State comparison

California vs Texas

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 Texas are the two largest H-1B sponsorship states in the United States, but California's dominance is clear: California has filed 1.68 million H-1B petitions all-time, compared to Texas's 994K filings. This 69% difference reflects California's concentration of technology companies, particularly in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, which drive the majority of H-1B demand in the nation.

Texas ranks second nationally and has emerged as a secondary H-1B hub, fueled by tech growth in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, as well as energy and manufacturing sectors. Both states substantially exceed the third-place state, underscoring their role as primary destinations for H-1B sponsorship across technology, finance, and specialized professional roles.

For detailed prevailing wage data, approval rates, and occupation-level breakdowns, explore the individual state pages.

California vs Texas H-1B
H-1B filings by state comparison
California Texas sponsorship
state H-1B activity

State A

California

CARank #1

State B

Texas

TXRank #2

Key metrics

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

Metric	California	Texas
Total filings	1,727,358▲	1,026,223
National share %	18.07%▲	10.74%
Rank nationally	#1▲	#2
Top sponsor	Google LLC	INFOSYS LIMITED
Top sponsor share	4.6%	3.7%
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	86,080

Texas

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	28,668
FY2011	31,431
FY2012	37,947
FY2013	42,217
FY2014	51,851
FY2015	62,552
FY2016	68,466
FY2017	66,163
FY2018	64,506
FY2019	8,319
FY2020	59,117
FY2021	90,790
FY2022	84,528
FY2023	91,294
FY2024	83,888
FY2025	90,478
FY2026	64,008

Top 5 sponsors — California

1Google LLC47,4704.6%
2INFOSYS LIMITED31,7633.1%
3Apple Inc.23,1722.2%
4Meta Platforms, Inc11,7681.1%
5Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.11,0691.1%

Top 5 sponsors — Texas

1INFOSYS LIMITED23,7413.7%
2COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP14,1942.2%
3TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED13,3402.1%
4Tech Mahindra (Americas) Inc.8,1751.3%
5Deloitte Consulting LLP8,0271.3%

Top 5 occupations — California

115-1252Software Developers590,102
215-1211Computer Systems Analysts107,957
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other107,104
415-2051Data Scientists71,013
515-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers70,860

Top 5 occupations — Texas

115-1252Software Developers341,516
215-1211Computer Systems Analysts97,523
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other80,526
415-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers39,608
515-1251Computer Programmers38,741

Swap an entity

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