Public compensation record trend
H-1B Salary Growth by Year
Track how median and average reported H-1B base salary changed across completed filing years available in TrueSalary.
This report uses H-1B filings only and does not mix in California public salary disclosures. It begins in 2015, the start of TrueSalary's main historical H-1B index, and leaves the current partial year out of the comparison. Reported wages are strongest for base-salary research and generally exclude equity, bonuses, benefits, and other parts of total compensation.
Trend Summary
Public H-1B salary records included across available years.
Filing years represented in the current dataset.
Median reported base salary in the latest available year.
Nominal median change from the first to latest available year.
Annual H-1B Salary Trend
The median reported H-1B base salary increased by 77.0% from 2015 to 2025. This is a change in the records filed each year, not a measure of raises received by the same workers.
| Year | Records | Median Base Salary | Average Base Salary | Median YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 496,386 |
$75,000
|
$87,001 | — |
| 2016 | 521,241 |
$78,257
|
$90,237 | +4.3% |
| 2017 | 504,339 |
$84,999
|
$94,408 | +8.6% |
| 2018 | 492,023 |
$92,604
|
$102,555 | +8.9% |
| 2019 | 547,432 |
$97,000
|
$107,950 | +4.7% |
| 2020 | 558,128 |
$108,375
|
$120,341 | +11.7% |
| 2021 | 655,006 |
$115,000
|
$124,584 | +6.1% |
| 2022 | 512,251 |
$119,999
|
$129,992 | +4.3% |
| 2023 | 196,489 |
$129,970
|
$139,145 | +8.3% |
| 2024 | 451,353 |
$124,636
|
$137,726 | -4.1% |
| 2025 | 456,046 |
$132,714
|
$145,366 | +6.5% |
What Stands Out
The median increased 77.0% from 2015 to 2025 before adjusting for inflation. The direction is clear, but the path was not perfectly smooth.
The median fell in 2024, dropping 4.1%. That was the only annual decline in this snapshot.
In 2025, the $145,366 average was 9.5% above the median. Higher-paid records pull the average upward, so the median is usually the better description of a typical filing.
Gotchas Before You Use the Trend
Each year can contain a different mix of employers, occupations, seniority levels, work locations, and filing volumes. A rising median may reflect higher reported salaries, a shift toward higher-paying roles or locations, or both. A lower record count can also make one year less representative than another.
The largest coverage change appears in 2023, when the snapshot has 196,489 records—61.6% fewer than the 512,251 records in 2022. Coverage then rises to 451,353 records in 2024. That gap can reflect a different slice of filings, so it should not be read as a matching change in the size of the H-1B workforce.
These are nominal salaries and are not adjusted for inflation. The median limits the influence of unusually high or low records, while the average helps show when the overall distribution is being pulled in one direction. Neither number represents total compensation.
How To Use This Report
Use the annual trend for broad market context, then narrow your research to a comparable employer, role, location, and filing year. Review the Methodology page for more detail about data sources and limitations.
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