Methodology

Our Data Source

All salary data on TheRealSalaries comes from the US Department of Labor's Labor Condition Application (LCA) disclosure data. This is public government data that companies must file when sponsoring H-1B visa workers.

Unlike crowdsourced salary sites (Glassdoor, Levels.fyi), our data is:

• Legally verified — Companies must report accurate salaries. Falsifying LCA data is federal fraud.
• Complete — Every H-1B filing is included, not a self-selected sample.
• Official — Sourced directly from government records, not anonymous submissions.

How We Process Data

We download the quarterly LCA disclosure files from the DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification. The data is then:

1. Filtered — We focus on certified H-1B filings (approved applications).
2. Normalized — Salaries are converted to annual equivalents. Job titles are standardized.
3. Aggregated — Statistics are pre-computed for fast page loads: averages, ranges, counts by company, role, and location.

Important Notes

• Base salary only — H-1B filings report base compensation. Stock, bonuses, and other benefits are not included. Total compensation at many companies would be significantly higher.
• H-1B workers only — This data covers positions filed under the H-1B visa program. Salaries for non-H-1B roles at the same companies may differ.
• Filing vs. actual employment — An LCA filing represents an intent to hire at a stated salary. Some filings may not result in actual employment.

Data Updates

The Department of Labor releases new LCA data quarterly. We process and publish updated data within days of each release.