The H1B visa program generates strong opinions every time it surfaces in public debate. Supporters point to talent gaps in critical industries. Critics argue it suppresses wages for American workers. Both sides tend to argue from anecdote. The federal data tells a more grounded story.

An analysis of certified Labor Condition Application records filed with the U.S. Department of Labor between fiscal years 2022 and 2025 covers more than 2.1 million filings across tens of thousands of employers nationwide. The patterns that emerge challenge several widely held assumptions about who sponsors H1B workers, how much they pay, and how the program has evolved over four years.

Filing Volumes Have Held Steady Despite Political Turbulence

One of the clearest findings in the four-year dataset is that employer demand for H1B workers has remained remarkably consistent, regardless of the political environment in Washington.

Certified LCA filings came in at 555,258 in FY2022, dipped to 489,358 in FY2023, recovered to 514,896 in FY2024, and climbed back to 547,454 in FY2025. The number of unique employers filing in each year followed a similar pattern, ranging from 57,687 in FY2023 to a four-year high of 68,455 in FY2025.

That last figure is significant. Despite ongoing debates about H1B reform, fee increases, and stricter adjudication standards, more employers filed certified LCAs in FY2025 than in any other year in the dataset. The program is not contracting. The base of participating employers is actually broadening.

Salaries Surged, Then Pulled Back

Average certified salaries rose sharply between FY2022 and FY2024, climbing from $131,216 to $168,997, a 29 percent increase over two years. That run reflected intense competition for senior technology talent in the post-pandemic hiring boom, with major employers driving compensation to new benchmarks to attract and retain skilled foreign nationals.

FY2025 told a different story. Average certified salaries dropped to $130,900, nearly back to FY2022 levels. The pullback does not reflect a retreat from the program. Total filings in FY2025 were the second highest in the dataset. What changed was the composition of roles being filed. As the hiring frenzy for senior engineers cooled and employers broadened their sponsorship activity to include a wider range of positions, the salary average naturally moderated.

The four-year salary range, between $130,900 and $168,997, still represents compensation well above U.S. median household income in every year of the dataset, reinforcing that H1B sponsorship remains concentrated in high-skill, high-wage occupations.

Custom Programming and Systems Design Lead All Industries

Breaking down filings by industry sector reveals just how concentrated H1B sponsorship is in technology services. Custom Computer Programming Services generated 521,594 certified filings over the four-year period, the highest of any sector, at an average salary of $133,118. Computer Systems Design Services followed with 165,889 filings at $137,825.

Together, these two technology services sectors alone accounted for more than 687,000 certified LCA filings, representing roughly a third of all filings in the dataset.

The third largest sector was Colleges, Universities and Professional Schools with 95,010 filings at an average salary of $123,689. This figure underscores the substantial role that higher education plays in the H1B program, a dimension that often gets overlooked in coverage focused on technology companies. Universities and nonprofit research institutions operate as cap-exempt employers (https://h1btrack.com/cap-exempt/), meaning they are not subject to the annual H1B lottery and can file petitions at any point during the year. 

Electronic shopping and mail-order operations ranked fourth with 51,648 filings at an average of $148,584, driven largely by large e-commerce employers. Computing infrastructure and data processing services rounded out the top five with 47,830 filings at the highest sector average in the group at $161,032.

California and Texas Account for Nearly a Third of All Filings

Geographically, the concentration is just as striking. California led all states with 436,351 certified filings over the period, at an average salary of $167,214. Texas ranked second with 338,155 filings at $138,476. Together, these two states accounted for roughly 35 percent of all certified LCA filings in the dataset.

New York, Washington state, and New Jersey rounded out the top five, with average salaries ranging from $133,057 in New Jersey to $161,494 in Washington. The Washington figure reflects the concentration of large technology employers in the Seattle corridor, where prevailing wages for software and engineering roles run among the highest in the country.

What the Trends Mean for Job Seekers

Four years of federal data point to a program that is larger, more geographically distributed, and more employer-diverse than popular narratives suggest. The technology sector dominates, but higher education, e-commerce, and infrastructure services all contribute meaningfully to total filing volume. Salaries fluctuate with broader labor market conditions but have remained consistently high in absolute terms.

For international professionals navigating this process, the most important insight from the data may be the simplest one. The employers who sponsor year after year are not difficult to find. Their filing histories, salary benchmarks, and geographic footprints are all part of the public record. Platforms like H1BTrack (https://h1btrack.com/) bring that data together across more than 132,000 company profiles, making it searchable and actionable for anyone serious about targeting the right employers before they apply.

The program has shown resilience across four years of shifting policy, economic cycles, and political debate. Demand from employers has not collapsed. It has broadened. The opportunity for qualified international professionals remains real. The question is whether they are looking in the right places.