Postdoctoral Research Associate H-1B wages

Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists (SOC 19-1042).

Employers filed 856 wage applications for Postdoctoral Research Associate jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 78 employers. The median offered wage was $64,380, 14.5% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. The Trustees of Princeton University filed the most (88, median $67,000).

Filings: 856
Positions covered: 835
Employers: 78
Median offered: $64,380
Median prevailing wage: $55,370
Filings since FY2020: 5,183
Median offer change since FY2020: +25%

Postdoctoral Research Associate, all employers856 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$64,380Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$60,000 to $71,219Where the middle half of the filings fall

$55,370Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Postdoctoral Research Associate jobs rose 25%, from $52,101 in fiscal 2020 to $65,000 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 14.6% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2025, with 945 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.

Postdoctoral Research Associate by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	619	$65,000	+1.6%	$55,713	+14.6%
2025	945	$63,945	+5.9%	$53,664	+15.0%
2024	850	$60,366	+2.5%	$51,293	+16.6%
2023	747	$58,921	+6.5%	$47,539	+18.9%
2022	716	$55,339	+1.9%	$46,530	+17.6%
2021	632	$54,330	+4.3%	$45,511	+14.8%
2020	674	$52,101	n/a	$44,221	+15.3%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
The Trustees of Princeton University	88	$67,000	+20.5%
Washington University	85	$63,430	+16.1%
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	67	$72,530	+36.2%
University of Illinois	58	$62,200	+5.6%
Texas A&M University	53	$57,300	+15.9%
Triad National Security, LLC	41	$103,334	+46.2%
University of Connecticut	40	$64,945	+6.3%
Texas A&M AgriLife Research	35	$55,000	+15.4%
Iowa State University of Science and Technology	30	$60,000	+12.7%
Carnegie Mellon University	28	$62,652	+8.9%
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	22	$60,203	+10.8%
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska	21	$55,000	+3.9%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	20	$68,964	+8.4%
University of Notre Dame du Lac	18	$64,728	+24.7%
University of Georgia	18	$60,000	+22.0%
The University of Texas at Arlington	17	$60,000	+14.3%
Purdue University	15	$60,000	+9.8%
W.M. Rice University	13	$64,000	+12.0%
Northeastern University	12	$65,541	+2.5%
Stowers Institute for Medical Research	10	$74,160	+83.3%
University of Utah	10	$67,824	+14.1%
University of North Texas	10	$57,500	+38.4%
Georgia State University	9	$61,275	+9.6%
University of Georgia; OGE	8	$63,000	+44.3%
University of Illinois Chicago	8	$63,960	+0.3%

Showing the 25 employers with the most filings of 78. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Postdoctoral Research Associate jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Princeton, NJ	88	$67,000	+20.5%
St. Louis, MO	86	$63,419	+15.7%
Memphis, TN	66	$72,530	+36.2%
College Station, TX	60	$56,484	+19.9%
Urbana, IL	54	$62,200	+5.6%
Los Alamos, NM	40	$103,472	+45.7%
Storrs, CT	35	$64,807	+5.7%
Ames, IA	29	$60,000	+13.4%
Pittsburgh, PA	27	$62,537	+9.4%
Troy, NY	21	$60,406	+10.8%
Chapel Hill, NC	20	$68,964	+8.4%
Athens, GA	19	$62,000	+41.6%
Houston, TX	18	$62,998	+13.8%
Lincoln, NE	18	$55,584	+4.0%
Notre Dame, IN	17	$65,100	+25.9%
Arlington, TX	14	$60,000	+14.5%
West Lafayette, IN	14	$58,434	+7.4%
Boston, MA	11	$66,082	at the minimum
Denton, TX	10	$57,500	+38.4%
Kansas City, MO	10	$74,160	+83.3%
Salt Lake City, UT	10	$67,824	+14.1%
Bryan, TX	9	$57,000	+9.6%
Omaha, NE	9	$58,000	+1.6%
Chicago, IL	8	$63,960	+0.3%
New York, NY	8	$94,491	+14.0%

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry93%

Level II, qualified4%

Level III, experienced2%

Level IV, fully competent1%

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 employers 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.
9 filings are for part-time work. Hourly wages are shown as full-time equivalents (2,080 hours a year).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC disclosure data. How we clean and count it.