Senior Electronics Engineer salary in San Jose, CA

Based on 733 certified H-1B filings at DOL wage level III in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Includes Santa Clara, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, Palo Alto.

Also listed as: Hardware Engineer, Hardware Engineer Electronics

Median salary$186,472
Middle 50%$178k–$186.5k
vs. all levels here+7%comparison median $173,545
Filings733FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $178,006 and $257,374.
PercentileSalary
10th$178,006
25th$178,006
50th (median)$186,472
75th$186,472
90th$197,000

Salary by year

Median salary

$120k $160k $200k FY2020: median $141,669 (587 filings) FY2021: median $148,221 (680 filings) FY2022: median $151,902 (825 filings) FY2023: median $153,504 (708 filings) FY2024: median $153,504 (619 filings) FY2025: median $178,006 (434 filings) FY2026: median $186,472 (299 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 587 filings FY20 FY2021: 680 filings FY21 FY2022: 825 filings FY22 FY2023: 708 filings FY23 FY2024: 619 filings FY24 FY2025: 434 filings FY25 FY2026: 299 filings FY26 825
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$141,669$134,597$157,889587
FY2021$148,221$141,669$156,255680
FY2022$151,902$148,221$159,400825
FY2023$153,504$151,902$160,957708
FY2024$153,504$153,504$170,000619
FY2025$178,006$178,006$186,472434
FY2026$186,472$186,472$186,500299

Cost of living

San Jose's median senior Electronics Engineer salary of $186,472 is worth about $168,900 at national average prices.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (U.S. = 100; San Jose = 110.4).

Compared with all workers here

All Electronics Engineers, Except Computer in the San Jose, CA area earned a median of $194,370 in May 2025 (5,970 employed). The H-1B median here is $186,472, 4% lower.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS metropolitan area estimates. BLS wages include some incentive pay; H-1B figures are base salary.

Employers filing at this level

EmployerMedianFilings
Qualcomm$182,200118
NVIDIA$186,47280
Intel$186,47273
Apple$178,00659
Marvell Semiconductor$186,47250
Advanced Micro Devices$182,97536
Cisco Systems$186,47236
Xilinx$186,47230
Samsung Semiconductor$186,47217
Meta$208,93612

Employers with at least 2 filings here. Median shown at 10+ filings.

By experience level

Wage levelMedianFilings
Entry-level · Level I $127,234 372
Mid-level · Level II $156,853 901
Senior · Level III $186,472 733
Expert · Level IV $216,091 1,322

Median shown when a level has at least 10 filings.

Minimum H-1B salary by level

Wage levelPrevailing wage (most common)Median offered salaryFilings
Entry-level · Level I$124,197$127,234372
Mid-level · Level II$156,853$156,853901
Senior · Level III$186,472$186,472733
Expert · Level IV$216,091$216,0911,322

The prevailing wage is the minimum an employer must pay for this job and area. Amounts vary by county within a metro and by wage source.