H1B Salary Data

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Physicists: H-1B salaries

Standard Occupational Classification 19-2012. 4,166 labor condition applications; median offered base salary $83,100, middle half $67,941–$121,002.

Applications (LCAs)4,166
Median offered salary$83,100
Middle half of salaries$67,941–$121,002
10th–90th percentile$60,549–$169,200

By wage level

Wage levelLCAsMedian salary
Level I (entry)2,085$71,500
Level II (qualified)716$118,000
Level III (experienced)356$141,194
Level IV (fully competent)197$190,404

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

EmployerLCAsMedian salary
Brookhaven National Laboratory273$122,000
Triad National Security, LLC141$108,019
Ut-Battelle, LLC (oak Ridge National Laboratory)114$121,008
Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC100$85,100
Leland Stanford Jr. Univ/SLAC National Accelerator Lab98$101,837
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC97$66,700
The Trustees of Princeton University96$86,500
UChicago Argonne LLC93$80,059
University of Maryland College Park91$77,311
Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC80$171,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology80$78,800
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory79$122,988
The Leland Stanford, Jr University62$84,730
California Institute of Technology56$79,699
University of California, Berkeley52$77,178
Harvard University51$70,304
The University of Chicago51$70,000
Columbia University47$75,162
Michigan State University46$90,000
Simons Foundation45$96,063
precess medical derivatives40$98,800
Washington University38$67,000
University of Illinois36$61,224
University of Michigan36$68,732
The University of Texas at Austin35$62,429
Cornell University34$73,218
Stanford University/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory33$95,800
Texas A&M University33$55,370
Jefferson Science Associates, LLC31$117,130
University of Rochester30$85,000
Johns Hopkins University30$76,610
Duke University30$79,893
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center29$210,000
Battelle Memorial Institute29$108,573
University of California, San Diego29$83,200
University of Colorado27$92,400
Purdue University27$60,549
The Florida State University24$79,390
University of Wisconsin System24$74,521
Mayo Clinic24$195,822
Yale University22$68,280
Northwestern University22$66,982
The University of Tennessee22$64,636
The Ohio State University22$62,190
Research Foundation of CUNY21$75,764
W.M. Rice University21$61,800
Northeastern University20$68,152
Kent State University20$62,539
Applied Materials, Inc20$170,484
University of California, Los Angeles20$81,006

Cities

Job titles

By fiscal year

Fiscal yearLCAsMedian salary
FY2023931$80,000
FY20241,046$80,850
FY20251,183$85,000
FY20261,006$85,230

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).