2026-27 Prevailing Wage Update: What Employers Should Know
- The 2026–27 prevailing wages are out, and among the frequently sponsored roles we reviewed, they rose about 2.7% on average, or roughly $2,538 per role.
- In our sample, one in four wage figures actually fell.
- Entry-level (Level I) wages rose the fastest at 3.9%, affecting your costs if you sponsor early-career talent.
If your company sponsors foreign workers, the wage numbers you planned around last year just changed. On July 1, the Department of Labor released its 2026-27 prevailing wage data, and across the frequently sponsored roles we reviewed, wages rose about 2.7% on average.
But in that same group of roles, one in four wage figures actually fell. Entry-level jobs saw the biggest increases. And the changes looked very different from one city to the next.
Here’s what employers need to know before the next filing.
What changed this year?
Across the roles and metros we reviewed, prevailing wages rose about 2.7% on average, or about $2,538 per role.
But among the 212 prevailing wage figures we sampled, 52 decreased. That’s about one in four.
| What is a prevailing wage? It’s the minimum salary the government says you must pay a sponsored worker for a specific job in a specific area. It’s set by the Department of Labor and is meant to protect the worker and the local job market. |
A lower prevailing wage doesn’t always mean a lower offer, nor does it change what you owe your comparable employees.
At minimum, said Matt Dillinger, an immigration attorney at Manifest Law, “You must pay the higher of the two: the prevailing wage or the ‘actual wage.’ The actual wage is the wage rate paid by the employer to all individuals with experience and qualifications similar to the H-1B nonimmigrant’s experience and qualifications for the specific employment in question at the place of employment.”
Where did wages rise the most, and where did they fall?
Every sponsored job is assigned a level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (most senior). This year, entry level wages rose the most.
| 2026–27 Wage level | Avg. change vs. 2025–26 |
| Level I (entry) | +3.9% |
| Level II | +2.8% |
| Level III | +2.2% |
| Level IV (senior) | +1.8% |
“Businesses with large early-career foreign talent pools will need to factor the rise in entry-level wages into their hiring and compensation strategy for H-1B sponsorship.” Dillinger said. “This increase does not affect F-1 OPT or STEM OPT wages. And if you raise a foreign national’s salary to meet the prevailing wage, you generally cannot pay H-1B workers more than similarly situated U.S. workers without a legitimate business reason for the difference.”
Breaking it down by role, the biggest gains were outside the tech industry.
| Role | Avg. change vs. 2025–26 |
| Market research & marketing | +4.6% |
| Registered nurses | +3.6% |
| Financial analysts | +3.6% |
| Software developers | +2.5% |
| Data scientists | +1.4% |
| Accountants | +0.8% |
The swings were bigger when you look at wage level by role. Level 1 market research analysts in San Jose saw a 17.2% jump. On the other end, a Level IV data scientist in the same metro fell 7.3%.
Two companies filing in the same year, in the same city, can face very different wage changes depending on the job.
Which locations saw the biggest changes?
You might expect the priciest coastal cities to post the biggest increases. But that’s not what happened.
The largest changes came from interior metros:
| Metro | Avg. change vs. 2025–26 |
| Chicago | +4.2% |
| Atlanta | +4.0% |
| Dallas | +3.7% |
| New York | +1.9% |
| San Jose | +1.8% |
| Seattle | +0.4% |
Among the roles we looked at, San Jose prevailing wages rose just 1.8% on average this year, after jumping 8.1% the year before.
Seattle barely saw a change. Across the roles we looked at, its wages rose just 0.4% on average, the smallest gain of any metro we reviewed.
Before you build an offer, check the prevailing wage for the exact metro where the job will be based. A national average can’t tell you what you’ll owe in a given city.
How we got our numbers
We compared the Department of Labor’s prevailing wage data for two years: 2026–27 and 2025–26.
Instead of looking at every job, we focused on a sample of commonly sponsored roles. That covered nine occupations across six metro areas and a mix of tech and non-tech work.
The nine roles were:
- Software developers (SOC 15-1252)
- Data scientists (SOC 15-2051)
- Computer & information systems managers (SOC 11-3021)
- Computer systems analysts (SOC 15-1211)
- Mechanical engineers (SOC 17-2141)
- Accountants & auditors (SOC 13-2011)
- Financial & investment analysts (SOC 13-2051)
- Registered nurses (SOC 29-1141)
- Market research analysts & marketing specialists (SOC 13-1161)
The six metros were:
- San Jose
- New York
- Dallas
- Seattle
- Chicago
- Atlanta
For each role, we tracked all four wage levels, from entry to senior. That gave us 212 valid wage figures to compare.
Every percent and dollar change in this piece reflects that sample. It is not a measure of all wages in a job, a city, or the country.
Sources:
- 2026–27 wage data file (the current year, based on BLS May 2025 OEWS) — https://flag.dol.gov/sites/default/files/wages/OFLC_Wages_2026-27.zip
- 2025–26 wage data file (prior year, based on BLS May 2024 OEWS) — https://flag.dol.gov/sites/default/files/wages/OFLC_Wages_2025-26.zip
What’s next?
Before you build your next offer to a sponsored employee, pull the current prevailing wage for that exact role and metro using the DOL wage search tool. Re-check your budgets against the 2026-27 figures now.
And keep your eye on the horizon. A separate proposed rule could push wages higher still.
“The 2026–27 update is a standard adjustment meant to keep prevailing wages in line with market conditions, up or down,” Dillinger said. “The proposed rule is purportedly aimed at curbing abuse and protecting U.S. workers, and it would substantially raise required prevailing wages by redefining the wage-level methodology.”
For a closer look at the potential impact, see our prevailing wage playbook.
