Principal Software Engineer/Developer H-1B wages

Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).

Employers filed 305 wage applications for Principal Software Engineer/Developer jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 6 employers. The median offered wage was $132,069, exactly the government's prevailing wage, the legal minimum, for the job. Fidelity Technology Group, LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments filed the most (296, median $132,781).

Filings: 305
Positions covered: 301
Employers: 6
Median offered: $132,069
Median prevailing wage: $131,109
Filings since FY2020: 2,078
Median offer change since FY2020: +22%

Principal Software Engineer/Developer, all employers305 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$132,069Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$129,042 to $146,960Where the middle half of the filings fall

$131,109Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Principal Software Engineer/Developer jobs rose 22%, from $108,410 in fiscal 2020 to $132,781 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it sat exactly on the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2022, with 383 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.

Principal Software Engineer/Developer by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	248	$132,781	+0.5%	$131,493	at the minimum
2025	321	$132,080	−0.3%	$127,878	at the minimum
2024	313	$132,413	+9.2%	$132,413	at the minimum
2023	206	$121,222	+7.0%	$120,786	at the minimum
2022	383	$113,339	+4.3%	$107,755	at the minimum
2021	377	$108,659	+0.2%	$108,410	at the minimum
2020	230	$108,410	n/a	$106,568	at the minimum

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Fidelity Technology Group, LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments	296	$132,781	at the minimum
National Charitable Services LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments	5	$125,119	at the minimum
Fidelity Workplace Investing LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments	1	$125,429	at the minimum
Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments	1	$134,868	at the minimum
Fidelity Investments Institutional Operations Company d/b/a Fidelity Investments	1	$125,537	+0.1%
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments	1	$119,920	at the minimum

Where Principal Software Engineer/Developer jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Durham, NC	153	$131,120	at the minimum
Westlake, TX	100	$140,150	at the minimum
Merrimack, NH	14	$141,275	at the minimum
Jersey City, NJ	12	$128,206	at the minimum
Smithfield, RI	10	$147,680	at the minimum
Boston, MA	8	$138,055	at the minimum
Salt Lake City, UT	4	$138,152	at the minimum
Arlington, VA	1	$131,866	at the minimum
Haymarket, VA	1	$161,741	+23.9%
Quincy, MA	1	$139,887	at the minimum
San Francisco, CA	1	$145,234	at the minimum

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry0%

Level II, qualified2%

Level III, experienced2%

Level IV, fully competent95%

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.

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