Research Engineer H-1B salary at Southwest Research Institute — 53 certified filings (FY2016–FY2026)
- 3
- Filings · FY2025
- $100k
- Median base · FY2025
- $92k–$102k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- −24%
- vs market median · all years
Southwest Research Institute filed 3 certified H-1B LCAs for Research Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $100k and the middle 50% of offers between $92k and $102k. Across all years its $87k median is 24% below the $115k market median for Research Engineer. It has filed 53 Research Engineer LCAs since FY2016, most often in San Antonio, TX.
How much does Southwest Research Institute pay a Research Engineer?
Certified base salary for Research Engineer at Southwest Research Institute by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $100k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Southwest Research Institute pay Research Engineers above the market?
Southwest Research Institute's all-years median against every employer's certified Research Engineer LCAs — 24% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Research Institute | 53 | $87k |
| All employers · Research Engineer | 2,528 | $115k |
How has Southwest Research Institute's Research Engineer hiring changed by year?
1 certified Research Engineer filings in FY2016 → 2 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 2 | −33% | $95k |
| FY2025 | 3 | −62% | $100k |
| FY2024 | 8 | +60% | $93k |
| FY2023 | 5 | 0% | $88k |
| FY2022 | 5 | −44% | $84k |
| FY2021 | 9 | +13% | $80k |
| FY2020 | 8 | +60% | $85k |
| FY2019 | 5 | +25% | $87k |
| FY2018 | 4 | +33% | $78k |
| FY2017 | 3 | +200% | $77k |
| FY2016 | 1 | — | $74k |
Which wage levels does Southwest Research Institute file for Research Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 59% of Southwest Research Institute's Research Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 49 Research Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II40.8%20
- Level III57.1%28
- Level IV2.0%1
Where does Southwest Research Institute 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 50 | $86k |
| Michigan | 3 | $88k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| San Antonio, TX | 50 | $86k |
| Ann Arbor, MI | 3 | $88k |
Also filed as
Southwest Research Institute's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Research Engineer LCAs. All years.
Top Research Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms | 199 | $204k |
| 148 | $199k | |
| Ford Motor | 127 | $88k |
| 97 | $160k | |
| The Leland Stanford JR University | 77 | $114k |
| 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 Southwest Research Institute
- How much does Southwest Research Institute pay a Research Engineer on an H-1B?
- Southwest Research Institute's median certified H-1B base salary for Research Engineer is $100k in FY2025, from 3 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $92k and $102k. Across all years the median is $87k.
- How many Research Engineer H-1B LCAs has Southwest Research Institute filed?
- Southwest Research Institute has 53 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Research Engineer on record (FY2016–FY2026), 2 of them in FY2026. That is 39% of its 136 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Southwest Research Institute pay Research Engineers above the market?
- Southwest Research Institute's all-years median of $87k is 24% below the $115k median for Research Engineer across all H-1B employers (2,528 certified filings).
- Where does Southwest Research Institute hire H-1B Research Engineers?
- Southwest Research Institute's Research Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in Texas, Michigan; the top cities are San Antonio, TX, Ann Arbor, 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.
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 →