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Materials Scientists: H-1B salaries

Standard Occupational Classification 19-2032. 2,658 labor condition applications; median offered base salary $87,942, middle half $66,560–$116,129.

Applications (LCAs)2,658

Median offered salary$87,942

Middle half of salaries$66,560–$116,129

10th–90th percentile$56,727–$137,299

By wage level

Wage level	LCAs	Median salary
Level I (entry)	822	$62,941
Level II (qualified)	692	$87,232
Level III (experienced)	545	$115,000
Level IV (fully competent)	260	$137,504

The Department of Labor sets four prevailing wage levels for each occupation and area, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). The employer picks the level that matches the job's requirements.

Employers

Employer	LCAs	Median salary
Ut-Battelle, LLC (oak Ridge National Laboratory)	157	$87,443
The Dow Chemical Company	95	$106,995
Brookhaven National Laboratory	79	$83,500
Iowa State University of Science and Technology	74	$65,416
Battelle Memorial Institute	57	$116,702
Northwestern University	57	$63,000
University of Michigan	42	$62,316
The Pennsylvania State University	40	$62,232
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	39	$87,048
UChicago Argonne LLC	38	$87,017
University of Wisconsin System	36	$58,656
Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC	32	$137,508
Triad National Security, LLC	31	$105,487
Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC	31	$71,970
University of Connecticut	30	$64,890
Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC	29	$123,360
Georgia Institute of Technology	27	$67,558
The University of Texas at Austin	27	$64,302
Underwriters Laboratories Inc.	27	$106,500
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station	25	$60,000
Applied Materials, Inc	22	$153,372
Western Digital Technologies, Inc.	21	$146,000
W.M. Rice University	21	$61,000
University of South Carolina	18	$52,250
University of Illinois	18	$59,470
University of California at Santa Barbara	18	$73,025
University of Houston	17	$62,400
The Leland Stanford, Jr University	17	$76,000
University of North Texas	17	$72,197
Nanolab Technologies, Inc.	16	$98,010
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	16	$72,750
University of Maryland College Park	16	$54,627
The University of Tennessee	16	$84,132
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	15	$51,500
North Carolina State University	14	$60,000
University of Colorado	14	$67,340
Ntess, LLC	14	$98,500
University of Washington	14	$71,400
The University of Arizona	13	$59,404
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania	13	$67,250
Purdue University	13	$57,501
Arizona State University	13	$65,000
Cornell University	13	$65,000
Research Foundation for the State University of New York	12	$65,000
Johns Hopkins University	12	$63,074
Leidos, Inc.	12	$112,237
Clemson University	12	$65,000
Yale University	12	$70,339
Henkel Corporation	11	$94,099
University of Delaware	11	$59,488

Cities

Job titles

By fiscal year

Fiscal year	LCAs	Median salary
FY2023	617	$80,000
FY2024	625	$83,548
FY2025	776	$89,934
FY2026	640	$92,250

Salaries are the lower end of the wage offered on each application, converted to a yearly amount; statistics use certified full-time applications only. An LCA is not a visa approval and one LCA can cover several positions. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC LCA Disclosure Data, fiscal years 2023–2026 (latest decision Jun 30, 2026).