H1B wage levels are four pay thresholds the Department of Labor publishes for every occupation and metro area, and since the FY2027 cap season they decide how many times you are entered in the H-1B lottery: once at Level I, twice at Level II, three times at Level III and four times at Level IV. Your level depends on three things together: the salary, the occupation code your employer files under, and where you will work. The same $125,000 software developer offer is Level II in Dallas and Level I in Seattle. Below we read the July 2026 to June 2027 thresholds straight from DOL's wage search for four common new grad occupations in seven metros, so you can place your own offer in a minute.
This post uses DOL, USCIS and the Federal Register. It is general information, not legal advice. For your own case, talk to your employer's immigration counsel or your school's international student office.
The four levels in one table
The levels come from the Immigration and Nationality Act, which requires four wage levels "commensurate with experience, education, and supervision", as DOL summarizes in its March 2026 proposed rule. The job descriptions come from DOL's 2009 prevailing wage guidance, which is still the method in use.
| Level | DOL label | Approximate percentile of local pay today | Proposed by DOL (not final) | Lottery entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Entry | 17th | 34th | 1 |
| II | Qualified | 34th | 52nd | 2 |
| III | Experienced | 50th | 70th | 3 |
| IV | Fully competent | 67th | 88th | 4 |
The percentiles are DOL's own description: it "applied the formula specified in the INA to its two existing wage levels to set Levels I through IV, respectively, at approximately the 17th percentile, the 34th percentile, the 50th percentile, and the 67th percentile." The lottery entries come from the DHS weighted selection rule, covered below.
In DOL's words, Level I fits "beginning level employees who have only a basic understanding of the occupation", and titles with "lead" or "senior" point to Level III.
Your offer, your city, your level: worked examples
Every number below was read from the OFLC Wage Search on 18 October 2026, data series 7/2026 to 6/2027, All Industries collection, BLS metro areas. DOL's technical release notes, included in its 2026-27 wage data download, say this wage year runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 and "is based on BLS's May 2025 wage estimates". Amounts are annual. Area codes are DOL's, so you can repeat each lookup.
Software Developers (SOC 15-1252)
| Metro (area code) | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (41940) | $152,797 | $187,075 | $221,374 | $255,653 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (42660) | $111,613 | $143,104 | $174,595 | $206,086 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ (35620) | $109,845 | $137,717 | $165,589 | $193,461 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (12420) | $95,888 | $119,642 | $143,395 | $167,149 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (19100) | $95,202 | $116,896 | $138,590 | $160,285 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (16980) | $92,789 | $117,083 | $141,398 | $165,693 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC (39580) | $89,398 | $112,902 | $136,406 | $159,910 |
Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051)
| Metro (area code) | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose (41940) | $125,486 | $168,917 | $212,326 | $255,757 |
| Seattle (42660) | $93,912 | $127,026 | $160,118 | $193,232 |
| New York (35620) | $87,256 | $115,835 | $144,414 | $172,994 |
| Austin (12420) | $77,334 | $101,962 | $126,589 | $151,216 |
| Chicago (16980) | $76,336 | $97,490 | $118,664 | $139,818 |
| Raleigh (39580) | $75,712 | $99,923 | $124,155 | $148,366 |
| Dallas (19100) | $75,691 | $99,299 | $122,907 | $146,515 |
Computer Systems Analysts (SOC 15-1211)
| Metro (area code) | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose (41940) | $102,960 | $129,938 | $156,894 | $183,872 |
| Seattle (42660) | $86,715 | $110,427 | $134,160 | $157,872 |
| New York (35620) | $83,616 | $106,267 | $128,939 | $151,590 |
| Dallas (19100) | $81,453 | $101,587 | $121,701 | $141,835 |
| Raleigh (39580) | $78,728 | $96,408 | $114,109 | $131,789 |
| Austin (12420) | $76,710 | $95,347 | $113,963 | $132,600 |
| Chicago (16980) | $71,531 | $89,315 | $107,078 | $124,862 |
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (SOC 17-2072)
| Metro (area code) | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose (41940) | $124,405 | $155,896 | $187,408 | $218,899 |
| New York (35620) | $100,298 | $124,426 | $148,533 | $172,661 |
| Austin (12420) | $100,131 | $126,235 | $152,360 | $178,464 |
| Raleigh (39580) | $99,507 | $121,264 | $143,000 | $164,757 |
| Seattle (42660) | $94,162 | $119,475 | $144,768 | $170,082 |
| Dallas (19100) | $93,746 | $117,104 | $140,442 | $163,800 |
| Chicago (16980) | $92,622 | $113,818 | $135,034 | $156,229 |
Your level is the highest column your salary equals or exceeds. Four sample offers, invented for this post, show how much the city and the code matter:
| Sample offer | Metro | Level | Entries | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software developer, $125,000 | Dallas | II | 2 | Above $116,896, below $138,590 |
| Same offer | Seattle | I | 1 | Above $111,613, below $143,104 |
| Data scientist, $110,000 | Chicago | II | 2 | Above $97,490, below $118,664 |
| Same offer | New York | I | 1 | Above $87,256, below $115,835 |
| Systems analyst, $100,000 | Dallas | I | 1 | $1,587 short of Level II ($101,587) |
| Electronics engineer, $150,000 | Chicago | III | 3 | Above $135,034, below $156,229 |
| Same offer | San Jose | I | 1 | Above $124,405, below $155,896 |
Three patterns stand out.
- The gap between levels is large. In Dallas, moving a software developer from Level II to Level III takes $21,694 more. Small raises rarely change a level unless the offer already sits just below a threshold, like the $100,000 analyst above.
- The order of cities changes by occupation. Raleigh has the lowest software developer Level I of the seven metros ($89,398), yet its electronics engineer Level I ($99,507) is higher than Seattle's ($94,162). Check your own code; do not assume a city is "cheap" across the board.
- Some offers fall under Level I. A $150,000 software developer offer in San Jose is below that metro's $152,797 Level I. An employer cannot certify that wage against the OEWS table; it would need to raise it or use another legitimate wage source. DHS says any registration below Level I is grouped with Level I rather than placed in a lower tier (Federal Register).
The thresholds also move every July, and not always up. We ran the same search on the previous series (7/2025 to 6/2026). The Seattle software developer Level I fell from $117,749 to $111,613, the San Jose Level IV fell from $264,514 to $255,653, and the Chicago Level I rose from $85,467 to $92,789. A table you saved last year can put you in the wrong level.
How wage levels affect the H-1B lottery
DHS published the weighted selection rule on 29 December 2025 (90 FR 60864) and it took effect on 27 February 2026, in time for the FY2027 season. USCIS summarizes it on its cap season page: selection is "generally based on the highest Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage level that the beneficiary's proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code in the area(s) of intended employment", and level IV registrations "are entered into the selection pool 4 times". Each person still counts once toward the cap.
The rule's full text settles four details that matter to a candidate:
- Salary sets the level, not seniority. DHS wrote that if an employer offers "a recent foreign graduate a wage that equals or exceeds a particular wage level, the registration will be weighted accordingly, regardless of the beneficiary's experience level or the requirements of the position."
- The data is locked on the registration date. DHS states that "the OEWS wage data used to determine the wage level on the registration is 'locked in' as of the date of the registration." A registration filed in March 2027 for FY2028 would fall inside the July 2026 to June 2027 series, which is the data in the tables above.
- The lowest level wins. If you will work in several locations, the employer must use the lowest corresponding level. If two employers register you at Level I and Level IV, DHS assigns you Level I.
- The wage cannot quietly drop later. USCIS may deny a later petition that cuts the wage to a lower level as an attempt "to unfairly increase the odds of selection".
What that did to the odds is only partly public. DHS's own model in the rule projected a 15.29% chance for Level I and 61.16% for Level IV, against 29.59% for everyone under the old random draw. The first real results come from the White House: Proclamation 11069, published 23 September 2026, says offers at "the two highest wage levels accounted for approximately 46.3 percent of H-1B registration selections while those corresponding with the lowest wage level accounted for only 17.8 percent." FY2027 drew 211,600 registrations, down 38.5% from 343,981, according to USCIS figures reported by SHRM. USCIS has not published the selected count, so no true per-level rate for 2027 exists yet; our H1B lottery post explains why.
We found no court order against the weighted rule as of 18 October 2026. The separate $100,000 payment on certain new petitions is in litigation. As of 18 October 2026, USCIS says a federal court vacated its implementing guidance on 8 June 2026, that DHS "will comply with the court's order", and that it "still plans to collect the payment" if the order is lifted (USCIS). The H1B $100K fee post tracks that case.
Prevailing wage, actual wage and the proposed rule
Most pages blur these numbers together.
| Term | What it is | Who sets it | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prevailing wage | The OEWS amount for the occupation, area and level | DOL, updated each July 1 | Minimum pay on the Labor Condition Application (LCA) |
| Actual wage | What the employer pays others "with similar experience and qualifications" in the same job | Your employer | Also a floor; you get the higher of the two |
| Registration wage level | The highest level your offered salary equals or exceeds | Read from the DOL table by your employer | Number of lottery entries |
| Proposed DOL levels | 34th, 52nd, 70th and 88th percentiles | DOL, proposed only | Nothing yet |
Prevailing wage and the LCA level. Before filing, your employer certifies an LCA. DOL's guidance says every prevailing wage determination starts at Level I, then moves up when the job's requirements for experience, education, special skills or supervision exceed what O*NET lists as normal for the occupation. That is a level for the job, not for your salary.
Actual wage. Under 20 CFR 655.731, the required wage "shall be the greater of the actual wage" and the prevailing wage. If your employer pays US colleagues in the same role $130,000, a $116,896 Level II prevailing wage does not let it pay you less.
Why the two levels can differ. DHS says so directly: "The wage level selected on the LCA may differ from the appropriate wage level selected on the registration." An entry level job can carry a Level I LCA while the salary clears the Level II or Level III threshold, and the registration uses the higher, salary-based level.
The proposed DOL rule. On 27 March 2026 DOL proposed (91 FR 15454) to raise Level I "from the 17th percentile to the 34th percentile, for Wage Level II from the 34th to the 52nd, for Wage Level III from the 50th to the 70th, and for Wage Level IV from the 67th to the 88th". Comments closed on 26 May 2026. A Federal Register search on 18 October 2026 returned the proposal and no final rule. DOL tried something similar before, as the proposal itself recounts: a court set aside a 2020 interim rule on 1 December 2020, and a January 2021 final rule was vacated on 23 June 2021 at DOL's own unopposed request.
To see the scale, we made our own rough estimate of the proposed levels for software developers. DOL has published no dollar table for the proposal, so these are not DOL figures. Method: we took the BLS May 2025 annual wage percentiles for each metro (10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th, from the BLS public data API, OEWS series) and drew a straight line between the two published percentiles on either side of the target: the 25th and median for the 34th, and the 75th and 90th for the 88th. As a check, the same method gives a 17th percentile within $2,100 of FLAG's current Level I in both metros.
| Software developers | Current Level I (FLAG) | Our estimate: proposed Level I (34th) | Our estimate: proposed Level IV (88th) |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | $152,797 | about $187,900 | about $280,700 |
| Dallas | $95,202 | about $115,600 | about $177,400 |
Under the proposal, the floor for an entry level job would land near today's Level II.
What you can ask your employer
Your employer files everything, and the occupation code follows the job, not the title: DOL's guidance says the choice of code "should not be based solely on the title of the employer's job offer." USCIS then checks that the SOC code, wage level and area on the LCA correspond to the petition, per the weighted selection rule. You cannot choose the code. You can ask clear questions before the March registration window.
- Which SOC code and work location will you use? Then look the pair up yourself. Each code has its own table, and the gap between codes in the same city can be wide: a Dallas Level II is $116,896 for software developers and $101,587 for systems analysts.
- What wage level will you put on the registration? If they say Level I and your salary clears Level II in their area, ask them to check.
- Will I be listed at more than one worksite? The lowest level among them is used.
- Is my offer close to the next threshold? If you are a few thousand dollars short, as the $100,000 Dallas analyst is, that is a fair point in a salary negotiation. It has to be a real wage you will be paid, because USCIS can deny a later petition that cuts it.
- Does the job have to be in this metro? The level is local. Do not expect an employer to move a job for the lottery, but if remote or a second office is already on the table, compare the levels.
USCIS says employers that are institutions of higher education, their affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations and government research organizations are not subject to the cap (USCIS), so the lottery level does not apply to them; see H1B cap exempt.
How to look up your own level on FLAG
The tool is DOL's OFLC Wage Search. It has no account and takes a minute.
- Data series: choose "7/2026 - 6/2027". The four earlier series are for past years.
- Collection: choose "All Industries". "ACWIA Higher Ed." is a separate table for higher education employers covered by the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act.
- Occupation: type the SOC code your employer gave you, such as 15-1252. If you do not have one, the "Don't know your Occupation Code?" link searches O*NET, but confirm the final code with your employer.
- State and area type: pick the state, then "BLS Areas" for a metro or "County/ Township" to find the area by county.
- Read the four rows. The tool shows hourly and annual amounts for Levels I to IV. Your registration level is the highest annual figure your salary equals or exceeds.
Two checks while you are there. If the result says "High Wage", DOL's release notes explain that OEWS could not estimate it and the prevailing wage is issued as $115 an hour ($239,200 a year). And if you want to see what other H-1B workers in your role were actually offered, DOL publishes LCA disclosure files on its OFLC performance data page; the companies that sponsor H1B guide shows how to use public filings to build a target list.
Applying with your level in mind
A wage level is fixed by the offer, so the work happens earlier: enough applications to sponsoring employers, in roles that fit your real experience, to have offers to compare before March. ApplyEze can take on the applying. It watches the career boards of more than 100,000 employers directly, writes a resume for each posting, plus a cover letter when the form asks for one, and completes applications on 12 platforms in a browser on your own machine. Sponsorship and the wage level your employer will file are questions for the employer, so ask the ones above yourself.