H-1B Wage Level & Salary Checker (2026)
Pick your wage level, occupation and worksite state to see an estimated salary floor, what each DOL level means, employer-size fee estimates and the 2026 rule status.
Your estimated H-1B salary floor
Estimated first-year filing costs for this employer size
| Fee | Amount | When it applies |
|---|
Wage figures are illustrative national estimates built from BLS OEWS May 2025 wage distributions and DOL's published wage-level percentiles. Your binding number is the prevailing wage DOL certifies for your worksite occupational area (OFLC Online Wage Library), or your employer's actual wage if that is higher. Fees are the published USCIS amounts on 5 October 2026; USCIS inflation adjustments take effect on 16 October 2026. Informational only - not legal advice.
The Four H-1B Wage Levels Explained
Every Labor Condition Application (LCA) carries one of four wage levels. DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification derives them from BLS wage data for the occupation in the worksite area, and the level tracks how much experience, education and independence the job actually needs. The labels below are DOL's own definitions, and the percentile column is the position of each level within the local wage distribution.
| Level | Percentile (current rule) | DOL definition | Typical profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level I | About 17th | Entry level: limited experience, understanding of basic principles, works under close supervision | New graduates, junior developers, staff accountants |
| Level II | About 34th | Qualified: performs tasks of moderate complexity, works with limited supervision, applies established principles | Mid-level engineers, two-to-four years of experience |
| Level III | About 50th (median) | Experienced: works with little supervision, resolves unusual problems, may guide other employees | Senior developers, lead analysts, charge nurses |
| Level IV | About 67th | Fully competent: comprehensive knowledge of the field, works with significant independence, may supervise or set policy | Principal engineers, HR managers, architects |
Percentile mapping per the Congressional Research Service summary of DOL methodology: Level I uses the mean of the lower third of the wage distribution (about the 17th percentile), Level IV the mean of the upper two-thirds (about the 67th), and Levels II and III fall midway between them. A proposed rule would replace these points - see the rule status section below.
Top H-1B Occupations: 2026 Wage Ranges by Level
The table shows national wage distribution data for eight of the occupations that dominate H-1B filings, plus the illustrative wage floor this checker derives for each level. The 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile columns are official BLS OEWS figures for May 2025, released 15 May 2026; the four level columns map DOL's level percentiles onto that distribution.
| Occupation (SOC) | 10th pct | Median | 90th pct | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers (15-1252) | $82,460 | $135,980 | $214,670 | $91,826 | $114,572 | $135,980 | $169,423 |
| Data Scientists (15-2051) | $67,240 | $120,230 | $199,130 | $76,513 | $99,034 | $120,230 | $153,763 |
| Human Resources Managers (11-3121) | $88,200 | $149,280 | $267,810 | $98,889 | $124,848 | $149,280 | $199,655 |
| Mechanical Engineers (17-2141) | $73,990 | $104,110 | $164,340 | $79,261 | $92,062 | $104,110 | $129,708 |
| Financial Analysts (13-2051) | $63,720 | $102,740 | $180,860 | $70,549 | $87,132 | $102,740 | $135,941 |
| Registered Nurses (29-1141) | $68,940 | $97,550 | $137,470 | $73,947 | $86,106 | $97,550 | $114,516 |
| Accountants & Auditors (13-2011) | $56,020 | $83,680 | $144,090 | $60,861 | $72,616 | $83,680 | $109,354 |
| Market Research Analysts (13-1161) | $43,390 | $78,760 | $155,480 | $49,580 | $64,612 | $78,760 | $111,366 |
Source note: percentile columns are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national cross-industry estimates for May 2025 (published 15 May 2026). Level columns are VisaGrade calculations, not DOL figures: Level I interpolates the 17th percentile, Level II the 34th, Level III uses the median and Level IV the 67th. Actual LCA wages are area-based and usually differ - San Jose nurses and Dallas accountants will not match these national numbers.
H-1B Wage Rule Status: October 2026
If the proposed wage rule is finalized as published, the same software developer job that clears at roughly $91,800 today at Level I would need about the 34th percentile instead - roughly $114,600 on national data - and DOL's own analysis in related filings suggests average required wages would rise by tens of thousands of dollars. Employers planning multi-year sponsorship should therefore budget for movement at both ends: today's certified wage, and a materially higher wage on renewal or amendment once any final rule takes effect.
Cap, Registration and Petition Fees
The wage is only one cost. A cap-subject employer pays a registration fee each March, then the petition stack if selected. All figures below are the published USCIS amounts checked on 5 October 2026; USCIS announced inflation adjustments to certain H.R.1 fees that take effect on 16 October 2026, so confirm totals on the USCIS fee schedule before filing.
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| H-1B registration (cap lottery) | $215 per beneficiary | Per electronic registration, up from $10 before FY 2026; non-refundable whether or not selected |
| Form I-129 base filing fee | $780 ($460 small employers / nonprofits) | Small employer means 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees |
| ACWIA training fee | $750 or $1,500 | $750 for 25 or fewer FTEs, $1,500 for 26 or more; charged on initial filings, change of status and first extension |
| Fraud prevention & detection fee | $500 | New H-1B employment and changes of employer |
| Asylum Program Fee | $600 / $300 / $0 | $600 for 26+ FTEs, $300 for 25 or fewer, $0 for nonprofits |
| Public Law 114-113 fee | $4,000 | Only if 50+ US employees and more than 50% are in H-1B or L-1 status; since 9 September 2026 covered employers pay it on all H-1B petitions, not just new ones |
| Premium processing (I-907) | $2,965 | Optional; 15 business-day response target, price since 1 March 2026 |
| $100,000 proclamation payment | $100,000 | Only certain new petitions for beneficiaries abroad filed on or after 21 September 2026; contested in court |
H-1B Dependent Employer Rules
An employer whose workforce leans heavily on H-1B staff is H-1B dependent, and the label triggers extra labor condition application attestations. The threshold test uses full-time equivalents across the US operation:
| Employer size (FTE) | Dependency threshold | Extra obligations |
|---|---|---|
| 25 or fewer | 8 or more H-1B workers | Attest to no displacement of similarly employed US workers in the 90 days before or after filing, to good-faith recruitment of US workers, and - when placing workers with a secondary employer - to checking whether that employer displaced US staff. Willful violator employers carry the same attestations. |
| 26 - 50 | 13 or more H-1B workers | |
| 51 or more | 15% or more of the workforce |
Dependency sits alongside the baseline wage rules: pay the higher of the actual or prevailing wage, pay for employer-caused non-productive time, offer benefits on the same basis as US workers, and post the LCA at the worksite. The checker above prints your threshold and the likely petition fees for the size band you select.
How We Calculate the Estimate
Three steps, all disclosed so you can check them. First, DOL's published percentile points are fixed: Level I at the 17th percentile of the occupation's wage distribution, Level II at the 34th, Level III at the median and Level IV at the 67th. Second, national BLS OEWS May 2025 data supplies the 10th percentile, median and 90th percentile for each occupation, and the tool interpolates linearly between those anchors to approximate the missing percentiles - that is why the numbers are labelled illustrative rather than official. Third, the displayed band runs from the midpoint of the level below (or the 10th percentile for Level I) to the midpoint of the level above (or the 90th percentile for Level IV), which brackets the wages employers typically offer at that level while the floor itself is the level estimate.
What the estimate cannot capture: the worksite area, your employer's own wage for similar US workers, bonus and equity treatment, or any future rule change. Those are exactly the inputs that decide your certified LCA wage, so treat this as a budgeting and negotiation aid, and confirm the binding figure in the OFLC Online Wage Library before anyone signs an offer.
H-1B Wage Level FAQs
How We Fact-Checked This Page
Checked on 5 October 2026 against: the Congressional Research Service brief on prevailing wage requirements for H-1B workers (percentile methodology and level definitions); DOL's proposed rule published 27 March 2026 (91 FR 15454) and its May 26, 2026 comment deadline; BLS OEWS May 2025 national wage estimates released 15 May 2026; USCIS fee pages dated 9 September 2026 (Asylum Program Fee tiers, 9-11 biometric fee final rule) and the USCIS fee schedule alert of 30 September 2026 on 16 October 2026 inflation adjustments; DOL Fact Sheet 62C on H-1B dependency; and the September 2026 proclamation and June 2026 court order on the $100,000 payment. Wage-level percentiles and salary bands are estimates, not legal determinations.