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 %
Capacitor Resistor Coil Transformer And Other Inductor Manufacturing 47 $85,002 81.03%
Sign Manufacturing 47 $71,237 82.46%
Private Mail Centers 47 $89,907 82.46%
Petroleum Refineries 46 $108,732 80.70%
Blood And Organ Banks 46 $76,072 80.70%
Lessors Of Miniwarehouses And Self Storage Units 46 $103,176 80.70%
Public Finance Activities 46 $75,980 82.14%
Food Product Machinery Manufacturing 45 $84,350 80.36%
Outpatient Care Centers 45 $103,380 81.82%
Photofinishing Laboratories Except One Hour 45 $118,265 81.82%
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