Who uses H-1B visas the most, in charts
Visas used for skilled workers fill a tiny portion of the U.S. workforce but include jobs at some of the biggest technology companies.
The worker visas that President Trump says now require $100,000 application fees fill a tiny portion of the U.S. workforce but include high-value jobs concentrated among some of the biggest technology companies in some of the wealthiest coastal states.
Nearly two-thirds of H-1B visas go to people working in “computer-related occupations," according to a recent government report to Congress. Big recipients include an array of household names in the tech world, including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Meta, as well as multinationals like Tata Consulting Services and Cognizant.
Recipients from India have come to dominate H-1Bs, especially in the past decade, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Federal data from fiscal 2024 shows that people born in India accounted for 71% of approved H-1B petitions that year, while people from China accounted for almost 12%. All other countries made up a vastly smaller portion in comparison.
The U.S. caps new H-1B visas at 85,000 a year, just a sliver of the nation’s 171 million-strong civilian labor force, though employees of universities and other nonprofits are generally exempt. But the government issued nearly 400,000 H-1Bs in its 2024 fiscal year. Most of these were for people who were already in the U.S., to cover situations like workers who sought extensions or switched jobs.
These visas usually last up to three years and are for people with specialized skills. Recipients need a Bachelor’s degree at a minimum and nearly half of them have a Master’s degree.
The biggest category of H-1B visa holders includes skilled jobs in fields like computer and management consulting services, engineering and scientific research.
Visa holders can eventually become eligible to apply for green cards, which let them stay in the country indefinitely.
To hire H-1B workers, employers have to attest they will pay them the same wage as other workers with similar experience and qualifications, or the prevailing wage in the field they’ll be working in. In 2024, recipients earned a median salary of $120,000, nearly double the median earnings of roughly $62,000 a year for a full-time worker in the U.S.
Workers on the H-1B program tend to skew young: The average age is 34. Seven out of every 10 H-1B recipients are male.
When it comes to sheer numbers, California leads the pack in H-1B approvals with more than 60,000 granted there in the current fiscal year. That number of approvals is twice as high as Texas, the state with the second-highest number at 27,000.
The government data counts the visas based on the employer’s mailing address and not necessarily where the workers are based. Virginia leads on a per-capita basis, due in part to Amazon having one of its headquarters there.
topics
