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Occupation · SOC 19-2012

Physicists: H-1B salaries and wage levels

1,253certified H-1B LCAs, Jul 2025 to Jun 2026
$86,000median offer
$73k to $130kmiddle half of offers
13%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
Upton, NY IV $232k
under Level ILevel IIIIIIIV and upmedian offerscale $98k to $244k
CityLCAsMedianLevel ILevel IILevel IIILevel IV
Upton, NY157$124,987 $108,701$149,802$190,923$232,024

What employers offer

1,253 certified LCAs, coloured by the level each salary reaches in its own area
$50k to $60k: 41 LCAs$60k to $70k: 192 LCAs$70k to $80k: 256 LCAs$80k to $90k: 170 LCAs$90k to $100k: 101 LCAs$100k to $110k: 67 LCAs$110k to $120k: 38 LCAs$120k to $130k: 74 LCAs$130k to $140k: 52 LCAs$140k to $150k: 40 LCAs$150k to $160k: 39 LCAs$160k to $170k: 30 LCAs$170k to $180k: 18 LCAs$180k to $190k: 33 LCAs$190k to $200k: 15 LCAs$200k to $210k: 32 LCAs$210k to $220k: 18 LCAs$220k to $230k: 8 LCAs$230k to $240k: 9 LCAs$240k to $250k: 8 LCAs$250k to $260k: 3 LCAs$260k to $270k: 2 LCAs$300k+: 5 LCAs $50k to $60k: 41 LCAs$60k to $70k: 192 LCAs$70k to $80k: 256 LCAs$80k to $90k: 170 LCAs$90k to $100k: 101 LCAs$100k to $110k: 67 LCAs$110k to $120k: 38 LCAs$120k to $130k: 74 LCAs$130k to $140k: 52 LCAs$140k to $150k: 40 LCAs$150k to $160k: 39 LCAs$160k to $170k: 30 LCAs$170k to $180k: 18 LCAs$180k to $190k: 33 LCAs$190k to $200k: 15 LCAs$200k to $210k: 32 LCAs$210k to $220k: 18 LCAs$220k to $230k: 8 LCAs$230k to $240k: 9 LCAs$240k to $250k: 8 LCAs$250k to $260k: 3 LCAs$260k to $270k: 2 LCAs$300k+: 5 LCAs
$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k
Level IIIIIIIVunder Level I = 10 LCAs = 20 LCAs

Lottery entries

159 new-employment LCAs
Physicists 46%22%11%13% 159
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

969 FY2026 to date

Median offer

$87,000 FY2026

Top employers

Jul 2025 to Jun 2026
#EmployerCertified LCAsMedian salary
1 Brookhaven National Laboratory 154 $125,000
2 Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC 50 $99,362
3 University of Maryland College Park 48 $75,750
4 Ut-battelle, LLC (oak Ridge National Laboratory) 36 $126,543
5 The Leland Stanford, Jr University 34 $92,500
6 Triad National Security, LLC 26 $152,230
7 California Institute of Technology 25 $97,000
8 The Trustees of Princeton University 25 $98,914
9 UChicago Argonne LLC 22 $77,126
10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 19 $81,500
11 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC 18 $186,059
12 Harvard University 17 $72,500
13 precess medical derivatives 17 $108,160
14 University of California, Berkeley 17 $82,836
15 Columbia University 16 $79,282
16 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 16 $163,512
17 University of Illinois 16 $66,269
18 Michigan State University 15 $92,250
19 University of California, San Diego 15 $91,000
20 The University of Chicago 15 $77,126
21 The University of Texas at Austin 15 $66,571
22 Fermi Research Alliance, LLC 14 $83,096
23 Simons Foundation 14 $137,502
24 University of Michigan 14 $76,500
25 Johns Hopkins University 13 $77,126
All other employers 582 –