Staff Engineer H-1B wages

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

Employers filed 566 wage applications for Staff Engineer jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 210 employers. The median offered wage was $161,179, 0.7% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC filed the most (40, median $173,961).

Filings: 566
Positions covered: 964
Employers: 210
Median offered: $161,179
Median prevailing wage: $155,750
Filings since FY2020: 3,412
Median offer change since FY2020: +19%

Staff Engineer, all employers566 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$161,179Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$125,859 to $202,850Where the middle half of the filings fall

$155,750Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Staff Engineer jobs rose 19%, from $135,000 in fiscal 2020 to $161,179 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 0.8% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2020, with 551 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.

Staff Engineer by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	456	$161,179	+4.3%	$154,565	+0.8%
2025	549	$154,565	+2.8%	$151,091	+0.7%
2024	396	$150,384	−4.5%	$135,304	+6.0%
2023	490	$157,477	+0.1%	$136,906	+9.6%
2022	520	$157,394	+16.1%	$130,894	+8.6%
2021	450	$135,544	+0.4%	$122,616	+7.7%
2020	551	$135,000	n/a	$119,205	+9.5%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC	40	$173,961	at the minimum
Arm, Inc.	37	$161,179	at the minimum
MediaTek USA Inc.	25	$157,000	+0.3%
Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.	24	$186,472	at the minimum
Terracon Consultants, Inc.	22	$77,775	+9.9%
Nutanix, Inc.	20	$248,415	at the minimum
Dulles Engineering, Inc	16	$94,349	+31.2%
Eximietas Design LLC	14	$146,380	at the minimum
Tenstorrent USA Inc.	11	$187,741	at the minimum
Seagate US LLC	11	$132,392	+9.8%
Paycom Payroll, LLC	9	$238,483	+59.2%
The TJX Companies, Inc.	9	$159,984	+6.2%
eClinicalWorks LLC	8	$159,000	+0.5%
American Engineers Group, LLC	8	$71,178	at the minimum
Corning Research & Development Corporation	7	$134,537	+10.8%
Infineon Technologies Americas Corp.	6	$143,090	+6.6%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	6	$158,625	+27.4%
Illumio, Inc.	6	$194,397	at the minimum
Shopify (USA) Inc.	6	$207,865	+4.9%
Omnissa, LLC	5	$235,000	+54.5%
Experian Information Solutions, Inc.	5	$155,000	+7.6%
Datadog, Inc.	5	$280,000	+35.8%
SpacePalm Incorporated	5	$91,520	+9.4%
DISH Network LLC	4	$142,314	at the minimum
Best Buy Co., Inc.	4	$181,939	+26.5%

Showing the 25 employers with the most filings of 210. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Staff Engineer jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
San Jose, CA	91	$191,886	at the minimum
Austin, TX	59	$161,179	at the minimum
New York, NY	32	$211,620	+11.6%
San Diego, CA	22	$159,500	+0.3%
Houston, TX	17	$92,029	+16.0%
Santa Clara, CA	16	$196,567	at the minimum
Sunnyvale, CA	16	$209,524	at the minimum
San Francisco, CA	13	$230,000	+7.7%
Marlborough, MA	9	$159,984	+6.2%
Sterling, VA	9	$90,938	+23.7%
Bloomington, MN	8	$131,789	+15.2%
Dallas, TX	8	$84,469	at the minimum
Palo Alto, CA	8	$237,500	+1.1%
Pittsburgh, PA	7	$136,635	+10.0%
Plano, TX	7	$163,218	+7.4%
Painted Post, NY	6	$125,028	+8.2%
Tarrytown, NY	6	$158,625	+27.4%
Bellevue, WA	5	$165,000	+9.4%
Indianapolis, IN	5	$77,400	+0.6%
Irvine, CA	5	$174,000	at the minimum
Richardson, TX	5	$106,000	+14.5%
San Mateo, CA	5	$240,000	+12.4%
Atlanta, GA	4	$232,605	+52.9%
Chandler, AZ	4	$163,218	at the minimum
Englewood, CO	4	$142,314	at the minimum

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry17%

Level II, qualified13%

Level III, experienced23%

Level IV, fully competent47%

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.
6 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.