Where H-1B Visa Holders Should Live (If They Want to Work and Make Money)

With the world’s largest economy and many of it’s biggest, most profitable companies, the U.S. is an ideal location for H-1B visa holders looking to find a job and carve out their piece of the American Dream. But where are those jobs exactly?

With a little help from USCIS, we answer that question by looking at the job landscape (and salaries) in the top U.S. cities and states as they relate to H-1B visa holders.

Top 25 U.S. Cities by Number of H-1B Visas Filed

First, we started by looking at the 25 U.S. cities with the most H-1B visa filings to see where the jobs are.

Takeaway: New York City, by far, offers H-1B holders the most work opportunities of any Top 25 city.

With 166,669 H-1B visas filed in 2017, New York nearly doubled San Francisco’s 69,904 visas filed, making New York far and away the single U.S. city with the most job opportunities for H-1B visa holders.

It is important to note, here, that “filings” include visa renewals and transfers. But while not all of New York’s filings represent available jobs for H-1B’s, neither do the total filings listed for the other cities, and New York still offers significantly more opportunities than other cities.

But while New York City has the most jobs to offer H-1B holders, New York State ranks just #2 in our next category.

Total H-1B Visas Filed in Top 25 Cities by State

Next, we took a step back to look at the H-1B jobs landscape at the state level.

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Takeaway: California offers many more job opportunities for H-1B visa holders than any other state.

While the Big Apple ranks number one for the city with the most H-1B visas filed in 2017, New York State ranks only second. With nearly 100K more visas filed, California offers H-1B visas holders more job opportunities at the state level than any other state.

This comes as no surprise, as California is the unofficial tech capital of the work, with major tech players like Google, Facebook, and Apple calling CA their home. These companies are known for recruiting some of the best foreign talent, too, so it’s equally unsurprising that California state files the most H-1B visa of any state with a city in the Top 25.

And the number of jobs available at the state level isn’t the only thing California’s got going for it, either.

Where’s the Money: Average H-1B Salaries by State

Next, we looked at each state that has a Top 25 city to see where the best paying H-1B jobs are.

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Takeaway: H-1B workers in California take home the largest salaries.

Jobs opportunities for H-1B visa holders are more plentiful in California, and it turns out all of the money’s on the West Coast, too. With an average H-1B Salary of $103,783, California just edges out Washington ($103,277) as the state where H-1B visa works are paid the best. For a look into a specific career choice, check out our Software Engineer Salaries article.

But while a high salary sounds nice, it’s true value is relative to another factor: cost of living.

Cost of Living

Next, we took a look at the cost of living in some of the cities with the highest salaries and numbers of visas filed.

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Takeaway: Cities in Washington have a far lower cost of living than other cities.

Of the cities looked at, cities in Washington have a significantly lower cost of living than cities in California or New York.  Redmond, the cheapest city to live in Washington and home of Microsoft’s HQ, clocks in at least $23,000 cheaper than cities in other states. And though it is $4,371.00 more expensive than Redmond, Seattle, Washington, the home of Amazon’s headquarters, costs much less than the next cheapest city on the list. 

But how does the cost of living in these cities stack up against their average salaries?

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Takeaway: H-1B’s have the highest savings in Washington after adjusting for cost of living.

Like with the cost of living, The Evergreen State reigns supreme when it comes to salary dollars retained after the cost of living, too.

Redmond- and Seattle-based H-1B workers retain ~43% and ~39% of their income, respectively, after paying for cost of living. Californians, on the other hand, retain marginally less income than Washingtonians, paying between from 33%  from 24%  for cost of living, while New Yorkers keep just 15.07% of their income.

Conclusions

Best Cities for H-1B visa holders:

• New York (NY) – most jobs
• Mountain View (CA) – highest salary
• Redmond (WA) – most savings

If it’s a job you seek, go to New York

In terms of raw H-1B filings, New York blows the competition away with nearly double the filings of next highest city on our list. But, as we mentioned earlier, New York’s 166,669 filings are not necessarily all new filings and do include visa renewals and transfers. That said, it’s clear that New York has a significant amount of opportunity for H-1B visa holders–but having jobs H-1B visa holders is just part of the equation.

But if you want to make money, go to California

While no one city in California is serving up the most H-1B visa filings, the state does hold the most promise for H-1B visa holders. Not only does it have seven cities in the Top 25 cities hiring H-1B’s, but at the state level, it offers more work opportunities than eight of the other states in the Top 25 combined. Moreover, California pays its H-1B visa holders the best average salary in the U.S. But even though California has the most jobs at the state level and offers the highest average salary, it’s still not necessarily our the best place for H-1B’s who want to work and make money.

For the best of all worlds, go to Washington

Washington State, while offering fewer jobs than both California and New York, wins out when it comes to cost of living. In terms of salary dollars retained, Washingtonian H-1B visa holders keep an average 41% of their salaries after paying for the cost of living in Washington, making it hands down the state where H-1B’s retain most of their earnings.

With leading companies like Microsoft and Amazon blazing the trail, it can only be assumed that more of America’s top companies, and their jobs, will soon find themselves in Washington. And so, with a nearly identical average salary to California and a greater average salary than New York, and a significantly lower cost of living, Washington is our pick for where H-1B visa holders should live if they want to work and make money.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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