Microsoft

H-1B salaries and sponsorship, from 14,273 certified filings (FY2025–FY2026)

Active H-1B filer · last filed FY2026 Q3
  • Software Publishers
  • Headquarters: Redmond
  • Founded 1975
  • 228,000 employees (2024)
  • Nasdaq: MSFT
Median base salary$172,759+41% vs. all H-1B employers
Middle 50%$154.1k–$193.1k
Level III (senior) share41%all employers: 21%
Median prevailing wage$149,240the required minimum for these jobs and places

At a glance

  • Microsoft hires senior. 41% of its filings are Level III, 2.0 times the share across all H-1B employers (21%).
  • Most filed: Software Engineer. 63% of its filings. After that come Systems Engineer / Architect and Data Scientist.
  • Mostly above the prevailing wage. 95% of filings are above the prevailing wage. Median offer $172,759, median prevailing wage $149,240.
  • 4th among Big Tech. Microsoft's median ($172,759) is below Google and Apple and above Amazon.

Is your Microsoft offer competitive?

Enter the base salary in your offer. We compare it with Microsoft's certified filings for the same job.

10th $137.2k25th $154.1kmedian $172.8k75th $193.1k90th $214.5k

Enter a salary to see where it falls.

Percentiles from Microsoft's certified H-1B filings, base salary only. Jobs with at least 10 filings.

What Microsoft hires for

Software Engineer8,932 filings · 63%$173,570 Systems Engineer / Architect1,689 filings · 12%$168,000 Data Scientist1,532 filings · 11%$172,565 Electrical Engineer356 filings · 2%$180,789 Market Research Analyst291 filings · 2%$165,800 Computer Hardware Engineer163 filings · 1%$180,692 Management Consultant139 filings · 1%$180,000 Sales Engineer135 filings · 1%$177,100

Bar: share of Microsoft's filings. Figure: median base salary. Top 10 jobs account for 94% of filings (47 occupations in total).

Show all 25 jobs
JobMedianFilings
Software Engineer$173,5708,932
Systems Engineer / Architect$168,0001,689
Data Scientist$172,5651,532
Electrical Engineer$180,789356
Market Research Analyst$165,800291
Computer Hardware Engineer$180,692163
Management Consultant$180,000139
Sales Engineer$177,100135
Research Scientist (Computer Science)$193,950120
Industrial Engineer$169,675112
Risk Analyst$143,24998
Network Architect$179,69192
Information Security Analyst$182,00089
Data Engineer$151,42688
Industrial Designer$173,08088
Logistician$156,36074
Mechanical Engineer$163,79550
UX Designer$174,10035
Multimedia Artist$176,39033
Civil Engineer$171,75028
Project Manager$170,10017
Cost Estimator$175,85014
Budget Analyst$129,20013
Systems Analyst$123,33013
HR Specialist$137,00010

Jobs with at least 10 filings at Microsoft.

Pay by level

$132.9kLevel I
Entry-level · 7% of filings
$158.5kLevel II
Mid-level · 39% of filings
$184.2kLevel III
Senior · 41% of filings
$218.5kLevel IV
Expert · 12% of filings
Show the table

By experience level

Wage levelMedianFilings
Entry-level · Level I $132,900 986
Mid-level · Level II $158,504 5,403
Senior · Level III $184,200 5,646
Expert · Level IV $218,466 1,719

Median shown when a level has at least 10 filings.

Microsoft vs. Big Tech

Meta logoMeta$208,000 Google logoGoogle$186,000 Apple logoApple$174,304 Microsoft logoMicrosoft$172,759 Amazon logoAmazon$155,000

Median base salary, all jobs, FY2025–FY2026. Big Tech: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft.

Where Microsoft files

Seattle, WA$174,1159,603 filings · rent 1BR $2,180 · no state income tax San Jose, CA$198,8071,347 filings · rent 1BR $2,778 Atlanta, GA$143,100472 filings · rent 1BR $1,619 Dallas, TX$142,516470 filings · rent 1BR $1,536 · no state income tax New York, NY$178,549424 filings · rent 1BR $2,729 Austin, TX$159,120335 filings · rent 1BR $1,530 · no state income tax

Median base salary in each metro area. Rent: HUD Fair Market Rent, FY2027.

Show all 33 metro areas
Metro areaMedianFilings
Seattle, WA$174,1159,603
San Jose, CA$198,8071,347
Atlanta, GA$143,100472
Dallas, TX$142,516470
New York, NY$178,549424
Austin, TX$159,120335
San Francisco, CA$188,547222
Boston, MA$162,183161
Charlotte, NC$139,100146
Raleigh, NC$155,000115
Washington, DC$169,400102
Portland, OR$167,40083
Chicago, IL$168,00079
Los Angeles, CA$179,00079
Houston, TX$146,21754
Phoenix, AZ$151,00052
San Diego, CA$185,50041
Denver, CO$186,20033
Philadelphia, PA$178,15027
Miami, FL$140,91323
Detroit, MI$156,25020
Pittsburgh, PA$145,89320
Durham, NC$149,63515
San Antonio, TX$146,80015
Tampa, FL$158,66614
Sacramento, CA$191,80013
Stockton, CA$177,33613
Kansas, MO$145,36512
St. Louis, MO$140,39311
Baltimore, MD$153,83010
Minneapolis, MN$163,94510
Richmond, VA$183,55010
Trenton, NJ$170,75010

Salary details

Median salary$172,759
Middle 50%$154.1k–$193.1k
vs. all employers+41%comparison median $122,699
Filings14,273FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $112,000 and $255,000.
PercentileSalary
10th$137,177
25th$154,100
50th (median)$172,759
75th$193,050
90th$214,516

Salary by year

Median salary

$120k $155k $190k FY2020: median $142,462 (7,852 filings) FY2021: median $143,025 (7,210 filings) FY2022: median $150,000 (11,403 filings) FY2023: median $163,200 (7,677 filings) FY2024: median $162,000 (9,343 filings) FY2025: median $170,523 (9,166 filings) FY2026: median $177,000 (5,107 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 7,852 filings FY20 FY2021: 7,210 filings FY21 FY2022: 11,403 filings FY22 FY2023: 7,677 filings FY23 FY2024: 9,343 filings FY24 FY2025: 9,166 filings FY25 FY2026: 5,107 filings FY26 11,403
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$142,462$128,500$160,5007,852
FY2021$143,025$128,168$162,0007,210
FY2022$150,000$132,702$169,03311,403
FY2023$163,200$144,600$183,3007,677
FY2024$162,000$144,887$182,0479,343
FY2025$170,523$152,003$190,5839,166
FY2026$177,000$159,220$197,5895,107

Pay vs. prevailing wage

Median offered salary$172,759
Median prevailing wage$149,240
Median difference+17.1%offered salary vs. prevailing wage, per filing
Filed at exactly the prevailing wage5%

Filing at exactly the prevailing wage does not mean low pay: at senior levels and in high-cost areas the prevailing wage itself is high.

Job titles at Microsoft

Job titleMedianMiddle 50%Filings
Software Engineering$173,370$156k–$194.2k8,867
Product Management$180,855$160.6k–$203.7k757
Technical Program Management$177,000$159.9k–$197.6k473
Applied Sciences$180,878$164.1k–$201.9k462
Data Science$168,008$153.7k–$188.9k418
Silicon Engineering$183,833$162.3k–$211.8k338
Technical Support Engineering$130,130$121.2k–$140.7k316
Data Engineering$173,641$160.1k–$192.7k165
Cloud Solution Architecture$174,300$156.7k–$186.3k141
Product Design$172,410$154.5k–$186.5k135
Customer Experience Engineering$167,760$149.8k–$182.1k115
Hardware Engineering$186,238$174.5k–$203.1k113
Financial Analysis$144,199$129.1k–$152.2k108
Product Marketing$157,188$144k–$178.6k95
Cloud Network Engineering$179,821$156.5k–$196.1k93
Show 41 more
Job titleMedianMiddle 50%Filings
Site Reliability Engineering$176,170$155.9k–$189.2k87
Business Program Management$155,300$139.6k–$169.4k79
Service Engineering$168,253$155.6k–$180.6k76
Research Sciences$194,000$182.5k–$204.6k75
Customer Experience Program Management$185,618$163.5k–$195.8k71
Data Analytics$158,000$141k–$172k57
Electrical Engineering$160,000$144.8k–$183.5k55
Firmware Engineering$193,050$162.2k–$207.8k49
Supply Planning$148,499$132.3k–$166.9k44
Digital Solution Engineering$172,702$151.9k–$188.6k43
Security Assurance$185,325$163.9k–$207.3k43
Business Analytics$168,800$157k–$179.8k41
Business Planning$178,200$168k–$193.9k41
Security Research$175,889$155.9k–$197.4k40
Demand Planning$162,300$154k–$177.1k31
Digital Cloud Solution Architecture$171,434$166.7k–$186.6k29
Mechanical Engineering$161,000$148.5k–$165.8k29
Technical Support Advisory$136,100$123.3k–$147.5k29
Security Operations Engineering$179,659$158.5k–$193.8k28
Construction Project Management$169,250$160.5k–$177.9k26
Customer Solutions Architecture$164,050$155k–$180.9k25
UX Research$171,927$145.7k–$177.1k25
Sales Strategy Enablement$174,559$157.6k–$196.8k24
Solution Area Specialists$178,063$168.3k–$183.6k24
Solution Engineering$167,900$158.6k–$181.5k24
Reliability Engineering$158,758$148.5k–$202.5k22
Technology Specialists$179,700$170.2k–$187k22
Customer Success Account Management$151,070$131.6k–$177.6k20
Data Center Operations Management$148,500$137.3k–$162.8k20
Sourcing Engineering$184,899$160k–$205.9k17
Business Strategy$171,188$168.2k–$176.3k16
Marketing Technology$165,075$162.2k–$175.1k16
Penetration Testing$180,000$156.8k–$193.3k15
Solution Architecture$170,423$164.2k–$187.3k14
Supportability$156,870$153.5k–$175k14
Business Applications$166,267$159.2k–$180.1k13
Digital Technology Specialists$162,136$159.1k–$168.7k13
Information Systems Auditing$125,000$114k–$135.7k13
Technology Consulting$165,465$153.9k–$169.1k12
Business Development$170,000$140.1k–$188.1k11
Partner Development Management$154,000$133k–$175.4k11

Job titles as written on the filings, with at least 10 filings. Middle 50%: 25th–75th percentile.

About Microsoft

Microsoft's filings list its industry as Software Publishers (Information sector, NAICS 5132). Its main U.S. filing address is in Redmond, WA and its filings in the data run from FY2020 to FY2026 Q3. In the latest two fiscal years, the most filed jobs are Software Engineer, Systems Engineer / Architect and Data Scientist and the main metro areas are Seattle, WA, San Jose, CA and Atlanta, GA. The most common wage level in those years is Level III (senior).

Founded
1975
Headquarters
Redmond
Employees
228,000 (2024)
Stock
Nasdaq: MSFT

Company facts on this page: Wikidata. Salary data: U.S. Department of Labor.

Questions

Does Microsoft sponsor H-1B visas?

Yes. Microsoft filed 14,273 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications in FY2025–FY2026, the latest two fiscal years. The most recent filing in the data is from FY2026 Q3. A certified LCA is a step before the H-1B petition; it is not a visa approval.

How much does Microsoft pay H-1B workers?

The median base salary on Microsoft's H-1B filings is $172,759; half of filings fall between $154,100 and $193,050. Bonus and stock are not included.