H-1B salaries in Washington, DC

Based on 26,057 certified H-1B filings in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Base salary only.

Median salary$122,699
Middle 50%$97.3k–$150k
vs. national median+0%comparison median $122,699
Filings26,057FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $58,171 and $268,799.
PercentileSalary
10th$80,000
25th$97,344
50th (median)$122,699
75th$150,000
90th$178,400

Salary by year

Median salary

$80k $110k $140k FY2020: median $97,406 (17,847 filings) FY2021: median $98,550 (14,963 filings) FY2022: median $102,107 (17,353 filings) FY2023: median $110,240 (15,117 filings) FY2024: median $114,026 (15,664 filings) FY2025: median $121,200 (15,692 filings) FY2026: median $126,090 (10,365 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 17,847 filings FY20 FY2021: 14,963 filings FY21 FY2022: 17,353 filings FY22 FY2023: 15,117 filings FY23 FY2024: 15,664 filings FY24 FY2025: 15,692 filings FY25 FY2026: 10,365 filings FY26 17,847
Shaded: FY2025–FY2026, the years behind the figures above. Median shown for years with at least 10 filings. FY2026 covers Q1–Q3 only.
Show as table
Fiscal yearMedianP25P75Filings
FY2020$97,406$86,736$117,45817,847
FY2021$98,550$88,604$120,00014,963
FY2022$102,107$91,042$128,39817,353
FY2023$110,240$90,605$133,64015,117
FY2024$114,026$93,000$138,79815,664
FY2025$121,200$97,157$148,22115,692
FY2026$126,090$101,421$152,36310,365

Cost of living

Washington's median H-1B salary of $122,699 is worth about $112,700 at national average prices.

Fair market rent, 1-bedroom$2,204Per month. Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area).
Fair market rent, 2-bedroom$2,438Per month. Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, FY2027 (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area).
Price level (U.S. = 100)108.9Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
Price-adjusted median$112,700Median salary ÷ (price level ÷ 100).
State income tax on wagesDC: yes · VA: yes · MD: yes · WV: yesSource: Tax Foundation, State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2025.

Most filed jobs

JobMedianFilings
Software Engineer$129,0008,203
Data Scientist$115,9392,388
Systems Engineer / Architect$134,0771,497
Programmer Analyst$94,3701,328
QA Engineer$106,460835
Accountant$95,150666
Systems Analyst$106,912616
Database Administrator$99,840540
Civil Engineer$105,000530
IT Manager$196,040520
Network Administrator$104,450420
Management Consultant$130,811353
Information Security Analyst$143,395330
Operations Research Analyst$110,000317
Molecular and Cellular Biologist$99,768312

By job title

Java Developer$112.5k · 302 Full Stack Developer$123k · 261 DevOps Engineer$126.1k · 246 Solutions Architect$153.6k · 201 Product Manager$149.8k · 162 .NET Developer$154.6k · 153 Cloud Engineer$128.8k · 105 Systems Engineer$125k · 95 Frontend Developer$126.1k · 72 Salesforce Developer$122.7k · 71 Site Reliability Engineer$150.6k · 46 SAP Consultant$122.7k · 43 Backend Developer$122.7k · 40 Python Developer$103.3k · 38 Scrum Master$118.3k · 16

Job titles with at least 10 filings in Washington, DC. Figure: median salary · filings.