Government-Verified Salary Data

Our Data Source

Every salary on TheRealSalaries comes from Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) filed with the US Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC).

When a US company wants to hire a foreign worker on an H-1B visa, they must submit an LCA that includes the exact base salary they will pay. These filings are public record and released quarterly by the Department of Labor.

What Data We Show

Each LCA filing includes:

• Employer Name: The company making the hire
• Job Title: The specific role (e.g., "Software Engineer")
• Base Salary: The exact wage they filed
• Work Location: City and state of the job
• Filing Date: When the application was submitted

Important Context

To help you interpret the data correctly, here are some important caveats:

LCA ≠ Actual Hire

An LCA filing represents a company's intent to hire, not a confirmed employment. Some filings may not result in actual hires, though most do.

Base Salary Only

LCA data shows base salary only. It does not include stock options, bonuses, signing bonuses, or other compensation. Actual total compensation at tech companies is often 30-50% higher.

Timing Lag

Companies typically file LCAs 6-18 months before the actual employment start date. This means the data reflects hiring intentions from the past, not current open positions.

H-1B Workers Only

This data represents salaries for H-1B visa holders, which is a subset of each company's total workforce. However, research shows H-1B salaries are generally representative of market rates for similar roles.

How We Process the Data

1. Download: We retrieve quarterly LCA disclosure files directly from the DOL website
2. Filter: We only include applications with status "CERTIFIED" (approved)
3. Normalize: We standardize employer names (e.g., "GOOGLE LLC" and "Google Inc" become "Google")
4. Convert: We convert all wages to annual salaries (hourly, weekly, monthly → annual)
5. Index: We make the data searchable by company, role, and location

Update Schedule

The Department of Labor releases new LCA data quarterly:

• Q1 Data: Released in January
• Q2 Data: Released in April
• Q3 Data: Released in July
• Q4 Data: Released in October

We typically process and publish new data within 1-2 weeks of each DOL release.

Official Data Source

You can verify our data source directly from the US Department of Labor:

DOL Foreign Labor Certification Data Center →

Questions?

If you have questions about our methodology or find any data discrepancies, please contact us at hello@therealsalaries.com.