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 %
Nextgen Technologies Inc 384 $91,156 86.68%
Bio Rad Laboratories Inc 383 $108,911 86.46%
Cloudera Inc 381 $129,128 86.20%
Logic Planet Cs Inc 380 $55,793 86.17%
Infinera Corporation 380 $124,034 86.17%
Delta Dental Of California 379 $116,161 86.93%
Intel Mobile Communications North America 378 $109,228 87.30%
Mastech Inc A Mastech Holdings Inc Company 378 $95,475 87.30%
Altera Corporation 377 $102,327 87.47%
Cepheid 377 $114,572 87.47%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Skidmore Owings Merrill Llp 32 $75,131 34.41%
Novatel Wireless 32 $96,233 34.41%
Metricstream Inc 32 $120,402 34.78%
University Of California San Francisco 32 $94,127 34.78%
Jds Uniphase Corporation 32 $106,971 35.16%
Fluor Enterprises Inc 31 $106,816 34.44%
Apn Software Services Inc 31 $101,486 34.44%
Sri International 31 $77,983 34.44%
Mercedes Benz Research Development 31 $114,404 34.44%
Spokeo Inc 31 $100,550 34.44%

Top Industries in California (All Years)

Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Nonferrous Metal Except Aluminum Smelting And Refining 1 $86,174 100.00%
Art Dealers 1 $58,282 100.00%
Chicken Egg Production 1 $52,686 100.00%
Natural Gas Extraction 1 $135,886 100.00%
Oilseed And Grain Farming 1 $40,456 100.00%
Motor Home Manufacturing 1 $126,277 100.00%
Clothing And Clothing Accessories Merchant Wholesalers 1 $116,043 100.00%
Dry Pea And Bean Farming 1 $49,254 100.00%
Tire Retreading 1 $63,232 100.00%
Motion Picture And Video Exhibition 1 $32,552 100.00%
Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
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