According to the latest analysis by the online data analysis platform H1BScope on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), among U.S. employers and institutions providing sponsorship for H-1B visa holders, seven employers offer median wages that are at least 50% higher than the median wages of all H-1B holders in the United States. This result highlights the concentration of high-paying H-1B positions in large technology, financial, and top medical institutions.
H1BScope analyzed disclosure data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s H-1B work visa and Labor Condition Application (LCA). To minimize the interference of small businesses and extreme outliers on the statistical results, the study focused on employers who have submitted at least 500 certified H-1B applications.
The data shows that the median salary for all H-1B visa holders in the United States is $130,707, far exceeding the median wage for all U.S. workers at $59,228. However, the top seven employers on the list have H-1B median salaries of $198,000 and above:
University of Pittsburgh Physicians: Tops the list with a median salary of $255,725, nearly twice the national median for H-1B holders.
Roblox: Ranks second with $245,690.
Citadel Securities Americas Services: Third with $235,000.
Netflix: Follows closely with $226,158.
Others on the list including Credit Karma, Two Sigma Investments, and TT Commerce & Global Services also have H-1B median salaries that are more than 50% higher than the national H-1B median.
Furthermore, the data indicates that for the 2026 fiscal year, the 90th percentile salary for all H-1B holders in the U.S., representing the top 10% highest earners, is $212,000. The median H-1B salaries reported by the aforementioned top four institutions even surpass the top 10% salary level of the national H-1B program.
Aside from the top employers, traditional tech giants like Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, and DoorDash, as well as financial services giants like BofA Securities, Barclays, and Morgan Stanley, also have H-1B median salaries significantly higher than the national average for H-1B holders.
At the time of the publication of these analysis results, discussions on reforming the H-1B visa program are ongoing among the U.S. government and various stakeholders. Supporters argue that the data clearly demonstrates the strong demand for high-skilled talents in the technology, finance, and medical fields, and that employers are not exploiting the program to bring in cheap foreign labor.
Steven Sholk, a lawyer at FBT Gibbons law firm, stated, “From a basic economic perspective, the wages of high-skilled workers are determined by market supply and demand. Due to the strong demand for top talent, the highest-paying H-1B employers naturally pay wages far above the national average.”
Jiaxin He, a research assistant at the Economic Innovation Group, found that nearly 89% of H-1B positions offer salaries higher than the median wage for the same occupation in the same state, with over one-fifth of positions paying more than the 90th percentile wage.
He noted, “LCA applications reflect how much companies are willing to pay for these H-1B positions, making it a strong indicator of demand for foreign high-tech talent.”
Former State Department visa official Duden Freeman stated that the salary data shows, “These employers are not seeking inexpensive foreign labor; they are paying a premium to compete globally for scarce and highly specialized talent.”
However, labor rights advocates and some legal experts hold a different view. They argue that the high salary data from a few top companies may exaggerate the effects and cannot represent the overall impact of the H-1B system on American workers, and may even obscure the prevalent wage suppression phenomenon.
Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy and founder of the U.S. Tech Workers organization, said, “These data indicate that a few wealthy employers with abundant resources are recruiting high-paying positions, which are typically senior or doctoral positions.” He emphasized that salary comparisons should be made with American workers in the same occupation, in the same area, and with similar qualifications, rather than with the national average wage.
He added, “The high salaries of these seven specific employers do not negate the existence of wage suppression across the entire H-1B program.”
Poonam Gupta, Chief Lawyer at Summit Legal PLLC, pointed out that the intense competition is concentrated in specific subfields of the labor market rather than the entire H-1B program. She said, “Top employers are competing for truly scarce talent – a small group of highly skilled employees, which is a completely different concept from the broad market of the entire H-1B program.”
Gupta further explained, “Simply looking at these salary data cannot provide a final conclusion. They only indicate that these employers are paying high salaries, but the actual cost situation is much more complex.”
(Adapted from a report by “News Weekly”)