Research Specialist H-1B salary at Howard Hughes Medical Institute — 316 certified filings (FY2016–FY2026)
- 27
- Filings · FY2025
- $90k
- Median base · FY2025
- $84k–$97k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- +13%
- vs market median · all years
Howard Hughes Medical Institute filed 27 certified H-1B LCAs for Research Specialist in FY2025, with a median base salary of $90k and the middle 50% of offers between $84k and $97k. Across all years its $70k median is 13% above the $62k market median for Research Specialist. It has filed 316 Research Specialist LCAs since FY2016, most often in Ashburn, VA.
How much does Howard Hughes Medical Institute pay a Research Specialist?
Certified base salary for Research Specialist at Howard Hughes Medical Institute by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $90k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Howard Hughes Medical Institute pay Research Specialists above the market?
Howard Hughes Medical Institute's all-years median against every employer's certified Research Specialist LCAs — 13% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute | 316 | $70k |
| All employers · Research Specialist | 969 | $62k |
How has Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Research Specialist hiring changed by year?
25 certified Research Specialist 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 | −41% | $88k |
| FY2025 | 27 | −10% | $90k |
| FY2024 | 30 | −21% | $86k |
| FY2023 | 38 | −5% | $84k |
| FY2022 | 40 | +29% | $71k |
| FY2021 | 31 | +3% | $70k |
| FY2020 | 30 | −9% | $65k |
| FY2019 | 33 | +50% | $64k |
| FY2018 | 22 | −8% | $60k |
| FY2017 | 24 | −4% | $55k |
| FY2016 | 25 | — | $52k |
Which wage levels does Howard Hughes Medical Institute file for Research Specialist?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 9% of Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Research Specialist filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 283 Research Specialist filings with a wage level · all years
- Level I6.4%18
- Level II84.8%240
- Level III8.8%25
Where does Howard Hughes Medical Institute hire H-1B Research Specialists?
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 | 75 | $67k |
| Massachusetts | 45 | $72k |
| New York | 45 | $71k |
| Virginia | 45 | $80k |
| Texas | 19 | $68k |
| Maryland | 18 | $67k |
| North Carolina | 17 | $70k |
| Washington | 13 | $64k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Ashburn, VA | 45 | $80k |
| New York, NY | 37 | $79k |
| Cambridge, MA | 18 | $66k |
| Berkeley, CA | 17 | $69k |
| Boston, MA | 17 | $77k |
| Baltimore, MD | 13 | $65k |
| Dallas, TX | 13 | $63k |
| La Jolla, CA | 13 | $78k |
Also filed as
Howard Hughes Medical Institute's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Research Specialist LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Howard Hughes Medical Institute
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Research Associate | 501 | $60k |
| Postdoctoral Associate | 136 | $78k |
| Postdoctoral Scientist | 121 | $80k |
| Research Scientist | 44 | $75k |
Top Research Specialist sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois at Chicago | 50 | $50k |
| Brigham and Women’s Hospital | 35 | $70k |
| Weill Cornell Medical College | 24 | $67k |
| University of Pittsburgh | 24 | $40k |
| University of Wisconsin-system | 23 | $47k |
| University of Illinois Chicago | 22 | $66k |
| North Dakota State University | 20 | $52k |
| The University of Iowa | 19 | $62k |
| 3M | 18 | $130k |
Common questions about Research Specialist H-1B pay at Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- How much does Howard Hughes Medical Institute pay a Research Specialist on an H-1B?
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute's median certified H-1B base salary for Research Specialist is $90k in FY2025, from 27 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $84k and $97k. Across all years the median is $70k.
- How many Research Specialist H-1B LCAs has Howard Hughes Medical Institute filed?
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute has 316 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Research Specialist on record (FY2016–FY2026), 16 of them in FY2026. That is 25% of its 1,270 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Howard Hughes Medical Institute pay Research Specialists above the market?
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute's all-years median of $70k is 13% above the $62k median for Research Specialist across all H-1B employers (969 certified filings).
- Where does Howard Hughes Medical Institute hire H-1B Research Specialists?
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Research Specialist LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Massachusetts, New York; the top cities are Ashburn, VA, New York, NY, Cambridge, MA.
- 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 →