Research Engineer H-1B salary at Ford Motor — 127 certified filings (FY2016–FY2026)
- 5
- Filings · FY2025
- $126k
- Median base · FY2025
- $114k–$126k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- −23%
- vs market median · all years
Ford Motor filed 5 certified H-1B LCAs for Research Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $126k and the middle 50% of offers between $114k and $126k. Across all years its $88k median is 23% below the $115k market median for Research Engineer. It has filed 127 Research Engineer LCAs since FY2016, most often in Dearborn, MI.
How much does Ford Motor pay a Research Engineer?
Certified base salary for Research Engineer at Ford Motor by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $126k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Ford Motor pay Research Engineers above the market?
Ford Motor's all-years median against every employer's certified Research Engineer LCAs — 23% below the market. Same cleaned DOL title, same base-salary definition, so the two rows compare like for like.
| Base salary for this title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Ford Motor | 127 | $88k |
| All employers · Research Engineer | 2,528 | $115k |
How has Ford Motor's Research Engineer hiring changed by year?
12 certified Research Engineer filings in FY2016 → 8 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 8 | +60% | $125k |
| FY2025 | 5 | −17% | $126k |
| FY2024 | 6 | −40% | $100k |
| FY2023 | 10 | −29% | $105k |
| FY2022 | 14 | −7% | $98k |
| FY2021 | 15 | +36% | $93k |
| FY2020 | 11 | −15% | $81k |
| FY2019 | 13 | −13% | $83k |
| FY2018 | 15 | −17% | $78k |
| FY2017 | 18 | +50% | $81k |
| FY2016 | 12 | — | $79k |
Which wage levels does Ford Motor file for Research Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 38% of Ford Motor's Research Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 105 Research Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level I22.9%24
- Level II39.0%41
- Level III17.1%18
- Level IV21.0%22
Where does Ford Motor hire H-1B Research Engineers?
Worksite states and cities on the certified filings for this title, all years, with the median base salary at each.
| State | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 123 | $86k |
| California | 3 | $140k |
| Texas | 1 | $100k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Dearborn, MI | 107 | $84k |
| Ann Arbor, MI | 4 | $81k |
| Farmington Hills, MI | 4 | $93k |
| Canton, MI | 3 | $84k |
| Palo Alto, CA | 3 | $140k |
| Wayne, MI | 2 | $97k |
| Belleville, MI | 1 | $90k |
| Dallas, TX | 1 | $100k |
Also filed as
Ford Motor's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Research Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Ford Motor
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | 401 | $113k |
| Product Development Engineer | 173 | $103k |
| Data Scientist | 134 | $97k |
| Senior Software Engineer | 106 | $124k |
| Data Engineer | 74 | $113k |
| Embedded Software Engineer | 57 | $106k |
| Full Stack Data Engineer | 57 | $137k |
| Product Manager | 53 | $105k |
| Platform Software Engineer | 40 | $144k |
| Full Stack Software Engineer | 38 | $107k |
Top Research Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms | 199 | $204k |
| 148 | $199k | |
| 97 | $160k | |
| The Leland Stanford JR University | 77 | $114k |
| Southwest Research Institute | 53 | $87k |
| Saint-Gobain Ceramics Plastics | 49 | $90k |
| HP | 35 | $132k |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise | 34 | $151k |
| Resolve AI | 32 | $240k |
Common questions about Research Engineer H-1B pay at Ford Motor
- How much does Ford Motor pay a Research Engineer on an H-1B?
- Ford Motor's median certified H-1B base salary for Research Engineer is $126k in FY2025, from 5 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $114k and $126k. Across all years the median is $88k.
- How many Research Engineer H-1B LCAs has Ford Motor filed?
- Ford Motor has 127 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Research Engineer on record (FY2016–FY2026), 8 of them in FY2026. That is 2% of its 5,997 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Ford Motor pay Research Engineers above the market?
- Ford Motor's all-years median of $88k is 23% below the $115k median for Research Engineer across all H-1B employers (2,528 certified filings).
- Where does Ford Motor hire H-1B Research Engineers?
- Ford Motor's Research Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in Michigan, California, Texas; the top cities are Dearborn, MI, Ann Arbor, MI, Farmington Hills, MI.
- Does a certified LCA mean an H-1B visa was approved?
- No. A Labor Condition Application (LCA) is the Department of Labor attestation an employer must have certified before filing an H-1B petition with USCIS. It records the job, worksite and offered wage, but not whether the petition was filed, selected in the lottery, or approved. Filing counts measure intent to sponsor, not headcount.
- What salary do these figures show?
- The base annual wage offered on the certified LCA, converted to a yearly amount. Bonus, equity, overtime and benefits are not included, so total compensation is typically higher. Figures are medians and percentiles over certified filings; wages above $5,000,000 a year are excluded as data-entry errors.
- What do prevailing-wage levels I–IV mean?
- The Department of Labor assigns each LCA an OES wage level from I (entry) to IV (fully competent) for the occupation and area. Under the FY2027 wage-weighted H-1B lottery rule, a higher level earns more selection entries, so an employer's level mix is a proxy for how senior its sponsored roles are.
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification — certified LCA disclosure data through June 2026 (FY2016–FY2026). An LCA is not an approved visa; pay figures are base salary and exclude bonus and equity. Methodology →