Occupation · SOC 15-1221

Computer and Information Research Scientists: H-1B salaries and wage levels

Level IV starts anywhere from $212,493 to $253,614 depending on the city. The median offer is $186,200.

5,278certified H-1B LCAs, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026

$186,200median offer

$163k to $220kmiddle half of offers

20%of new-employment offers reach Level IV for their area

Source U.S. Dept. of Labor, OFLC disclosure files Covers decisions Jul 2025 to Jun 2026 Release FY2026 Q3, published Aug 7, 2026 Wage levels OFLC 2026-27

Wage levels by city

same scale for every row · black mark: median offer in that city

New York, NY

IV $237k

Seattle · Bellevue

IV $243k

Menlo Park · San Francisco

IV $212k

Mountain View · San Jose · Sunnyvale

IV $254k

under Level ILevel IIIIIIIV and upmedian offerscale $90k to $266k

City	LCAs	Median	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
New York, NY	556	$200,000	$107,515	$150,738	$193,960	$237,182
Seattle, WA	476	$178,003	$123,302	$163,072	$202,862	$242,632
Menlo Park, CA	390	$208,541	$100,422	$137,779	$175,136	$212,493
San Francisco, CA	365	$209,082	$100,422	$137,779	$175,136	$212,493
Mountain View, CA	339	$210,000	$141,336	$178,755	$216,195	$253,614
San Jose, CA	293	$211,200	$141,336	$178,755	$216,195	$253,614
Bellevue, WA	269	$180,000	$123,302	$163,072	$202,862	$242,632
Sunnyvale, CA	244	$205,000	$141,336	$178,755	$216,195	$253,614
Santa Clara, CA	242	$191,911	$141,336	$178,755	$216,195	$253,614
Palo Alto, CA	237	$220,000	$141,336	$178,755	$216,195	$253,614

What employers offer

5,278 certified LCAs, coloured by the level each salary reaches in its own area

$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k

Level IIIIIIIVunder Level I = 20 LCAs = 50 LCAs

Lottery entries

2,668 new-employment LCAs

Computer and Information Research Scientists 12%34%31%20% 2,668

All employers 12%28%25%18%16% 149,984

1 entry · Level I2 · Level II3 · Level III4 · Level IVunder Level I, still 1 entry

How this is calculated

New-employment H-1B LCAs only, the filings behind most cap petitions; extensions, transfers and amendments do not go through the lottery, and cap-exempt universities and nonprofit research organizations are left out. Each offered salary (low end of the range) is compared with the OFLC Level I to IV wages for its occupation and worksite area, wage year 2026-27; a filing with several worksites counts at its lowest level, as the rule requires. Numbers on the right are LCAs. Full methodology.

Over time

fiscal years, October to September · hatched: year to date

Certified H-1B LCAs

4,668 FY2026 to date

3.0kFY23

2.7kFY24

3.9kFY25

4.7kFY26

Median offer

$187,608 FY2026

$165kFY23

$171kFY24

$180kFY25

$188kFY26

Top employers

Jul 2025 to Jun 2026

#	Employer	Certified LCAs	Median salary
1	Amazon.com Services LLC	1,027	$183,500
2	Meta Platforms, Inc	736	$210,000
3	Google LLC	332	$206,000
4	Amazon Development Center U.S., Inc.	171	$182,600
5	NVIDIA Corporation	151	$178,006
6	Adobe Inc.	107	$178,006
7	ByteDance Inc.	88	$313,000
8	Microsoft Corporation	87	$198,000
9	Amazon Web Services, Inc.	86	$177,700
10	Brookhaven National Laboratory	41	$124,488
11	Mistral AI, Inc.	40	$280,000
12	IBM Corporation	38	$229,380
13	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	37	$184,600
14	Intel Corporation	35	$156,640
15	Capital One Services, LLC	33	$178,006
16	Tencent America LLC	33	$220,000
17	Ut-battelle, LLC (oak Ridge National Laboratory)	33	$137,948
18	Anthropic, PBC	31	$209,082
19	Oracle America, Inc.	27	$178,854
20	Netflix, Inc.	26	$237,786
21	UChicago Argonne LLC	25	$90,063
22	Salesforce, Inc.	24	$250,734
23	Luma AI, Inc.	23	$187,500
24	Dolby Laboratories, Inc.	21	$106,766
25	eBay Inc.	21	$185,464
	All other employers	2,005	–