Hardware Engineer H-1B salary at Google — 275 certified filings (FY2016–FY2026)
- 51
- Filings · FY2025
- $174k
- Median base · FY2025
- $162k–$200k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- +45%
- vs market median · all years
Google filed 51 certified H-1B LCAs for Hardware Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $174k and the middle 50% of offers between $162k and $200k. Across all years its $167k median is 45% above the $115k market median for Hardware Engineer. It has filed 275 Hardware Engineer LCAs since FY2016, most often in Mountain View, CA.
How much does Google pay a Hardware Engineer?
Certified base salary for Hardware Engineer at Google by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $174k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Google pay Hardware Engineers above the market?
Google's all-years median against every employer's certified Hardware Engineer LCAs — 45% above 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 275 | $167k | |
| All employers · Hardware Engineer | 2,939 | $115k |
How has Google's Hardware Engineer hiring changed by year?
34 certified Hardware Engineer filings in FY2016 → 16 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 16 | −69% | $179k |
| FY2025 | 51 | +4% | $174k |
| FY2024 | 49 | −4% | $170k |
| FY2023 | 51 | −22% | $179k |
| FY2022 | 65 | +3150% | $163k |
| FY2020 | 2 | +100% | $133k |
| FY2019 | 1 | 0% | $227k |
| FY2018 | 1 | −80% | $109k |
| FY2017 | 5 | −85% | $140k |
| FY2016 | 34 | — | $136k |
Which wage levels does Google file for Hardware Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 41% of Google's Hardware Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 199 Hardware Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II58.8%117
- Level III34.2%68
- Level IV7.0%14
Where does Google hire H-1B Hardware 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 |
|---|---|---|
| California | 266 | $169k |
| Illinois | 7 | $133k |
| Georgia | 1 | $136k |
| Washington | 1 | $131k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View, CA | 188 | $167k |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 46 | $171k |
| Fremont, CA | 11 | $200k |
| San Diego, CA | 10 | $175k |
| Chicago, IL | 7 | $133k |
| Goleta, CA | 7 | $161k |
| Palo Alto, CA | 2 | $109k |
| Atlanta, GA | 1 | $136k |
Also filed as
Google's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Hardware Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Google
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | 27,422 | $170k |
| Program Manager | 883 | $168k |
| Technical Program Manager | 868 | $176k |
| Product Manager | 862 | $190k |
| Research Scientist | 685 | $192k |
| Data Scientist | 522 | $175k |
| Solutions Consultant | 449 | $147k |
| Senior Software Engineer | 348 | $220k |
| Technical Solutions Consultant | 304 | $164k |
| Customer Engineer | 278 | $161k |
Top Hardware Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | 390 | $145k |
| Intel | 315 | $111k |
| Qualcomm Technologies | 268 | $95k |
| Cisco Systems | 211 | $124k |
| L T Technology Services | 195 | $82k |
| Nvidia | 166 | $125k |
| Qualcomm Atheros | 53 | $97k |
| Arista Networks | 53 | $131k |
| Juniper Networks | 36 | $108k |
Common questions about Hardware Engineer H-1B pay at Google
- How much does Google pay a Hardware Engineer on an H-1B?
- Google's median certified H-1B base salary for Hardware Engineer is $174k in FY2025, from 51 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $162k and $200k. Across all years the median is $167k.
- How many Hardware Engineer H-1B LCAs has Google filed?
- Google has 275 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Hardware Engineer on record (FY2016–FY2026), 16 of them in FY2026. That is 0% of its 82,354 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Google pay Hardware Engineers above the market?
- Google's all-years median of $167k is 45% above the $115k median for Hardware Engineer across all H-1B employers (2,939 certified filings).
- Where does Google hire H-1B Hardware Engineers?
- Google's Hardware Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Illinois, Georgia; the top cities are Mountain View, CA, Sunnyvale, CA, Fremont, CA.
- 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.
Keep exploring
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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 →