How H-1B salaries changed from 2020 to 2026
Published November 10, 2026 · Data through FY2026 Q3
How much have H-1B salaries risen over the past several years? This guide follows the median annual base salary in certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) filings from fiscal year 2020 through fiscal year 2026, for all jobs and for two of the most common occupations: software engineers and data scientists. It also shows how the mix of wage levels has shifted, which affects how to read the trend.
A few points apply throughout. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30, so FY2020 began in October 2019. FY2026 covers Q1–Q3 only, so its figures are partial and may change once the full year is in. All amounts are nominal dollars and are not adjusted for inflation. They are base salaries from certified LCA filings and exclude bonuses and stock. A certified LCA is not a visa approval, and one filing can cover more than one worker.
All H-1B jobs, year by year
| Fiscal year | Filings | 25th pct. | Median | 75th pct. | Median change vs. prior year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 533,790 | $79,600 | $96,595 | $123,032 | – |
| FY2021 | 487,393 | $82,400 | $101,300 | $130,894 | +5% |
| FY2022 | 562,627 | $86,000 | $108,000 | $140,000 | +7% |
| FY2023 | 488,381 | $87,152 | $110,000 | $142,875 | +2% |
| FY2024 | 502,366 | $88,000 | $113,460 | $150,000 | +3% |
| FY2025 | 539,430 | $91,000 | $120,000 | $155,750 | +6% |
| FY2026 (Q1–Q3) | 392,165 | $96,096 | $126,360 | $164,780 | +5% |
The median rose every year in this period. From FY2020 to FY2025, the last full year, it went from $96,595 to $120,000, an increase of $23,405, or about 24%. Including the partial FY2026 figure of $126,360, the rise since FY2020 is about 31%.
Growth was not even. The largest one-year increase was from FY2021 to FY2022 (about 7%), and the smallest was from FY2022 to FY2023 (about 2%). The 75th percentile grew faster than the 25th: the 75th rose about 27% from FY2020 to FY2025, while the 25th rose about 14%. In other words, the upper half of the pay range has pulled away somewhat from the lower half.
Filing volume peaked in FY2022 at 562,627. FY2026, with three quarters counted, already stands at 392,165.
Software engineers
| Fiscal year | Filings | 25th pct. | Median | 75th pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 200,223 | $90,200 | $106,200 | $130,000 |
| FY2021 | 183,134 | $93,558 | $111,414 | $137,000 |
| FY2022 | 215,209 | $94,860 | $117,957 | $145,000 |
| FY2023 | 170,767 | $99,100 | $120,000 | $150,000 |
| FY2024 | 164,146 | $102,690 | $126,700 | $157,900 |
| FY2025 | 170,849 | $110,000 | $135,520 | $168,000 |
| FY2026 (Q1–Q3) | 118,841 | $115,875 | $144,914 | $177,861 |
The software engineer median rose from $106,200 in FY2020 to $135,520 in FY2025, about 28%. With the partial FY2026 figure ($144,914), the increase since FY2020 is about 36%, faster than for all jobs.
The pattern differs from the all-jobs trend. Growth slowed to about 2% between FY2022 and FY2023, then picked up: about 6% in FY2024 and about 7% in both FY2025 and FY2026. Meanwhile, software engineer filings fell from their FY2022 peak of 215,209 to 170,849 in FY2025.
Data scientists
| Fiscal year | Filings | 25th pct. | Median | 75th pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 4,932 | $84,500 | $105,000 | $130,018 |
| FY2021 | 6,223 | $84,650 | $110,000 | $135,000 |
| FY2022 | 11,254 | $93,000 | $120,000 | $147,014 |
| FY2023 | 19,667 | $95,318 | $119,983 | $150,000 |
| FY2024 | 23,693 | $91,520 | $117,963 | $151,736 |
| FY2025 | 31,544 | $94,000 | $120,480 | $156,000 |
| FY2026 (Q1–Q3) | 26,712 | $97,386 | $125,000 | $160,514 |
Data scientists show the opposite pattern to software engineers. Filings grew strongly, from 4,932 in FY2020 to 31,544 in FY2025, but the median barely moved after FY2022. It reached $120,000 in FY2022, dipped to $117,963 in FY2024, and was $120,480 in FY2025. Over the full period, from $105,000 to the partial FY2026 figure of $125,000, the increase is about 19%, the smallest of the three groups.
Comparing the three groups
Put side by side, the three series tell different stories. Over FY2020 to FY2025, the all-jobs median rose about 24%, the software engineer median about 28%, and the data scientist median about 15%. Software engineers started the period about $10,000 above the all-jobs median ($106,200 vs. $96,595) and ended FY2025 about $15,500 above it ($135,520 vs. $120,000). Data scientists started close to software engineers ($105,000 vs. $106,200) but by FY2025 were about $15,000 behind them.
The wage-level mix has shifted
Every LCA lists a prevailing wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). The share of filings at each level has changed:
| Fiscal year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | 14% | 50% | 22% | 13% |
| FY2021 | 15% | 48% | 22% | 15% |
| FY2022 | 14% | 45% | 23% | 17% |
| FY2023 | 16% | 45% | 22% | 17% |
| FY2024 | 19% | 45% | 21% | 15% |
| FY2025 | 20% | 42% | 21% | 17% |
| FY2026 (Q1–Q3) | 19% | 40% | 21% | 20% |
Level II, the most common level, fell from about 50% of filings in FY2020 to about 40% in FY2026. Both ends grew: Level I from about 14% to 19%, and Level IV from about 13% to 20%.
This matters for reading the medians. A median salary can rise because pay for the same job rose, or because more filings are for senior, higher-paid roles. The jump in Level IV share in the partial FY2026 data, from about 17% to 20%, means part of that year's increase may reflect mix rather than raises. These level shares are not split by occupation in this guide, so they describe the overall filing population.
How to use this trend
- Treat the year-over-year numbers as a rough guide to how offers in your field have moved, not as an expected raise.
- Compare FY2026 figures with care until the full year is available.
- Because the figures are nominal, part of the increase reflects general price growth. This guide does not estimate how much.
This guide is general information and is not legal, tax or immigration advice.
How we calculated this
We grouped certified H-1B LCA filings by the fiscal year of the filing and calculated the median and percentiles of annualized base wages in each year, for all jobs and for the software engineer and data scientist occupations. Percent changes are computed from the medians shown and rounded to whole numbers. Filings from FY2020 to FY2022 mostly carry 2010 SOC codes; Wage Record converts them to 2018 codes with a mapping derived from the filings themselves, so the software engineer and data scientist series for those years rest on that derived mapping. See the methodology.