The Sphere Institute H-1B wage filings
Burlingame, CA. Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026.
The Sphere Institute filed 53 wage applications for H-1B and similar visas from July 2025 to June 2026, covering 113 positions. The median wage it offered was $95,000, 18.3% above the government's prevailing wage for the same jobs. Its most-filed job was Lead Research Analyst I (11 filings, median $70,000).
- Filings
- 53
- Positions covered
- 113
- Certified
- 100.0%
- Job titles
- 26
- Worksite cities
- 22
- Filings since FY2020
- 434
- Median offer change since FY2020
- +27%
Offered wage since 2020
The Sphere Institute's median H-1B wage offer rose 27%, from $75,000 in fiscal 2020 to $95,000 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 17.7% above the prevailing wage. Its busiest full year was fiscal 2022, with 93 filings.
Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wageFilings per year
Fiscal years run October to September. Fiscal 2026 is still running: these figures cover October 2025 to June 2026.
The Sphere Institute by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Filings | Median offered | vs year before | Median prevailing | vs prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Oct to Jun) | 29 | $95,000 | +11.8% | $76,336 | +17.7% |
| 2025 | 59 | $85,000 | no change | $71,386 | +18.3% |
| 2024 | 72 | $85,000 | +6.3% | $63,211 | +34.5% |
| 2023 | 53 | $80,000 | +4.2% | $70,554 | +14.0% |
| 2022 | 93 | $76,752 | +9.6% | $63,086 | +13.9% |
| 2021 | 59 | $70,000 | −6.7% | $57,658 | +19.4% |
| 2020 | 69 | $75,000 | n/a | $57,990 | +18.3% |
Offered wage by job title
Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage
| Job title | Filings | Median offered | Offered range and prevailing wage | vs prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead Research Analyst I | 11 | $70,000 | +44.6% | |
| Lead Research Analyst II | 4 | $85,000 | +30.0% | |
| Associate Researcher II | 3 | $130,568 | +62.3% | |
| Research Operations Lead | 3 | $105,000 | +12.0% | |
| Associate Research Manager II | 2 | $135,000 | +44.4% | |
| Associate Researcher I | 2 | $125,519 | +44.5% | |
| Data Operations Analyst II | 2 | $65,229 | +5.4% | |
| Information Coordinator | 2 | $79,420 | +11.4% | |
| Research Analyst II | 2 | $70,000 | +7.3% | |
| Research Lead I | 2 | $105,000 | +35.0% | |
| Researcher I | 2 | $105,000 | +29.5% | |
| Senior Data Operations Analyst II | 2 | $100,614 | +38.1% | |
| Senior HR Operations Lead | 2 | $101,150 | +12.1% | |
| Senior Research Analyst I | 2 | $95,000 | +8.2% | |
| AppDev Lead DevOps Engineer | 1 | $164,000 | +1.5% | |
| Associate Research Manager III | 1 | $135,000 | +32.9% | |
| Data Engineering and Operations Lead | 1 | $140,130 | at the minimum | |
| Employee Development Lead | 1 | $95,000 | +41.4% | |
| Front End App Developer | 1 | $126,000 | +9.8% | |
| Lead Data Operations Analyst I | 1 | $70,000 | +18.8% | |
| Lead Data Operations Analyst II | 1 | $85,000 | +11.3% | |
| Lead Operations Coordinator | 1 | $76,814 | +45.5% | |
| Lead Software Developer | 1 | $161,637 | at the minimum | |
| Manager of Product Design | 1 | $150,342 | +53.3% | |
| Senior Research Analyst II | 1 | $110,000 | +17.3% | |
| Software Development Product Manager | 1 | $71,240 | +17.7% | |
No job title on this page matches. Only the most-filed titles are listed.
Where the jobs are
| Worksite | Filings | Median offered |
|---|---|---|
| Burlingame, CA | 28 | $103,075 |
| Aldie, VA | 2 | $99,095 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 2 | $80,824 |
| Seattle, WA | 2 | $88,114 |
| Washington, DC | 2 | $70,000 |
| Chapel Hill, NC | 1 | $130,568 |
| Chelsea, MA | 1 | $140,130 |
| Chicago, IL | 1 | $105,000 |
| Chino Hills, CA | 1 | $135,000 |
| Fairfax, VA | 1 | $146,037 |
| Fontana, CA | 1 | $70,000 |
| Fremont, CA | 1 | $101,150 |
Showing the 12 busiest of 22 worksite cities.
By visa type: 53 H-1B. By outcome: 53 certified.
Filings by quarter
Across all employers, filings bunch up in the first half of each year around the annual H-1B lottery, so compare a quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, not with the one before it.
Seniority of the jobs filed
The government assigns each job one of four wage levels. A higher level means a higher legal minimum.
What these numbers are
- They are wages The Sphere Institute attested to on Labor Condition Applications (Form ETA-9035), not paychecks. Bonuses and stock are not included.
- A filing is not a visa or a hire. One filing can cover several positions, and some are later withdrawn. Wage figures use certified filings only.
- The prevailing wage is the minimum the employer must pay for that job in that area, set from government wage surveys.
- 2 filings are for part-time work. Hourly wages are shown as full-time equivalents (2,080 hours a year) so they can be compared.
- On its filings, The Sphere Institute declared itself an H-1B-dependent employer: one where H-1B workers make up a large share of staff, which adds hiring obligations.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC disclosure data. How we clean and count it.