Principal Engineer, H-1B salary
What 2,832 H-1B filings report for “Principal Engineer” (LCA, FY2017–2026): pay percentiles, the states paying most, and who files.
What is the H-1B salary for a Principal Engineer?
$150k median H-1B base salary for a Principal Engineer, typically $105k to $217k, across 2,832 H-1B LCA filings with the U.S. Department of Labor (FY2017 to FY2026). Highest in Washington at $182k median.
Median pay & filings over time · H-1B · FY2017–2026*
Top-paying states
Median for this title · ≥20 filings
- 1Washington95$182k+$32k
- 2California1,154$171k+$21k
- 3Colorado28$151k+$1k
- 4Massachusetts98$150ksame
- 5Texas431$150ksame
- 6New York74$144k−$6k
- 7Georgia85$140k−$10k
- 8Minnesota48$137k−$13k
- 9Arizona46$136k−$14k
- 10Florida62$135k−$15k
- 11New Jersey131$132k−$18k
- 12Maryland27$130k−$20k
Where the pay sits state by state, against the national $150kfor the same title. States with at least 20 filings, so a median is not built on a handful of rows.
Which companies sponsor H-1B for a Principal Engineer?
The employers that file the most H-1B labor condition applications for Principal Engineer roles are Autodesk, CommVault Systems, Arm, SambaNova Systems, and TSMC, based on their U.S. Department of Labor (LCA) filings. Open any for its full Principal Engineer filing history, pay, and open roles.
Top employers for this title
Most H-1B filings · with each employer’s median for the role
- 1Autodesk104 filings$155k
- 2CommVault Systems102 filings$133k
- 3Arm73 filings$160k
- 4SambaNova Systems70 filings$161k
- 5TSMC68 filings$148k
- 6TEKsystems51 filings$117k
- 7Palo Alto Networks49 filings$193k
- 8Cisco41 filings$187k
- 9Comerica37 filings$142k
- 10Intercontinental Exchange36 filings$170k
- 11Fusion Solutions35 filings$118k
- 12Marvell32 filings$153k
- 13Samsung27 filings$184k
- 14Harman International26 filings$90k
- 15Nagarro24 filings$116k
- 16Atlassian24 filings$220k
- 17Quanta Technology24 filings$117k
- 18MediaTek23 filings$165k
- 19Comcast21 filings$122k
- 20Toyota19 filings$184k
- 21Nordstrom18 filings$174k
- 22Intel17 filings$201k
- 23Siemens Energy17 filings$104k
- 24Bayer17 filings$132k
- 25Hewlett Packard Enterprise16 filings$144k
- 26Target16 filings$138k
- 27Arrcus15 filings$170k
- 28U.S. Bank NA15 filings$150k
- 29Johnson Controls13 filings$90k
- 30Newracom13 filings$123k
- 31Sasken13 filings$93k
- 32Infineon Technologies Americas12 filings$175k
- 33Innovium12 filings$188k
- 34Alcon12 filings$109k
- 35Tenstorrent12 filings$187k
- 36NextEra Energy11 filings$151k
- 37Macy's11 filings$217k
- 38Institute of Gas Technology10 filings$105k
- 39Ameriprise Financial10 filings$142k
- 40Hazen and Sawyer, D.P.C.10 filings$86k
- 41Fermilab10 filings$119k
- 42Mavenir Systems10 filings$149k
- 43Edwards Lifesciences9 filings$136k
- 44Eli Lilly9 filings$135k
- 45F59 filings$214k
- 46ZF Group9 filings$117k
- 47Cypress Semiconductor9 filings$156k
- 48Holtec International9 filings$117k
- 49Publicis Sapient9 filings$155k
- 50Shipt8 filings$190k
Related titles in this family
11,038 filings carry “Principal Engineer” in the title, across 1,741 variants. Pay differs by variant, so each is listed with its own median.
- 1Software Principal Engineer708 filings$150k
- 2Principal Engineer, Software508 filings$164k
- 3Software Senior Principal Engineer317 filings$183k
- 4Principal Engineer I282 filings$129k
- 5Senior Principal Engineer237 filings$160k
- 6Principal Engineer, Software Engineering177 filings$127k
- 7Principal Engineer II111 filings$149k
- 8Principal Engineer, R&d Engineering108 filings$145k
- 9Principal Engineer, Firmware Engineering101 filings$141k
- 10Sr. Principal Engineer87 filings$164k
- 11Software Quality Principal Engineer86 filings$132k
- 12Principal Engineer, Systems Architecture83 filings$155k
Figures are for the exact title “Principal Engineer”; for a rare title we widen to the closest related titles (flagged above when that happens). To benchmark a specific offer by employer and state, use Salary Check.