Postdoctoral Scholar H-1B wages

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

Employers filed 752 wage applications for Postdoctoral Scholar jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 38 employers. The median offered wage was $71,383, 3.5% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. University of California, San Francisco filed the most (115, median $77,030).

Filings: 752
Positions covered: 735
Employers: 38
Median offered: $71,383
Median prevailing wage: $67,247
Filings since FY2020: 4,194
Median offer change since FY2020: +26%

Postdoctoral Scholar, all employers752 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$71,383Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$65,000 to $77,030Where the middle half of the filings fall

$67,247Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Postdoctoral Scholar jobs rose 26%, from $56,880 in fiscal 2020 to $71,532 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 3.8% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2025, with 766 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 Scholar by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	535	$71,532	+3.4%	$68,182	+3.8%
2025	766	$69,209	+6.5%	$65,135	+4.0%
2024	716	$65,002	+4.5%	$59,322	+6.2%
2023	622	$62,200	+4.0%	$57,852	+7.3%
2022	592	$59,784	+1.2%	$54,840	+5.4%
2021	496	$59,100	+3.9%	$55,104	+3.2%
2020	467	$56,880	n/a	$53,065	+4.9%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
University of California, San Francisco	115	$77,030	at the minimum
Northwestern University	97	$65,520	+8.7%
The University of Chicago	84	$65,645	+10.0%
University of California, Davis	58	$74,281	+8.5%
University of California, Los Angeles	54	$74,425	at the minimum
University of California at Santa Barbara	45	$74,281	at the minimum
University of Washington	42	$76,500	+11.7%
The Pennsylvania State University	39	$65,910	+13.5%
Oregon State University	31	$65,640	at the minimum
Case Western Reserve University	23	$67,824	+35.9%
University of Kentucky	18	$62,000	+12.1%
University of California, Irvine	18	$77,030	at the minimum
Tufts University	17	$74,298	+22.8%
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center	14	$56,257	+5.6%
California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory	12	$86,880	+33.8%
The Florida State University	12	$58,000	+13.0%
Oregon Health & Science University	11	$72,949	at the minimum
University of California, Santa Cruz	8	$79,941	at the minimum
University of California, Merced	6	$73,025	at the minimum
University of Nevada, Reno	4	$63,504	+6.3%
Texas State University	4	$58,875	+1.1%
University of South Florida	4	$63,214	+10.3%
The Ohio State University	4	$61,923	+18.3%
Michigan State University	4	$68,913	+5.3%
Regents of the University of California at Riverside	4	$77,030	at the minimum

Showing the 25 employers with the most filings of 38. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Postdoctoral Scholar jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Chicago, IL	129	$65,520	+9.0%
San Francisco, CA	117	$77,030	at the minimum
Los Angeles, CA	56	$74,569	at the minimum
Evanston, IL	51	$65,520	+13.8%
Santa Barbara, CA	45	$74,281	at the minimum
Seattle, WA	42	$76,500	+11.7%
Davis, CA	38	$74,353	+11.3%
Corvallis, OR	28	$65,574	at the minimum
University Park, PA	25	$63,120	+14.5%
Cleveland, OH	23	$67,824	+35.9%
Irvine, CA	18	$77,030	at the minimum
Lexington, KY	18	$62,000	+12.1%
Sacramento, CA	15	$74,281	+7.5%
Medford, MA	14	$74,318	+17.2%
Memphis, TN	14	$56,257	+5.6%
Portland, OR	13	$72,949	at the minimum
Tallahassee, FL	13	$59,000	+13.4%
Hershey, PA	11	$68,220	+10.6%
Pasadena, CA	9	$86,880	+16.2%
Santa Cruz, CA	7	$79,881	at the minimum
Merced, CA	6	$73,025	at the minimum
Columbus, OH	4	$61,923	+18.3%
East Lansing, MI	4	$68,913	+5.3%
Flagstaff, AZ	4	$65,822	+14.4%
Reno, NV	4	$63,504	+6.3%

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry95%

Level II, qualified3%

Level III, experienced2%

Level IV, fully competent0%

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.
3 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.