Sales Engineer salary in Washington, DC

Based on 64 certified H-1B filings in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Includes Reston, Mclean, Herndon, Arlington, Chantilly.

Also listed as: Solutions Engineer

Median salary$145,000
Middle 50%$122.4k–$166.9k
vs. national median−1%comparison median $146,888
Filings64FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $92,560 and $218,154.
PercentileSalary
10th$95,004
25th$122,392
50th (median)$145,000
75th$166,875
90th$183,726

Salary by year

Median salary

$110k $135k $160k FY2020: median $124,802 (32 filings) FY2021: median $125,715 (35 filings) FY2022: median $126,402 (51 filings) FY2023: median $145,561 (45 filings) FY2024: median $126,880 (45 filings) FY2025: median $142,542 (40 filings) FY2026: median $149,698 (24 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 32 filings FY20 FY2021: 35 filings FY21 FY2022: 51 filings FY22 FY2023: 45 filings FY23 FY2024: 45 filings FY24 FY2025: 40 filings FY25 FY2026: 24 filings FY26 51
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$124,802$111,280$149,03932
FY2021$125,715$97,760$146,34935
FY2022$126,402$101,460$148,34451
FY2023$145,561$124,987$152,19445
FY2024$126,880$124,800$155,00045
FY2025$142,542$122,949$164,62540
FY2026$149,698$122,366$170,12524

Cost of living

Washington's median Sales Engineer salary of $145,000 is worth about $133,200 at national average prices.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (U.S. = 100; Washington = 108.9).

Compared with all workers here

All Sales Engineers in the Washington, DC area earned a median of $153,410 in May 2025 (1,010 employed). The H-1B median here is $145,000, 5% lower.

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

Top employers filing

EmployerMedianFilings
HCLTechtoo few5
Cisco Systemstoo few4
Amazontoo few3
Googletoo few3
Oracletoo few3
Juniper Networkstoo few3
Salesforcetoo few2
Arista Networkstoo few2
Concepts Information Technologytoo few2
InHand Networkstoo few2

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

By experience level

Wage levelMedianFilings
Entry-level · Level I $94,300 10
Mid-level · Level II $122,949 25
Senior · Level III $160,230 11
Expert · Level IV $185,863 10

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$92,560$94,30010
Mid-level · Level II$122,366$122,94925
Senior · Level III$149,698$160,23011
Expert · Level IV$177,050$185,86310

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.