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 %
Software Developers, Applications 193,998 $113,139 89.21%
Computer Systems Analysts 104,772 $82,444 91.31%
Software Developers, Systems Software 58,151 $123,588 89.22%
Computer Programmers 52,515 $69,323 89.56%
Computer Occupations, All Other 51,521 $83,900 91.45%
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 39,912 $119,022 90.94%
Accountants and Auditors 23,125 $69,041 91.77%
Computer and Information Systems Managers 19,359 $173,059 91.40%
Management Analysts 17,285 $90,027 91.40%
Electrical Engineers 16,250 $117,766 88.31%
Occupation # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Software Developers, Applications 26,507 $160,581 96.90%
Software Developers, Systems Software 15,563 $135,396 61.52%
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 9,259 $111,482 219.88%
Computer Systems Analysts 6,744 $171,595 237.30%
Computer Occupations, All Other 3,491 $113,090 186.78%
Computer and Information Systems Managers 2,352 $165,802 148.96%
Accountants and Auditors 2,305 $123,676 162.21%
Statisticians 2,015 $82,718 149.70%
Sales Engineers 1,325 $118,264 104.83%
Marketing Managers 1,310 $141,709 107.73%
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 %
Norway 34 $104,293 44.16%
Syria 34 $71,129 49.28%
Burma (myanmar) 31 $99,295 47.69%
Saudi Arabia 28 $99,049 43.75%
Panama 26 $9,318,560 40.63%
Honduras 25 $73,989 39.68%
Morocco 24 $89,089 42.11%
Slovakia 19 $103,675 37.25%
Uruguay 18 $115,432 38.30%
Estonia 18 $100,030 39.13%

Top Hiring Companies in California (All Years)

Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Sandisk Corporation 710 $102,875 91.97%
Databricks Inc 709 $146,081 91.84%
Infoshare Systems Inc 702 $77,872 91.17%
Bank Of The West 695 $104,631 91.21%
Wells Fargo Bank Na 692 $127,499 91.05%
Farmers Group Inc 692 $103,806 91.17%
Hewlett Packard Company 685 $92,132 90.37%
Okta Inc 680 $136,650 90.07%
Omnivision Technologies Inc 674 $104,419 89.27%
Veritas Technologies Llc 674 $121,482 89.51%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
American River Companies 7 $37,181 100.00%
Boavista Farms 7 $34,477 100.00%
Sierra Del Tigre Farms 7 $34,656 100.00%
Giusti Farms Llc 7 $33,824 100.00%
Fire Grazers Inc 7 $34,528 100.00%
John E Lasgoity 7 $35,404 100.00%
Duncan Family Farms Llc 7 $31,863 100.00%
Ventura Brush Goats Llc 7 $32,762 100.00%
Salinas Farm Labor Contractor Inc 7 $33,571 100.00%
Vineyard Ops Inc 7 $36,673 100.00%
Company # of Jobs Avg Wage Approval %
Gigamon Inc 60 $125,737 32.97%
Genentech Usa Inc 60 $125,003 33.15%
Anydata Corporation 59 $74,628 32.78%
8x8 Inc 59 $131,570 32.78%
Covetit Inc 59 $114,573 33.15%
Fungible Inc 59 $149,082 33.33%
Pensando Systems Inc 59 $157,925 33.33%
West Contra Costa Unified School District 58 $55,048 32.95%
Masimo Corporation 58 $104,138 32.95%
Sephora Usa Inc 58 $121,116 33.14%

Top Industries in California (All Years)

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