Data Methodology

1. Data Source

All data on H1BPay is sourced from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) public disclosure data. Employers seeking to hire foreign workers on H-1B visas must file Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) with the DOL, and these filings are made publicly available as part of the OFLC disclosure process.

2. What the Data Includes

Each record in our database corresponds to an individual LCA filing and includes:

• Employer name — the company sponsoring the H-1B petition
• Job title — the position as listed on the LCA
• Salary and pay unit — the prevailing or offered wage (annual, hourly, weekly, or monthly)
• Work location — city and state where the role is based
• Filing and employment dates — when the application was submitted and the intended employment period
• Visa classification — the specific visa type (e.g., H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)
• Case status — whether the LCA was certified, denied, or withdrawn

3. Update Frequency

Our database is built from annual bulk disclosure files published by the OFLC, supplemented by periodic updates as new data becomes available. The current dataset covers fiscal years 2020 through 2025. We aim to incorporate new annual disclosure files within a reasonable timeframe after they are published by the DOL.

4. Data Processing

To ensure consistency and usability, we apply the following processing steps:

• Salary normalization — All salaries are converted to annual equivalents for consistent comparison: hourly wages are multiplied by 2,080 (40 hrs/week × 52 weeks), weekly wages by 52, and monthly wages by 12.
• Salary bounds filtering — Records with annualized salaries below $20,000 or above $1,000,000 are excluded as likely data entry errors or non-standard arrangements.
• Employer name normalization — Common legal suffixes (LLC, Inc., Corp., Ltd., etc.) are stripped when grouping employer data to consolidate variant spellings of the same company.

5. Coverage

Our database contains over 1.5 million LCA records spanning more than 50,000 unique employers across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. This represents one of the most comprehensive publicly available collections of H-1B salary data.

6. Limitations

There are important limitations to be aware of when interpreting this data:

• LCA ≠ visa approval — A certified LCA does not mean an H-1B visa was granted. The LCA is one step in the process; USCIS separately adjudicates the visa petition.
• Filed wages ≠ total compensation — The salary listed represents the base wage offered. It does not include bonuses, stock options, equity grants, signing bonuses, or other forms of compensation.
• No benefits data — Information about health insurance, retirement contributions, or other benefits is not included in LCA filings.
• Job title granularity varies — Employers have discretion in how they describe job titles on LCA filings. The same role may appear under different titles across companies, and some titles are very generic (e.g., “Software Engineer”) while others are highly specific.

7. Disclaimer

H1BPay is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The information provided on this website is for informational and research purposes only and should not be construed as legal, financial, or immigration advice. While we strive for accuracy, we make no guarantees about the completeness or timeliness of the data presented.