Methodology
This page is the complete methodology for Salary Data. Every figure on the site can be reproduced from the sources and rules stated here, and where a choice could have gone another way, we say which way we chose and why.
Sources
Data: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC LCA disclosure files FY2024–FY2025, retrieved October 2026, from dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance. Files used: LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2024_Q4.xlsx and LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx, LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx, LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx and LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx. Each quarterly file contains that quarter's cases (the Q4 file is not cumulative), so the five files together cover FY2024 Q4 plus the full FY2025 fiscal year. The spreadsheets also contain large numbers of styled blank rows with no case number; those are ignored and are not counted as rows anywhere on this site. PERM disclosure files and H-2A and H-2B disclosure files were not used. The LCA system covers the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 visa classes, and this site labels its figures as LCA data accordingly.
Status filter
From 717,449 total rows across the two files, we kept 662,198 cases whose CASE_STATUS is exactly "Certified". Denied and Withdrawn cases never represented an accepted attested offer, and Certified - Withdrawn cases were withdrawn by the employer after certification; all three groups are excluded from every count, median and table on the site.
Wage handling
The wage used is WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM, the offered rate on the filing. Headline medians, means and percentiles use only filings whose WAGE_UNIT_OF_PAY is Year, because annual salaries are directly comparable. Hourly, weekly, monthly and bi-weekly filings are included in case counts but are not converted into headline medians: converting them would require assuming weekly hours and paid weeks that the filing does not guarantee, and a stated assumption would silently become part of every figure. The distribution of wage units among certified cases is reported in the build manifest.
Outlier rule
Annual-wage filings below $15,080 (the annualized federal minimum wage, $7.25 × 2,080 hours) or above $1,000,000 are excluded from all wage statistics as likely placeholder or mis-keyed entries, including repeated identical extreme values entered as templates. They remain in case counts. The numbers excluded at each bound are reported in the manifest.
Grouping and the 15-1252 caveat
Employers are grouped by EMPLOYER_NAME normalised for case and spacing; occupations by SOC_CODE and its recorded title; worksites by WORKSITE_CITY and WORKSITE_STATE as recorded. SOC 15-1252 (Software Developers) is flagged on its page and in a dedicated guide as a known reclassification catch-all: after the SOC revision, roles previously filed under several computer codes consolidated there, and employers map internal titles to it inconsistently, so its distribution should be read as developer-type filings broadly, alongside neighbouring codes.
Cross-check against the Department's own summaries
We verified this build against the Department's published LCA Selected Statistics for FY2025. The denied-case counts in the disclosure files match the Department's quarterly figures exactly for all four FY2025 quarters (441, 797, 1,642 and 1,041), and total processed rows match the Department's quarterly totals exactly for FY2025 Q2, Q3 and Q4 (132,133, 238,425 and 118,580). The FY2025 Q1 file contains 1,733 more rows than the summary's processed total for that quarter, consistent with late or amended cases included in the disclosure extract after the summary snapshot; status totals likewise differ modestly from the summary because cases move between Certified and Certified - Withdrawn after the summary date. We report the file-based counts, since every figure on this site is computed from the files.
Known limitations
A case is a filing, not a worker; cases can cover multiple positions and one worker can appear in multiple cases. Certification is a facial review of the form, not verification of pay. Offered wages exclude bonuses, equity and benefits. Worksite is as recorded by the filer, which for client-site and remote work reflects the location stated on the filing. Figures describe the combined FY2024–FY2025 period, not the latest quarter.