State comparison

California vs Florida

H-1B filing geography compared side-by-side. Volume, national share, top sponsoring employers and most-filed occupations. Built from the same DOL LCA data that drives every page on H1B Report.

Summary

California and Florida differ sharply in H-1B sponsorship activity. California has filed 1,684,275 H-1B applications historically, making it the dominant state for visa sponsorship. Florida, by contrast, has 294,620 filings—roughly 17% of California's total.

California's high volume reflects its concentration of tech, finance, and healthcare employers in major metros like the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. These sectors consistently sponsor large numbers of H-1B workers. Florida's lower volume aligns with a different economic mix, though the state has grown its H-1B sponsorship activity in recent years through tech hubs in Miami and Tampa.

For employers and visa applicants, the difference in filing volume suggests California offers more H-1B job opportunities but also higher competition, while Florida presents a smaller but expanding sponsorship market.

California vs Florida H-1B
H-1B filings by state comparison
California H-1B sponsorship
Florida H-1B visa trends
which state sponsors more H-1B workers

State A

California

CARank #1

State B

Florida

FLRank #9

Key metrics

National share is each state’s portion of total US H-1B filings.

Metric	California	Florida
Total filings	1,684,275▲	294,620
National share %	18.05%▲	3.16%
Rank nationally	#1▲	#9
Top sponsor	INFOSYS LIMITED	TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED
Top sponsor share	3.2%	3.5%
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

Year-over-year H-1B demand in each state.

California

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	63,120
FY2011	65,699
FY2012	76,412
FY2013	83,865
FY2014	98,525
FY2015	115,758
FY2016	119,754
FY2017	119,409
FY2018	128,477
FY2019	16,784
FY2020	116,018
FY2021	177,848
FY2022	123,097
FY2023	123,478
FY2024	102,108
FY2025	110,926
FY2026	42,997

Florida

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	15,130
FY2011	15,230
FY2012	16,370
FY2013	15,285
FY2014	17,644
FY2015	20,402
FY2016	20,850
FY2017	21,815
FY2018	23,174
FY2019	2,725
FY2020	17,210
FY2021	24,009
FY2022	19,623
FY2023	20,526
FY2024	17,975
FY2025	20,089
FY2026	6,563

Top 5 sponsors — California

1INFOSYS LIMITED31,1233.2%
2Google LLC24,9222.5%
3Apple Inc.21,8632.2%
4GOOGLE INC.19,2241.9%
5WIPRO LIMITED10,9151.1%

Top 5 sponsors — Florida

1TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED5,8803.5%
2INFOSYS LIMITED5,8803.5%
3Deloitte Consulting LLP5,2693.1%
4UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA3,2291.9%
5COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP3,0891.8%

Top 5 occupations — California

115-1252Software Developers572,359
215-1211Computer Systems Analysts106,101
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other104,277
415-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers69,440
515-2051Data Scientists68,189

Top 5 occupations — Florida

115-1252Software Developers78,228
215-1211Computer Systems Analysts26,434
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other19,674
415-1251Computer Programmers11,846
515-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers10,561

Swap an entity

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