State comparison

Pennsylvania 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.

Summary

Pennsylvania and Washington show distinct patterns in H-1B sponsorship activity. Washington leads significantly with 407,237 total filings compared to Pennsylvania's 290,872—a difference reflecting Washington's larger tech sector and concentration of major employers in Seattle. Pennsylvania's filings remain substantial, placing it among the most active states for H-1B petitions, with strength in healthcare, finance, and manufacturing sectors.

The gap between the two states underscores regional differences in immigration demand and industry composition. Washington's dominance reflects high H-1B usage in software development, cloud computing, and tech infrastructure roles, while Pennsylvania's activity spans more diverse sectors including pharmaceuticals, engineering, and business services. Both states remain critical markets for skilled worker sponsorship under the H-1B program.

Pennsylvania vs Washington H-1B
H-1B filings by state comparison
Pennsylvania H-1B sponsorship
Washington state H-1B filings
state H-1B comparison

State A

Pennsylvania

PARank #10

State B

Washington

WARank #6

Key metrics

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

Metric	Pennsylvania	Washington
Total filings	290,872	407,237▲
National share %	3.12%	4.36%▲
Rank nationally	#10	#6▲
Top sponsor	Deloitte Consulting LLP	Microsoft Corporation
Top sponsor share	7.8%	20.6%
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

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

Pennsylvania

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	11,760
FY2011	12,899
FY2012	15,552
FY2013	16,780
FY2014	19,152
FY2015	22,202
FY2016	23,381
FY2017	21,600
FY2018	25,828
FY2019	2,987
FY2020	19,778
FY2021	26,091
FY2022	17,896
FY2023	18,176
FY2024	15,274
FY2025	15,987
FY2026	5,529

Washington

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	11,235
FY2011	11,359
FY2012	13,218
FY2013	15,493
FY2014	17,921
FY2015	21,665
FY2016	23,151
FY2017	25,476
FY2018	26,842
FY2019	4,453
FY2020	32,427
FY2021	44,510
FY2022	38,067
FY2023	37,614
FY2024	34,089
FY2025	36,307
FY2026	13,410

Top 5 sponsors — Pennsylvania

1Deloitte Consulting LLP14,3507.8%
2TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED5,0112.7%
3INFOSYS LIMITED4,8652.6%
4Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania4,5332.5%
5COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS US CORP3,8862.1%

Top 5 sponsors — Washington

Top 5 occupations — Pennsylvania

115-1252Software Developers77,193
215-1211Computer Systems Analysts40,174
315-1299Computer Occupations, All Other17,183
415-1251Computer Programmers11,987
513-1111Management Analysts11,928

Top 5 occupations — Washington

115-1252Software Developers175,532
215-1299Computer Occupations, All Other32,568
315-2051Data Scientists24,866
415-1211Computer Systems Analysts20,133
515-1253Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers19,807

Swap an entity

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