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 %
Business Intelligence Analysts	4,307	$107,865	89.51%
Information Security Analysts	3,900	$109,968	92.44%
Engineers, All Other	3,254	$86,198	86.89%
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	3,224	$65,629	86.09%
Biomedical Engineers	3,117	$93,190	85.40%
Logisticians	2,959	$81,788	81.54%
Biological Scientists, All Other	2,871	$64,916	88.01%
Materials Engineers	2,842	$106,739	87.26%
Speech-Language Pathologists	2,753	$71,078	88.44%
Lawyers	2,751	$137,344	92.69%

Occupation	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %

Occupation	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %
Cooks, Restaurant	378	$31,789	73.54%
Nursing Assistants	336	$28,249	66.93%
Sales Managers	336	$114,509	69.28%
Computer Programmers	335	$96,034	70.38%
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks	332	$40,218	74.61%
Biomedical Engineers	319	$94,038	71.69%
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	318	$71,537	71.62%
Computer Network Architects	311	$128,680	73.35%
Engineers, All Other	302	$107,336	71.90%
Lawyers	286	$126,720	68.59%

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 %
Qualcomm Global Services Inc	28	$89,990	87.50%
Acerta Pharma Llc	28	$117,346	87.50%
Federal Home Loan Bank Of San Francisco	28	$142,010	87.50%
Lululemon Usa Inc	28	$121,517	87.50%
Deliverr Inc	28	$133,334	87.50%
Itamerica Inc	28	$108,361	87.50%
Invincible Tech Systems Inc	28	$106,000	87.50%
Mufg Bank Ltd	28	$124,842	87.50%
Cyphort Inc	28	$115,134	87.50%
Peel Technologies Inc	28	$123,166	87.50%

Company	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %

Company	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %
Wilshire United Methodist Church	2	$47,591	33.33%
Jae Electronics Inc	2	$125,195	33.33%
Mirrorplus Technologies Inc	2	$123,490	33.33%
First Imperial Trading Co	2	$120,256	33.33%
Sgs Testcom Inc	2	$76,565	33.33%
Pba Inc	2	$83,190	33.33%
Bling Bling Inc	2	$45,729	33.33%
La Noosha Inc	2	$29,557	33.33%
Asiana Airlines	2	$103,241	33.33%
Dci Llc Db In Ca As Dci Investment Management Llc	2	$112,757	33.33%

Top Industries in California (All Years)

Industry	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %
Heating Equipment Except Warm Air Furnaces Manufacturing	56	$87,235	87.50%
Wood Kitchen Cabinet And Countertop Manufacturing	56	$65,232	87.50%
Plastics Materials And Basic Forms And Shapes Merchant Wholesalers	55	$60,056	87.30%
Motor Vehicle Seating And Interior Trim Manufacturing	55	$91,017	87.30%
Photographic Equipment And Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	55	$71,178	88.71%
Ventilation Heating Air Conditioning And Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing	54	$73,334	87.10%
Fabricated Structural Metal Manufacturing	54	$73,002	88.52%
Flight Training	54	$58,359	88.52%
Construction And Mining Except Oil Well Machinery And Equipment Merchant Wholesalers	53	$85,215	86.89%
Professional And Commercial Equipment And Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	53	$63,695	88.33%

Industry	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %

Industry	# of Jobs	Avg Wage	Approval %
Chemical And Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers	21	$59,876	87.50%
Service Establishment Equipment And Supplies Merchant Wholesalers	21	$76,458	87.50%
Tree Nut Farming	21	$63,524	87.50%
Other Support Activities For Road Transportation	21	$52,393	87.50%
Travel Arrangement And Reservation Services	21	$58,591	91.30%
Glass Product Manufacturing Made Of Purchased Glass	21	$115,205	91.30%
Household And Institutional Furniture And Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturing	21	$50,363	91.30%
Drycleaning And Laundry Services	21	$38,336	91.30%
Support Activities For Oil And Gas Operations	21	$99,884	91.30%
Cotton Farming	21	$2,008,589	91.30%

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.