The Sponsor File

Software Engineer — H-1B filed wages

496,325 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
$133,900
n = 84,508filings with a wage

FY2025 median, from the 84,508 filings that reported a wage (of 496,325 certified filings in total) across all employers and levels. DOL LCA · FY2025

Fiscal yearFiled wageWage sample (n)
FY2026 (through Q3)$140,026
median of 56,247
56,247
FY2025$133,900
median of 84,508
84,508
FY2024$123,781
median of 89,849
89,849
FY2023$117,900
median of 87,459
87,459
FY2022$115,000
median of 100,335
100,335
FY2021$108,410
median of 77,502
77,502

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 Software Engineer filings (n = 10,259) have a median 59% above the 325,205 filings with no level stated. A single figure for “Software 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
4 filings — too few for a median
4
Junior$85,000
median of 280
280
Associate$125,000
median of 5,891
5,891
(unstated)$110,240
median of 325,205
325,205
Senior$134,024
median of 77,417
77,417
Lead$134,347
median of 10,078
10,078
Staff$175,000
median of 10,259
10,259
Principal$165,000
median of 6,785
6,785
Distinguished$197,623
median of 58
58
Fellow$131,997
median of 15
15
Level 1$125,200
median of 13,049
13,049
Level 2$145,454
median of 28,571
28,571
Level 3$137,500
median of 16,015
16,015
Level 4$143,900
median of 1,903
1,903
Level 5$169,229
median of 370
370

“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 Software Engineer roles

top 22 by volume
EmployerFiled wageWage sample (n)
Microsoft Corporation$160,000
median of 31,071
31,071
Google LLC$177,000
median of 26,095
26,095
Wal-Mart Associates, Inc.$135,960
median of 10,249
10,249
Compunnel Software Group, Inc$109,500
median of 6,673
6,673
JPMorgan Chase & Co.$130,000
median of 4,781
4,781
Intel Corporation$120,400
median of 4,113
4,113
Mphasis Corporation$121,000
median of 4,049
4,049
Amazon$146,400
median of 3,237
3,237
Mastech Digital Technologies, Inc.$98,904
median of 2,848
2,848
Meta$175,000
median of 2,548
2,548
LinkedIn Corporation$156,959
median of 2,485
2,485
CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc.$112,000
median of 2,392
2,392
Apple Inc.$179,900
median of 2,243
2,243
Uber Technologies, Inc.$187,000
median of 2,151
2,151
Tata Consultancy Services Limited$117,693
median of 2,050
2,050
Adobe Inc.$168,000
median of 2,013
2,013
U.S. Bank National Association$125,445
median of 1,985
1,985
Oracle America, Inc.$127,629
median of 1,967
1,967
Randstad Technologies, LLC$125,000
median of 1,814
1,814
Intuit Inc.$147,713
median of 1,720
1,720
PayPal, Inc.$144,424
median of 1,712
1,712
Kforce Inc.$102,690
median of 1,690
1,690

Ranked by number of filings, not by pay and not by quality. This is not a “best employers” list. 23,771 employers in total filed for this role; the 22 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