The median wages earned by people with H-1B visas in the Salt Lake City metro area is $96,400, which is relatively low compared to the national median and those of other large metros, according to a new study.
The analysis of nearly 400 metros and all 50 states was completed on behalf of immigration law firm Manifest Law using data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Foreign Labor Certification Performance Data in order to determine the cities with the highest wages for H-1B visas. Using data from the first three quarters of 2025, the latest data available, researchers ranked locations by the median annual wage for certified H-1B visa applications.
The H-1B visa program is considered a crucial path for skilled foreign workers in U.S. industries. The study ranks U.S. metros by median H-1B wage and includes breakouts by occupation, employer and state. The rankings reveal which U.S. cities and tech companies pay the most for specialized foreign talent.
The Salt Lake City metro’s workers’ median wage is No. 197 nationally, 48th among all large metros, and compares with the national figure of $123,828. Salaries for those local workers ranged from $75,000 to $129,000, compared with a national range of $93,765 to $163,477.
The Salt Lake City area had 1,946 H-1B visa applications, part of a national total of 468,476.
The largest H-1B sponsors in the Salt Lake City metro (by worker count) were Goldman Sachs and Co., the University of Utah and Goldman Sachs Services. Nationally, the largest sponsors were Amazon.com Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions US and Ernst & Young.
The H-1B visa program allows American employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise. Employers frequently turn to this visa category when they are unable to find qualified domestic candidates, especially for roles requiring advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
Nationally, specialty physicians and tech workers receive the highest H-1B wages: Five specialty physician occupations report a median H-1B wage over $300,000, while 12 of the top 15 highest-paying companies operate in the tech space.
H-1B wages are highest in the three West Coast states, California ($167,534), Washington ($157,600) and Oregon ($138,086). Meanwhile, the lowest H-1B wages are concentrated in the Northern Great Plains region, with South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana all with median H-1B visa wages under $80,000 per year.
H-1B prevailing-wage rules require employers to pay H-1B workers the higher of either the actual wage paid to similarly qualified U.S. workers at the company or the prevailing wage for the occupation in that geographic area.
Manifest Law said the environment for H-1B approvals is set to undergo significant change, primarily driven by the $100,000 one-time fee for new applications made from outside the United States, effective as of Sept. 21, 2025.
“This financial barrier, coupled with pending rules to significantly raise prevailing wage levels, a benchmark used to determine the minimum wage for each H-1B worker’s occupation and location, and a proposed wage-weighted lottery prioritizing highly paid workers, could collectively dampen demand and reduce the overall volume of new filings,” it said. “These shifts could incentivize employers to fill roles domestically, adopt automation solutions, or more heavily rely on renewing existing H-1B visas, which will not be affected by these changes.”
Details about the study are at https://manifestlaw.com/blog/cities-with-highest-wages-for-h-1b-visas/.