State comparison

Washington vs New York

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

New York and Washington rank among the top H-1B sponsoring states, though with significantly different scale. New York has filed 779,382 H-1B petitions compared to Washington's 407,237—nearly twice as many filings. Both states attract global talent across technology, finance, and specialized sectors, reflecting their status as major economic hubs.

New York's larger filing volume reflects its role as a financial and corporate center, with major headquarters and multinational operations concentrated in the tri-state region. Washington's filings, while smaller in absolute terms, represent a substantial concentration of H-1B sponsorship in the Pacific Northwest, driven primarily by technology and software development roles.

These figures represent cumulative H-1B petitions filed in each state and show the relative scale of foreign worker sponsorship over time. Researchers and job seekers comparing these states should account for differences in state population and industry composition when evaluating H-1B sponsorship intensity.

New York vs Washington H-1B
H-1B filings by state comparison
New York H-1B sponsorship
Washington state H-1B
H-1B jobs New York Washington

State A

Washington

WARank #6

State B

New York

NYRank #3

Key metrics

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

Metric	Washington	New York
Total filings	407,237	779,382▲
National share %	4.36%	8.35%▲
Rank nationally	#6	#3▲
Top sponsor	Microsoft Corporation	Ernst & Young U.S. LLP
Top sponsor share	20.6%	2.5%
Top occupation	Software Developers	Software Developers

Filings by fiscal year

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

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

New York

Time series
Period	Value
FY2010	41,791
FY2011	41,780
FY2012	44,516
FY2013	42,575
FY2014	48,882
FY2015	55,025
FY2016	58,674
FY2017	54,974
FY2018	58,296
FY2019	6,707
FY2020	46,888
FY2021	67,785
FY2022	47,736
FY2023	50,649
FY2024	45,271
FY2025	50,305
FY2026	17,528

Top 5 sponsors — Washington

Top 5 sponsors — New York

1Ernst & Young U.S. LLP11,3512.5%
2JPMorgan Chase & Co.7,2081.6%
3GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. LLC6,4911.4%
4INFOSYS LIMITED6,2531.4%
5TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED5,4901.2%

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

Top 5 occupations — New York

115-1252Software Developers127,566
213-2051Financial and Investment Analysts53,542
315-1211Computer Systems Analysts43,076
415-2051Data Scientists37,071
515-1299Computer Occupations, All Other34,721

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