We now have Quarter 4 H1B visa FY 2023 data and Quarter 4 PERM visa FY 2023 data and Quarter 4 H2A visa FY 2023 data.
Employer Search tool is moved to it's own page: "H1B Visa Data Search Tool"

California Foreign Labor Visa Stats (All Years)

Total Visas % of all Visas Average Wage Visa Type
1,236,055 87.25% $104,510 H-1B
144,051 10.17% $144,477 PERM
30,331 2.14% $109,456 E-3 Australian
6,165 0.44% $31,590 H-2A

As of May 2023, California has seen a total of 1,416,602 visa workers across all visa types. The most common visa class in California is the H-1B visa with 1,236,055 H-1B visas on record over all years accounting for 87.25% of California's total visas. The second most prevalent visa is the PERM visa with 144,051 PERM visas on record over all years accounting for 10.17% of California's total visas.

Top Occupations in California (All Years)

Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Operations Research Analysts 16,238 $93,664 91.43%
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 12,936 $66,669 87.79%
Mechanical Engineers 12,789 $98,621 90.14%
Financial Analysts 10,245 $90,545 89.55%
Network and Computer Systems Administrators 10,220 $82,486 89.52%
Statisticians 9,203 $103,052 90.17%
Database Administrators 9,007 $83,046 90.35%
Industrial Engineers 7,397 $101,984 90.39%
Sales Engineers 6,973 $117,619 90.34%
Computer Hardware Engineers 6,504 $123,071 88.39%
Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 1,299 $113,868 118.09%
Management Analysts 1,160 $97,547 118.97%
Network and Computer Systems Administrators 1,062 $94,966 109.15%
Mechanical Engineers 979 $98,519 101.87%
Electrical Engineers 963 $106,370 101.58%
Home Health Aides 899 $23,546 96.56%
Industrial Engineers 829 $97,387 90.80%
Computer Hardware Engineers 691 $119,988 75.77%
Civil Engineers 666 $87,455 86.05%
Financial Analysts 659 $97,328 87.05%
California Employees Over Time
California has been in the H1B Visa program since 2011 where 50,870 employees were hired. California peaked in 2018 with 106,682 employees, and has since been on a decline with the most recent number of employees being 18,356 in 2025.

Top Countries with Workers in California From PERM Program (All Years)

Country # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
India 45,730 $175,901 47.43%
China 16,844 $109,259 50.79%
South Korea 4,340 $147,936 41.14%
Canada 3,905 $143,888 46.41%
Philippines 1,927 $470,682 35.63%
Taiwan 1,908 $260,805 44.94%
Mexico 1,361 $87,276 34.68%
United Kingdom 967 $111,850 44.71%
Japan 844 $231,744 40.04%
France 821 $108,315 46.73%

Top Hiring Companies in California (All Years)

Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Forescout Technologies Inc 28 $115,242 87.50%
Persistent Telecom Solutions Inc 28 $82,655 87.50%
City Of Sacramento 28 $85,379 87.50%
Fictiv Inc 28 $127,661 87.50%
Lyra Health Inc 28 $146,848 87.50%
Crosscircles Inc 28 $62,455 87.50%
Kairos Technologies Inc 28 $93,667 87.50%
Quadrant Resource Llc 28 $102,798 87.50%
Infosemantics Inc 28 $70,485 87.50%
Djo Llc 28 $98,419 90.32%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %

Top Industries in California (All Years)

Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %

California Wage Comparison to Other States (All Years)

The chart below compares The average wage in California to that of the other top 9 states with the highest overall average H1-B wage. The average wage in California over all years is $104,510. California has the highest average wage of H1-B workers for all states, with the second highest average wage being WA with an average wage of $103,635.

State Avg Wage