The Sponsor File

Machine Learning Engineer — H-1B filed wages

8,439 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
$174,096
n = 1,983filings with a wage

FY2025 median, from the 1,983 filings that reported a wage (of 8,439 certified filings in total) across all employers and levels. DOL LCA · FY2025

Fiscal yearFiled wageWage sample (n)
FY2026 (through Q3)$178,729
median of 1,692
1,692
FY2025$174,096
median of 1,983
1,983
FY2024$172,114
median of 1,491
1,491
FY2023$165,000
median of 1,160
1,160
FY2022$160,000
median of 1,220
1,220
FY2021$150,342
median of 887
887

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 Machine Learning Engineer filings (n = 482) have a median 22% above the 4,702 filings with no level stated. A single figure for “Machine Learning Engineer” averages those together, which overstates the junior end and understates the senior end. We never merge them.

Level as filedFiled wageWage sample (n)
Junior$88,000
median of 15
15
Associate$125,000
median of 24
24
(unstated)$160,805
median of 4,702
4,702
Senior$181,272
median of 1,944
1,944
Lead$184,300
median of 113
113
Staff$196,957
median of 482
482
Principal$215,000
median of 155
155
Distinguished
3 filings — too few for a median
3
Level 1$140,000
median of 116
116
Level 2$160,000
median of 483
483
Level 3$144,250
median of 144
144
Level 4$162,333
median of 172
172
Level 5$196,524
median of 80
80

“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 Machine Learning Engineer roles

top 25 by volume
EmployerFiled wageWage sample (n)
Apple Inc.$186,956
median of 898
898
Adobe Inc.$183,000
median of 456
456
Pinterest, Inc.$170,186
median of 357
357
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.$133,000
median of 322
322
Snap Inc.$167,149
median of 246
246
TikTok Inc.$211,440
median of 202
202
Meta$210,690
median of 150
150
ByteDance$235,000
median of 145
145
Twitter, Inc.$175,000
median of 137
137
Expedia, Inc.$146,551
median of 131
131
PayPal, Inc.$173,427
median of 116
116
Spotify USA, Inc.$193,280
median of 92
92
Maplebear Inc.$190,000
median of 91
91
ServiceNow, Inc.$167,149
median of 84
84
Uber Technologies, Inc.$203,400
median of 80
80
Visa Technology & Operations LLC$136,448
median of 64
64
Wayfair LLC$181,500
median of 59
59
Cruise LLC$210,000
median of 57
57
DoorDash, Inc.$180,064
median of 54
54
Netflix, Inc.$226,158
median of 49
49
Atlassian US, Inc.$200,000
median of 49
49
Bloomberg L.P.$151,819
median of 47
47
Roblox Corporation$274,030
median of 46
46
PathAI, Inc.$163,000
median of 43
43
Airbnb, Inc.$191,000
median of 43
43

Ranked by number of filings, not by pay and not by quality. This is not a “best employers” list. 1,721 employers in total filed for this role; the 25 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