The Sponsor File

Data Engineer — H-1B filed wages

38,172 certified filings · FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3)

Reported wages are what employers filed with the Department of Labor — not actual take-home pay. One LCA is not one job.

Median filed wage

DOL LCA · FY2025
$125,000
n = 8,036filings with a wage

FY2025 median, from the 8,036 filings that reported a wage (of 38,172 certified filings in total) across all employers and levels. DOL LCA · FY2025

Fiscal yearFiled wageWage sample (n)
FY2026 (through Q3)$124,000
median of 6,137
6,137
FY2025$125,000
median of 8,036
8,036
FY2024$120,000
median of 7,032
7,032
FY2023$117,750
median of 6,005
6,005
FY2022$118,000
median of 6,721
6,721
FY2021$119,000
median of 4,203
4,203

How these wages are computed · All cities · All job titles

Source U.S. Department of Labor — OFLC LCA disclosure files (ETA-9035) · Coverage FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3) ·Updated 2026-08-28 · Basis certified filings only, median not average

By level — this is the number that actually applies to you

DOL LCA · FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3)

Staff Data Engineer filings (n = 874) have a median 58% above the 19,483 filings with no level stated. A single figure for “Data Engineer” averages those together, which overstates the junior end and understates the senior end. We never merge them.

Level as filedFiled wageWage sample (n)
Intern$100,235
1 filing
1
Junior$89,000
median of 61
61
Associate$97,544
median of 262
262
(unstated)$104,000
median of 19,483
19,483
Senior$134,500
median of 8,558
8,558
Lead$142,625
median of 1,452
1,452
Staff$163,866
median of 874
874
Principal$142,386
median of 870
870
Distinguished
3 filings — too few for a median
3
Fellow
3 filings — too few for a median
3
Level 1$120,510
median of 1,354
1,354
Level 2$139,506
median of 3,223
3,223
Level 3$141,400
median of 1,857
1,857
Level 4$155,000
median of 117
117
Level 5$139,879
median of 16
16

“Level as filed” is taken from the job title on the filing itself — we do not infer a level that the employer did not write down. Rows below 10filings show the count only; a median from a handful of filings is not a market rate. “(unstated)” means the title carried no level, not that the role is junior.

Source U.S. Department of Labor — OFLC LCA disclosure files (ETA-9035, level read from the job title as filed) ·Coverage FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3) · Updated 2026-08-28 ·Basis certified filings only; medians, not averages

Employers filing the most Data Engineer roles

top 21 by volume
EmployerFiled wageWage sample (n)
Wal-Mart Associates, Inc.$127,169
median of 778
778
Caremark LLC$135,000
median of 463
463
Aetna Resources LLC$131,000
median of 397
397
Visa Technology & Operations LLC$130,100
median of 337
337
IBM$100,443
median of 334
334
Meta$165,000
median of 324
324
Expedia, Inc.$134,118
median of 219
219
Fidelity Investments$117,832
median of 210
210
Tesla, Inc.$155,113
median of 208
208
Optum Services, Inc.$113,283
median of 181
181
Bitwise Inc.$95,000
median of 178
178
NIKE, Inc.$149,247
median of 173
173
DFS Corporate Services LLC$106,558
median of 171
171
Vista Applied Solutions Group Inc$100,797
median of 159
159
Apple Inc.$151,874
median of 158
158
McKinsey & Company, Inc. United States$153,500
median of 157
157
Microsoft Corporation$161,050
median of 154
154
United Services Automobile Association$132,612
median of 149
149
Amazon$150,000
median of 146
146
American Family Mutual Insurance Company, S.I.$126,090
median of 131
131
Google LLC$163,000
median of 129
129

Ranked by number of filings, not by pay and not by quality. This is not a “best employers” list. 6,678 employers in total filed for this role; the 21 above are those with the most filings. Those with at least 10 certified filings have their own page; the rest are counted here but do not.

Source U.S. Department of Labor — OFLC LCA disclosure files (ETA-9035) · Coverage FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3) ·Updated 2026-08-28 ·Basis filings counted across the whole coverage period, not one year

What this page does not cover

We build a page only for roles we can classify with confidence. The filings we do not classify are mostly three things: employer-internal job codes (“Manager JC50”), generic words that would make a useless page (“Analyst”, “Associate”), and spellings that appear only a handful of times. None of those can be grouped reliably —so we do not guess. To see every role at one company, use its employer page.

For the record: 866,533 of 3,034,814 certified filings (28.6%) reduce to one of our 29 role pages. That percentage on its own would mislead — the remainder is not a missing 71% of the job market, it is mostly text that cannot become a page.

Source U.S. Department of Labor — OFLC LCA disclosure files (ETA-9035) · Coverage FY2021–FY2026 (through Q3) ·Updated 2026-08-28 ·Basis certified filings with a job title, across the whole coverage period