H1B Report
Salary comparison

Materials Engineers vs Software Developers

Side-by-side H-1B prevailing-wage comparison using the same DOL LCA data that drives every page on H1B Report. Quartiles, hiring geography, top sponsors and yearly wage drift.

Occupation A
Materials Engineers
SOC 17-2131Rank #66
Occupation B
Software Developers
SOC 15-1252Rank #1

Key metrics

Wage figures are offered annual wage; volume is total LCA count.

MetricMaterials EngineersSoftware Developers
Median wage$92,000$102,690
P25 wage$77,355$84,300
P75 wage$115,000$131,000
Wage spread (P75 − P25)$37,645$46,700
Total filings13,3032,843,747
Wage samples13,2512,838,792
Rank#66#1

Median wage by year

Year-over-year drift of the typical offered wage.

Materials Engineers
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$74k
FY2011$75k
FY2012$76k
FY2013$78k
FY2014$78k
FY2015$80k
FY2016$80k
FY2017$81k
FY2018$84k
FY2019$86k
FY2020$85k
FY2021$91k
FY2022$96k
FY2023$97k
FY2024$110k
FY2025$110k
FY2026$124k
Software Developers
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010$80k
FY2011$80k
FY2012$81k
FY2013$82k
FY2014$82k
FY2015$82k
FY2016$84k
FY2017$90k
FY2018$93k
FY2019$96k
FY2020$103k
FY2021$112k
FY2022$115k
FY2023$120k
FY2024$124k
FY2025$133k
FY2026$140k

Top 5 hiring states — Materials Engineers

  • 1CA2,728$109,533
  • 2OR1,818$120,640
  • 3MI1,008$84,032
  • 4TX992$91,998
  • 5NY791$81,037

Top 5 hiring states — Software Developers

  • 1CA589,072$130,894
  • 2TX340,929$99,861
  • 3WA183,730$136,800
  • 4NJ155,389$100,000
  • 5NY131,510$112,700
Swap an entity
Replace either occupation above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.
Or browse the full occupation index.