H1B Report
State comparison

California vs South Dakota

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.

State A
California
CARank #1
State B
South Dakota
SDRank #48

Key metrics

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

MetricCaliforniaSouth Dakota
Total filings1,684,2755,504
National share %18.05%0.06%
Rank nationally#1#48
Top sponsorINFOSYS LIMITEDSouth Dakota State University
Top sponsor share3.2%15.2%
Top occupationSoftware DevelopersSoftware Developers

Filings by fiscal year

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

California
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY201063,120
FY201165,699
FY201276,412
FY201383,865
FY201498,525
FY2015115,758
FY2016119,754
FY2017119,409
FY2018128,477
FY201916,784
FY2020116,018
FY2021177,848
FY2022123,097
FY2023123,478
FY2024102,108
FY2025110,926
FY202642,997
South Dakota
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY2010280
FY2011328
FY2012286
FY2013262
FY2014281
FY2015398
FY2016348
FY2017299
FY2018364
FY201936
FY2020284
FY2021425
FY2022329
FY2023414
FY2024506
FY2025518
FY2026146

Top 5 sponsors — California

Top 5 occupations — California

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California vs South Dakota — H-1B State Comparison · H1B Report