Postdoctoral Researcher — H-1B filed wages

4,666 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

$68,964

n = 867filings with a wage

FY2025 median, from the 867 filings that reported a wage (of 4,666 certified filings in total) across all employers and levels. DOL LCA · FY2025

Fiscal year	Filed wage	Wage sample (n)
FY2026 (through Q3)	$70,390 median of 556	556
FY2025	$68,964 median of 867	867
FY2024	$66,000 median of 851	851
FY2023	$62,000 median of 788	788
FY2022	$58,608 median of 772	772
FY2021	$58,000 median of 824	824

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)

Level as filed	Filed wage	Wage sample (n)
(unstated)	$63,852 median of 4,510	4,510
Senior	$56,728 median of 18	18
Distinguished	$75,000 1 filing	1
Fellow	$61,992 median of 118	118
Level 1	$61,884 1 filing	1
Level 2	5 filings — too few for a median	5
Level 3	3 filings — too few for a median	3
Level 4	2 filings — too few for a median	2

“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 Postdoctoral Researcher roles

top 25 by volume

Employer	Filed wage	Wage sample (n)
University of California, San Francisco	$71,908 median of 548	548
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania	$66,000 median of 323	323
UT Southwestern Medical Center	$60,000 median of 299	299
Northwestern University	$62,500 median of 293	293
The University of Chicago	$61,572 median of 277	277
University of Washington	$68,460 median of 259	259
University of California, Davis	$66,737 median of 258	258
University of California, Los Angeles	$69,342 median of 243	243
The Pennsylvania State University	$59,784 median of 212	212
Oregon State University	$61,008 median of 116	116
Oregon Health & Science University	$61,992 median of 107	107
University of California, Irvine	$65,280 median of 99	99
University of California at Santa Barbara	$71,769 median of 95	95
Temple University--A Commonwealth University	$61,992 median of 93	93
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station	$56,111 median of 92	92
University of Chicago	$65,000 median of 87	87
Case Western Reserve University	$61,500 median of 86	86
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center	$53,982 median of 74	74
University of Kentucky	$55,000 median of 67	67
Louisiana State University and A&M College	$53,945 median of 58	58
The Florida State University	$57,457 median of 48	48
Tufts University	$65,000 median of 45	45
Regents of the University of California at Riverside	$64,480 median of 38	38
The University of Kansas	$60,000 median of 37	37
Syracuse University	$57,810 median of 34	34

Ranked by number of filings, not by pay and not by quality. This is not a “best employers” list. 189 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