Trackers / City guides
City guides
Places where many H-1B families live: what the jobs pay, what the state takes, and what everyday life is like. Guide Wage figures are official; the rest has not yet been reviewed by an editor.
CA
San Francisco Bay Area
The largest concentration of tech H-1B jobs in the country, the highest wages, and the highest housing costs.
Software developer, Level II$187k
Read the guide →WA
Seattle
Home to two of the biggest H-1B sponsors, with no state income tax on wages.
Software developer, Level II$143k
Read the guide →NY-NJ
New York and New Jersey
Finance, consulting, health care and tech, with the biggest range of employers and neighborhoods.
Software developer, Level II$138k
Read the guide →TX
Dallas–Fort Worth
Fast-growing, with no state income tax and more affordable housing than the coasts.
Software developer, Level II$117k
Read the guide →MA
Boston
Universities, hospitals and biotech: many cap-exempt employers and research jobs.
Software developer, Level II$138k
Read the guide →NY
Syracuse and Central New York
An affordable, mid-sized metro where universities and hospitals sponsor most H-1B workers, many of them outside the lottery, and where Micron is building a $100 billion chip campus.
Software developer, Level II$109k
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