Salary comparison

Mechanical Engineers vs Data Scientists

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.

Summary

Data Scientists and Mechanical Engineers represent two major occupations in the H-1B program, with notably different sponsorship volumes and compensation structures.

Data Scientists dominate H-1B filings with 213,508 total submissions, nearly four times the volume of Mechanical Engineers' 54,681 filings. This gap reflects strong demand for data-driven roles in tech and finance. Data Scientists also command higher wages across all percentiles: a median of $114,941 (25th percentile: $90,200; 75th percentile: $145,000) versus Mechanical Engineers' $95,200 median ($80,000 at 25th percentile; $124,800 at 75th percentile).

Mechanical Engineers, while less frequently sponsored, remain a significant H-1B occupation tied to manufacturing, aerospace, and infrastructure sectors. The wage gap—roughly $19,741 at the median—reflects Data Scientists' concentration in high-growth tech markets versus Mechanical Engineers' presence in diverse industrial sectors with different regional salary scales.

data scientists vs mechanical engineers
H-1B occupation comparison
data scientist H-1B filings
mechanical engineer wages H-1B
H-1B salary comparison

Occupation A

Mechanical Engineers

SOC 17-2141Rank #10

Occupation B

Data Scientists

SOC 15-2051Rank #3

Key metrics

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

Metric	Mechanical Engineers	Data Scientists
Median wage	$95,200	$114,941▲
P25 wage	$80,000	$90,200▲
P75 wage	$124,800	$145,000▲
Wage spread (P75 − P25)	$44,800	$54,800
Total filings	54,681	213,508▲
Wage samples	54,596	213,202
Rank	#10	#3▲

Median wage by year

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

Mechanical Engineers

Data Scientists

Top 5 hiring states — Mechanical Engineers

1CA13,608$134,198
2MI6,895$88,350
3TX5,117$100,000
4OH2,461$82,742
5IL2,334$83,200

Top 5 hiring states — Data Scientists

1CA43,941$142,122
2NY27,091$132,000
3TX25,149$102,690
4WA18,953$135,100
5IL10,447$100,000

Top 5 sponsors — Mechanical Engineers

1Apple Inc.558
2Tesla, Inc.553
3Cummins Inc.471
4L&T Technology Services Limited323
5COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP230

Top 5 sponsors — Data Scientists

Swap an entity

Replace either occupation above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.

Swap A: Mechanical Engineers

Software Developers Computer Occupations, All Other Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers Computer Systems Analysts

Swap B: Data Scientists

Software Developers Computer Occupations, All Other Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers Computer Systems Analysts

Or browse the full occupation index.

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