H1B Report
State comparison

California vs Washington

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
Washington
WARank #6

Key metrics

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

MetricCaliforniaWashington
Total filings1,727,358▲422,396
National share %18.07%▲4.42%
Rank nationally#1▲#6
Top sponsorGoogle LLCMicrosoft Corporation
Top sponsor share4.6%20.1%
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
FY202686,080
Washington
Time series: 17 points from FY2010 to FY2026
Time series
PeriodValue
FY201011,235
FY201111,359
FY201213,218
FY201315,493
FY201417,921
FY201521,665
FY201623,151
FY201725,476
FY201826,842
FY20194,453
FY202032,427
FY202144,510
FY202238,067
FY202337,614
FY202434,089
FY202536,307
FY202628,569

Top 5 sponsors — California

Top 5 sponsors — Washington

Top 5 occupations — California

Top 5 occupations — Washington

Swap an entity
Replace either state above without losing the comparison. 2-way for now; 3+ comparison coming soon.
Swap A: California
TexasNew YorkNew JerseyIllinois
Swap B: Washington
TexasNew YorkNew JerseyIllinois
Or browse the full state index.
CaliforniaWashingtonBrowse all