Principal Software Engineer H-1B wages
Filings decided July 2025 to June 2026. Most are classified as Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).
Employers filed 985 wage applications for Principal Software Engineer jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 402 employers. The median offered wage was $169,547, 3.0% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. filed the most (105, median $166,225).
- Filings
- 985
- Positions covered
- 1,948
- Employers
- 402
- Median offered
- $169,547
- Median prevailing wage
- $154,669
- Filings since FY2020
- 5,757
- Median offer change since FY2020
- +19%
Offered wage since 2020
The median wage offered for Principal Software Engineer jobs rose 19%, from $145,379 in fiscal 2020 to $172,712 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 2.2% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2022, with 991 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 by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Filings | Median offered | vs year before | Median prevailing | vs prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (Oct to Jun) | 731 | $172,712 | +4.7% | $156,871 | +2.2% |
| 2025 | 979 | $165,000 | +3.8% | $151,757 | +6.2% |
| 2024 | 872 | $159,000 | −0.6% | $143,687 | +4.6% |
| 2023 | 842 | $160,000 | +2.4% | $138,528 | +9.2% |
| 2022 | 991 | $156,245 | +4.2% | $134,992 | +13.2% |
| 2021 | 676 | $150,000 | +3.2% | $134,098 | +10.1% |
| 2020 | 666 | $145,379 | n/a | $128,627 | +6.6% |
Employers that file for this title
Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage
| Employer | Filings | Median offered | Offered range and prevailing wage | vs prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. | 105 | $166,225 | at the minimum | |
| Palo Alto Networks, Inc. | 26 | $196,961 | at the minimum | |
| Fidelity Technology Group, LLC d/b/a Fidelity Investments | 22 | $129,278 | at the minimum | |
| Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | 22 | $154,309 | at the minimum | |
| Mastercard Technologies, LLC | 18 | $165,000 | +17.8% | |
| Roblox Corporation | 18 | $336,930 | +58.1% | |
| The MathWorks, Inc. | 18 | $178,131 | at the minimum | |
| Citizens Financial Group, Inc. | 17 | $154,669 | at the minimum | |
| Intuit Inc. | 14 | $265,401 | +0.3% | |
| Cbre, Inc. | 12 | $160,098 | +14.6% | |
| Gen Digital Inc. | 11 | $177,324 | +5.0% | |
| Atlassian US, Inc. | 10 | $235,000 | +6.3% | |
| Datadex Systems | 10 | n/a | ||
| Red Hat, LLC | 9 | $189,482 | +20.5% | |
| Innova Solutions, Inc. | 9 | $115,989 | at the minimum | |
| NVIDIA Corporation | 8 | $272,000 | +16.9% | |
| Indeed, Inc. | 8 | $186,500 | +5.3% | |
| Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) | 8 | $143,300 | +4.2% | |
| Autodesk, Inc. | 8 | $173,426 | at the minimum | |
| Medtronic, Inc. | 7 | $145,018 | at the minimum | |
| The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation | 7 | $160,000 | +6.6% | |
| Toprow Resources | 6 | n/a | ||
| Cisco Systems, Inc. | 6 | $247,957 | +4.2% | |
| DataEconomy, Inc. | 6 | $149,000 | +2.2% | |
| Crystal Analytics LLC | 6 | n/a | ||
Showing the 25 employers with the most filings of 402. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.
Where Principal Software Engineer jobs are filed
| Worksite | Filings | Median offered | Offered range and prevailing wage | vs prevailing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunnyvale, CA | 59 | $153,301 | at the minimum | |
| Santa Clara, CA | 51 | $216,258 | at the minimum | |
| Dallas, TX | 47 | $158,499 | +7.3% | |
| San Jose, CA | 35 | $205,466 | at the minimum | |
| Bentonville, AR | 29 | $177,077 | +56.4% | |
| Austin, TX | 23 | $163,550 | +5.2% | |
| Natick, MA | 22 | $178,131 | at the minimum | |
| San Mateo, CA | 22 | $325,390 | +55.9% | |
| Mountain View, CA | 21 | $264,958 | +0.3% | |
| San Francisco, CA | 19 | $223,069 | +10.4% | |
| Westlake, TX | 19 | $129,055 | at the minimum | |
| Bellevue, WA | 17 | $232,000 | +23.3% | |
| Charlotte, NC | 15 | $154,669 | at the minimum | |
| Atlanta, GA | 14 | $165,196 | +8.6% | |
| Richardson, TX | 14 | $159,568 | +8.5% | |
| San Diego, CA | 12 | $192,600 | +4.1% | |
| Durham, NC | 11 | $131,120 | at the minimum | |
| Phoenix, AZ | 11 | $157,934 | at the minimum | |
| Chicago, IL | 9 | $163,550 | +10.9% | |
| New York, NY | 9 | $189,592 | +1.4% | |
| Plano, TX | 9 | $156,998 | at the minimum | |
| Tampa, FL | 9 | $155,300 | +6.6% | |
| Coppell, TX | 8 | $139,019 | +1.0% | |
| Foster City, CA | 8 | $210,947 | +5.6% | |
| Irving, TX | 8 | $156,998 | +2.2% | |
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 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.
- 10 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.
Related job titles
- Software Engineer$147,393
- Software Developer$111,946
- Senior Software Engineer$152,000
- Software Dev Engineer II$170,700
- Software Engineering$177,000
- Software Dev Engineer I$129,000
- Java Developer$102,877
- Staff Software Engineer$191,634
- Senior Data Engineer$139,152
- Senior Software Developer$129,667
- Software Dev Engineer III$204,700
- Software Engineer II$131,627