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
1,132,362 86.89% $100,819 H-1B
137,987 10.59% $145,140 PERM
27,949 2.14% $107,091 E-3 Australian
4,960 0.38% $29,309 H-2A

As of May 2023, California has seen a total of 1,303,258 visa workers across all visa types. The most common visa class in California is the H-1B visa with 1,132,362 H-1B visas on record over all years accounting for 86.89% of California's total visas. The second most prevalent visa is the PERM visa with 137,987 PERM visas on record over all years accounting for 10.59% of California's total visas.

Top Occupations in California (All Years)

Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Software Quality Assurance Engineers and Testers 6,153 $99,711 91.67%
Computer Hardware Engineers 5,883 $118,198 88.72%
Civil Engineers 5,576 $81,188 86.01%
Information Technology Project Managers 5,460 $115,436 88.22%
Computer and Information Research Scientists 5,435 $126,687 88.29%
Graphic Designers 5,374 $61,642 92.48%
Marketing Managers 4,787 $141,945 83.15%
Biochemists and Biophysicists 4,586 $98,193 83.49%
Business Intelligence Analysts 4,424 $107,157 91.94%
Architectural and Engineering Managers 4,120 $158,213 87.21%
Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Soil and Plant Scientists 1 $52,000 2.94%
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food 1 $33,384 3.13%
Nonfarm Animal Caretakers 1 $30,722 3.45%
Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Architectural and Engineering Managers 606 $145,728 88.60%
Multimedia Artists and Animators 596 $310,872 88.82%
Information Security Analysts 493 $116,050 75.85%
Materials Engineers 471 $104,075 74.53%
Financial Managers 469 $134,053 80.17%
Database Administrators 454 $96,395 77.61%
Logisticians 447 $80,450 78.42%
Graphic Designers 426 $47,669 74.87%
General and Operations Managers 373 $117,201 71.59%
Operations Research Analysts 353 $69,962 68.41%
California Employees Over Time
California has been in the H1B Visa program since 2011 where 50,870 employees were hired. California peaked in 2022 with 107,868 employees, and has since been on a decline with the most recent number of employees being 90,720 in 2023.

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

Country # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
India 42,735 $178,228 48.91%
China 15,777 $108,656 53.06%
South Korea 4,032 $154,868 40.97%
Canada 3,684 $145,079 47.74%
Taiwan 1,769 $272,719 36.38%
Philippines 1,733 $517,903 45.04%
Mexico 1,231 $85,995 37.92%
United Kingdom 913 $111,050 45.38%
Japan 796 $241,546 40.24%
France 786 $107,939 47.61%

Top Hiring Companies in California (All Years)

Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Blackrock Institutional Trust Company Na 509 $101,965 88.83%
Syntel Consulting Inc 507 $78,860 89.10%
Move Inc 506 $120,988 89.08%
Activision Publishing Inc 505 $100,405 89.54%
Successfactors Inc 504 $114,701 89.68%
Rite Aid Corp 501 $104,136 89.30%
Databricks Inc 500 $139,326 90.42%
Capgemini Us Llc 500 $96,840 90.58%
Blue Shield Of California 490 $107,799 88.77%
Ericsson Inc 488 $100,566 89.05%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Infovity Inc 43 $121,664 32.82%
Cashedge Inc 43 $105,226 32.82%
Merrick Engineering Inc 42 $27,002 32.06%
Lumentum Operations Llc 42 $123,820 32.31%
Target Enterprise Inc 42 $122,919 32.56%
Gm Cruise Llc 42 $123,363 32.56%
Polycom Inc 42 $106,989 32.56%
Kpi Partners Inc 42 $108,640 32.81%
Western Digital Fremont Llc 42 $101,292 32.81%
Forever 21 Inc Merged With Fashion 21 Inc 41 $78,786 32.54%

Top Industries in California (All Years)

Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Other Measuring And Controlling Device Manufacturing 189 $93,103 86.70%
Plastics Product Manufacturing 187 $73,107 88.21%
Sound Recording Industries 186 $129,393 88.57%
Couriers And Express Delivery Services 186 $73,434 89.00%
Used Car Dealers 183 $92,953 87.98%
Fiber Optic Cable Manufacturing 182 $100,686 88.78%
Electric Power Generation 181 $90,110 88.73%
Perishable Prepared Food Manufacturing 179 $78,937 87.75%
Specialized Design Services 175 $64,818 86.21%
Professional And Management Development Training 175 $78,505 86.63%
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 $100,819. 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 $99,834.

State Avg Wage