Updated April 2026 · DOL FLAG / OFLC certification data
H1B Salary Calculator
This H1B salary calculator surfaces the average offered wage and the DOL-determined prevailing wage for 1,915 job roles across 910 U.S. cities, drawn from 141,363 Labor Condition Application filings. Across the dataset, the average offered H1B wage is roughly 17 percent above the average prevailing wage.
H1B Salary Calculator
Compare H1B salaries by role and city. See how your offer stacks up against prevailing wage data.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the H1B prevailing wage?▾
How accurate are these H1B salary figures?▾
What does the approval rate mean?▾
Should my H1B salary be above prevailing wage?▾
How to Use the Calculator
Start by typing a job title into the role field. The autocomplete shows the closest matches across the 1,915 occupations tracked here, with each role tied to a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code that the U.S. Department of Labor uses to publish prevailing wages. Pick the role that best matches the offer or position you are evaluating — "Software Engineer," "Data Scientist," "Financial Analyst," and similar generic titles cover most filings, but more specific titles often show meaningfully different wage averages.
Next pick a city. The calculator returns the average wage offered to H1B beneficiaries for that role-and-city combination, the DOL prevailing wage for the same combination, and the wage premium expressed as a percentage. The "your salary" field is optional — entering an offered or current salary returns the percentile position of that figure within the H1B distribution for the role.
For context on whether a given offer is competitive, the DOL Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) publishes the underlying LCA filings, and the DOL Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes prevailing wage determinations broken out by Wage Level I through IV. Higher wage levels apply to more experienced workers and managers; entry-level offers typically anchor around Level I or II.
What the Calculator Does Not Tell You
The calculator reports historical averages for completed LCA filings — it is not a prediction of whether a specific employer will sponsor your H1B, whether your offered wage will be DOL-certified, or whether USCIS will approve the resulting petition. USCIS approval depends on factors the calculator does not see, including the specialty occupation analysis, beneficiary qualifications, wage-level alignment, and any Requests for Evidence issued during adjudication. USCIS publishes its own H1B guidance covering eligibility and the petition process; this calculator is a complement, not a substitute.
The calculator also does not include base-pay benefits like equity grants, signing bonuses, or relocation packages, which can add 10 to 50 percent to total compensation at large technology and finance employers. For total-compensation context, employer-published compensation pages and crowd-sourced compensation databases fill the gap that DOL's wage-only filings leave.
Where the Wage Data Comes From
All wage figures come directly from public DOL Labor Condition Application disclosures. DOL publishes every certified, denied, withdrawn, or returned LCA on a quarterly cadence through the FLAG portal, including the offered wage, the DOL-determined prevailing wage, the SOC code, the worksite city and state, and the certification outcome. H1BVisaTracker aggregates those filings by role and by city, drops outliers below the federal minimum wage or above $1 million annual (a small number of clearly mis-keyed filings), and publishes the resulting averages and percentiles. Read the full methodology for definitions, edge cases, and update cadence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this H1B salary calculator do?
Pick a job role and a city, and the calculator returns the average H1B wage filed for that role and worksite combination, the DOL-determined prevailing wage for the same combination, the percentage premium of offered wage over prevailing wage, and the top employers filing H1B petitions for that role. Optionally enter your own salary to see how it compares against the H1B market average for that role. The dataset behind the calculator covers 1,915 roles and 910 cities, drawn from 141,363 U.S. Department of Labor LCA filings.
What is "prevailing wage" and why does it matter?
Prevailing wage is the federally determined wage floor for a given occupation in a given geographic area. The U.S. Department of Labor publishes prevailing wages by occupation code (SOC) and metro area, drawing primarily on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To certify an H1B Labor Condition Application, the employer must attest to a wage that meets or exceeds the prevailing wage for that role and worksite. The calculator surfaces both the average offered wage and the prevailing wage so you can see how generous a typical H1B offer is for a given role.
Is this calculator giving me immigration advice?
No. This is general data analysis based on public Department of Labor records, not legal or immigration advice. The calculator does not predict whether your specific H1B petition will be certified by DOL or approved by USCIS, does not assess your individual eligibility, and does not account for petition-specific factors like wage level, beneficiary qualifications, or the specialty occupation analysis. For guidance on your case, consult a licensed immigration attorney or an accredited representative recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice.
How current is the salary data?
Wage figures come from the most recent two complete fiscal years of DOL LCA disclosure files, refreshed each time DOL publishes a new quarterly batch. The current dataset was last refreshed April 2026. Across the dataset, the average offered H1B wage runs roughly 17 percent above the average DOL-determined prevailing wage for the same role and worksite combinations — a meaningful but not extreme premium that reflects market competition for skilled labor.
Why do wages vary so much between cities for the same job title?
Two reasons. First, the DOL prevailing wage itself varies by metropolitan statistical area — OEWS data shows wide regional dispersion in the same occupation, with high-cost coastal metros typically setting prevailing wages 20 to 40 percent above the national median. Second, employer practice varies: large technology firms in Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York often pay 25 to 50 percent above prevailing wage, while smaller employers and consulting-heavy firms more often anchor closer to the prevailing-wage floor. The calculator shows both the offered average and the prevailing wage so the gap is visible directly.
This H1B salary calculator surfaces the average offered wage and the DOL-determined prevailing wage for 1,915 job roles across 910 U.S. cities, drawn from 141,363 Labor Condition Application filings. Across the dataset, the average offered H1B wage is roughly 17 percent above the average prevailing wage.