Staff Scientist H-1B wages

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

Employers filed 462 wage applications for Staff Scientist jobs from July 2025 to June 2026, across 59 employers. The median offered wage was $78,000, 16.6% above the government's prevailing wage for the job. Washington University filed the most (129, median $66,492).

Filings: 462
Positions covered: 455
Employers: 59
Median offered: $78,000
Median prevailing wage: $68,182
Filings since FY2020: 2,193
Median offer change since FY2020: +24%

Staff Scientist, all employers462 filings, July 2025 to June 2026

$78,000Median wage employers told the government they would pay

$68,261 to $97,580Where the middle half of the filings fall

$68,182Prevailing wage: the legal minimum for these jobs

Offered wage since 2020

The median wage offered for Staff Scientist jobs rose 24%, from $64,001 in fiscal 2020 to $79,310 in fiscal 2026 so far. In fiscal 2026 it was 17.2% above the prevailing wage. Filings peaked in fiscal 2025, with 404 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 Scientist by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Filings	Median offered	vs year before	Median prevailing	vs prevailing
2026 (Oct to Jun)	332	$79,310	+4.4%	$68,182	+17.2%
2025	404	$76,000	no change	$65,562	+16.6%
2024	388	$76,000	+7.5%	$61,610	+24.2%
2023	312	$70,720	−3.0%	$61,610	+18.9%
2022	306	$72,921	−3.2%	$60,445	+24.8%
2021	231	$75,330	+17.7%	$58,032	+16.8%
2020	220	$64,001	n/a	$54,704	+13.6%

Employers that file for this title

Middle half of offered wagesMedian offered wageMedian prevailing wage

Employer	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
Washington University	129	$66,492	+15.7%
National Institutes of Health, HHS	52	$124,222	+56.7%
The University of Chicago	28	$78,749	+7.0%
Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope	26	$82,247	+1.9%
The Scripps Research Institute	24	$78,000	+12.5%
Baylor College of Medicine	20	$74,500	+34.9%
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	18	$75,000	+9.8%
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute	13	$78,749	+1.6%
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center	11	$87,207	+29.4%
University of Rochester	10	$63,000	+1.1%
California Institute of Technology	10	$87,166	+16.9%
City of Hope National Medical Center	9	$82,500	+1.8%
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center	7	$70,000	+17.0%
Vanderbilt University Medical Center	7	$73,491	+11.4%
Oregon Health & Science University	6	$99,750	+10.9%
Georgetown University	6	$69,733	+14.3%
Corning Research & Development Corporation	6	$124,217	+2.8%
Leland Stanford Jr. Univ/SLAC National Accelerator Lab	5	$160,000	+64.7%
University of Florida	5	$72,409	+35.9%
Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC	5	$199,984	+85.2%
Vanderbilt University	4	$77,500	+9.2%
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia	4	$87,558	at the minimum
The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology	4	$77,273	+25.7%
Children's Hospital Corporation	3	$100,000	+18.1%
The Translational Genomics Research Institute	3	$73,861	at the minimum

Showing the 25 employers with the most filings of 59. Employers with fewer than 5 filings in total are counted but not named.

Where Staff Scientist jobs are filed

Worksite	Filings	Median offered	vs prevailing
St. Louis, MO	131	$66,492	+15.7%
Bethesda, MD	48	$124,222	+48.9%
La Jolla, CA	40	$78,749	+11.2%
Chicago, IL	28	$78,749	+7.0%
Duarte, CA	27	$82,500	+1.8%
Houston, TX	20	$74,500	+34.9%
Bronx, NY	18	$75,000	+9.8%
Seattle, WA	14	$90,007	+26.0%
Nashville, TN	11	$74,398	+11.0%
Rochester, NY	10	$63,000	+1.1%
Pasadena, CA	9	$94,331	+16.6%
Monrovia, CA	8	$83,811	+3.8%
Oklahoma City, OK	7	$70,000	+17.0%
Philadelphia, PA	7	$77,273	+24.7%
Washington, DC	7	$69,971	+13.8%
Menlo Park, CA	6	$154,000	+59.2%
Painted Post, NY	6	$124,217	+2.8%
San Diego, CA	6	$126,752	+9.2%
Boston, MA	5	$87,000	+10.1%
Jupiter, FL	5	$72,409	+35.9%
Dallas, TX	4	$82,000	+25.8%
Baltimore, MD	3	$122,664	+47.3%
Beaverton, OR	3	$99,750	+10.9%
Livermore, CA	3	$210,027	+16.1%
Phoenix, AZ	3	$73,861	at the minimum

Seniority of the jobs filed

Level I, entry42%

Level II, qualified39%

Level III, experienced9%

Level IV, fully competent9%

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.
5 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.