHIA | PA | 4 | $72,900 |
| Athens | GA | 3 | $80,000 |
| Cambridge | MA | 3 | $90,000 |
| Ann Arbor | MI | 3 | $102,666 |
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 Physics Teachers, Postsecondary with different seniority levels.
| Role | Experience Level | Filings | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physics Teachers, Postsecondary | Unspecified | 226 | $69,084 |
| Physics Teacher, Postsecondary | Unspecified | 6 | $57,655 |
| Physics Teacher, Post Secondary | Unspecified | 2 | $78,500 |
| Physic Teacher, Postsecondary | Unspecified | 1 | $65,000 |
| Physics Teachers, Post Secondary | Unspecified | 1 | $43,146 |
| Fiscal Year | Filings | Median Salary | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 22 | $70,200 | 95.5% |
| 2010 | 61 | $59,000 | 93.4% |
| 2011 | 17 | $72,000 | 94.1% |
| 2012 | 47 | $62,170 | 87.2% |
| 2013 | 34 | $75,500 | 94.1% |
| 2014 | 54 | $72,000 | 92.6% |
| 2018 | 1 | $68,380 | 100.0% |
Compare how top companies pay for this role.
| Company | Filings | Median Salary | Approval Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 8 | $79,600 | 87.5% |
| UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO | 7 | $58,000 | 42.9% |
| UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST | 7 | $70,573 | 100.0% |
| University of California, Berkeley | 6 | $90,150 | 100.0% |
| STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON | 5 | $75,000 | 100.0% |