Industry leaderboard · FY2026

H-1B by Industry (NAICS Sector) FY2026

NAICS 2-digit sectors ranked by H-1B Labor Condition Application volume. Sector 54 (Professional, Scientific & Technical Services) dominates the program; the rest of the long tail covers everything from healthcare to academia.

Summary

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services dominates H-1B sponsorship with 5.4 million filings across 57,468 employers—more than eight times the volume of the second-ranked sector. This sector encompasses consulting, IT services, engineering, and R&D firms that rely heavily on foreign specialty workers.

Manufacturing (metal, machinery, and electronics) ranks second with 657,000 filings, followed by Information (IT and telecommunications) with 624,000 filings. Educational Services (613,000 filings) and Finance & Insurance (588,000 filings) round out the top five. Together, these five sectors account for the vast majority of H-1B activity.

Outside the top tier, sectors like Health Care & Social Assistance (383,000 filings) and Retail Trade (336,000 combined filings) show measurable H-1B use. Construction, Transportation, and Management of Companies file fewer than 100,000 each, reflecting lower reliance on foreign specialty workers or more localized hiring practices.

H-1B by industry
H-1B NAICS sector
Professional Services H-1B
manufacturing H-1B filings
H-1B sponsorship by sector

Top 10 industries

Sector concentration of US H-1B sponsorship.

Professional, Scientific & Technical Services

5,462,333 · 54

Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)

680,015 · 33

Information

645,895 · 51

Educational Services

626,270 · 61

Finance & Insurance

608,260 · 52

Health Care & Social Assistance

393,204 · 62

Retail Trade (general)

262,640 · 45

Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)

123,144 · 32

Wholesale Trade

121,762 · 42

Administrative & Support Services

115,160 · 56

30 ranked entries

#	Entity	NAICS	Filings	Sponsors
1	Professional, Scientific & Technical Services	54	5,462,333	63,691
2	Manufacturing (metal/machinery/electronics)	33	680,015	13,871
3	Information	51	645,895	12,185
4	Educational Services	61	626,270	7,547
5	Finance & Insurance	52	608,260	10,167
6	Health Care & Social Assistance	62	393,204	14,451
7	Retail Trade (general)	45	262,640	3,226
8	Manufacturing (paper/chemicals)	32	123,144	5,150
9	Wholesale Trade	42	121,762	8,722
10	Administrative & Support Services	56	115,160	4,045
11	Retail Trade (motor/furniture)	44	86,810	3,834
12	Construction	23	63,380	5,923
13	Management of Companies	55	58,479	940
14	Manufacturing (food/textile)	31	47,483	2,633
15	Transportation	48	40,282	1,957
16	Other Services	81	39,285	3,718
17	Accommodation & Food Services	72	35,614	2,811
18	Real Estate, Rental & Leasing	53	35,112	3,137
19	Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas	21	26,913	907
20	Utilities	22	24,829	1,108
21	Arts, Entertainment & Recreation	71	22,545	1,979
22	Public Administration	92	17,523	1,496
23	Warehousing & Postal	49	10,377	507
24	Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting	11	8,218	640
25	Sector -4	-4	183	97
26	Sector 15	15	160	29
27	Sector 74	74	146	3
28	Sector 43	43	128	9
29	Sector 73	73	124	19
30	Sector 34	34	96	10

Methodology

The NAICS code on each LCA is the employer’s self-reported industry. We aggregate to the 2-digit sector level for readability; per-employer pages preserve the full 6-digit code.