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 %
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers 1 $21,320 100.00%
Storage and Distribution Managers 1 $97,843 100.00%
Home Appliance Repairers 1 $177,217 100.00%
Concierges 1 $49,566 100.00%
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators 1 $29,120 100.00%
Cashiers 1 $18,000 100.00%
Information and Record Clerks, All Other 1 $25,917 100.00%
Animal Trainers 1 $45,469 100.00%
Demonstrators and Product Promoters 1 $22,069 100.00%
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School 1 $66,920 100.00%
Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
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 %
Lithuania 18 $98,405 39.13%
Jamaica 17 $65,783 39.53%
Georgia 17 $98,550 42.50%
Uzbekistan 17 $77,721 44.74%
Iceland 16 $105,401 43.24%
Dominican Republic 16 $105,647 44.44%
Tunisia 16 $96,939 47.06%
Cambodia 16 $77,044 48.48%
Moldova 15 $84,771 45.45%
Croatia 15 $109,838 45.45%

Top Hiring Companies in California (All Years)

Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Nokia Solutions And Networks Us Llc 28 $103,906 87.50%
Acropetal Inc 28 $70,969 87.50%
Cybervision Inc 28 $70,278 87.50%
Towers Watson Pennsylvania Inc 28 $70,962 87.50%
Jm Information Systems Llc 28 $69,461 87.50%
Lmk Infotech 28 $103,542 87.50%
Sriven Technologies Llc 28 $84,611 87.50%
Industrial Light Magic A Div Of Lucasfilm Enter 28 $82,681 87.50%
Emulex Design And Manufacturing Corporation 28 $94,502 87.50%
Key Solutions Inc 28 $76,905 87.50%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Better Horizons Development Corporation 2 $35,412 33.33%
Fotokem Industries 2 $89,118 33.33%
Ttm Intertrading Co Inc 2 $67,819 33.33%
Barbaras At The Brewery 2 $35,547 33.33%
Greenbergfarrow 2 $83,782 33.33%
Interactive Data Managed Solutions Llc 2 $86,382 33.33%
Elliott Laboratories Llc 2 $69,982 33.33%
Royale Home Health Care Inc 2 $62,723 33.33%
Analytic Investors 2 $85,083 33.33%
Cal Family Health Inc 2 $116,678 33.33%

Top Industries in California (All Years)

Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Custom Computer Programming Services 328,913 $94,835 91.21%
Computer Systems Design Services 121,832 $116,724 89.70%
Electronic Computer Manufacturing 37,523 $142,016 95.44%
Computer Systems Design And Related Services 34,399 $108,216 89.27%
Other Computer Related Services 30,473 $99,261 87.04%
Colleges Universities And Professional Schools 28,127 $71,811 80.45%
Computing Infrastructure Providers Data Processing Web Hosting And Related Services 26,488 $136,777 92.89%
Semiconductor And Other Electronic Component Manufacturing 21,436 $116,803 90.15%
Semiconductor And Related Device Manufacturing 20,987 $117,887 88.28%
Engineering Services 20,720 $89,583 88.39%
Industry # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Farm Labor Contractors And Crew Leaders 1,804 $33,453 100.00%
Sheep Farming 1,164 $29,844 100.00%
Support Activities For Crop Production 557 $35,723 100.00%
Apiculture 463 $34,353 100.00%
Other Vegetable Except Potato And Melon Farming 322 $34,093 100.00%
Strawberry Farming 238 $31,453 100.00%
Noncitrus Fruit And Tree Nut Farming 188 $34,068 100.00%
Vegetable And Melon Farming 174 $35,597 100.00%
Grape Vineyards 158 $34,478 100.00%
Fruit And Tree Nut Farming 115 $35,908 100.00%

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