Staff Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B salary at Tesla — 106 certified filings (FY2017–FY2026)
- 23
- Filings · FY2025
- $177k
- Median base · FY2025
- $171k–$184k
- Middle 50% · FY2025
- −3%
- vs market median · all years
Tesla filed 23 certified H-1B LCAs for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer in FY2025, with a median base salary of $177k and the middle 50% of offers between $171k and $184k. Across all years its $160k median is 3% below the $165k market median for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer. It has filed 106 Staff Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs since FY2017, most often in Palo Alto, CA.
How much does Tesla pay a Staff Mechanical Design Engineer?
Certified base salary for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla by fiscal year: each box is the p25–p75 range, the heavy line the median, the whiskers reach p10–p90. $177k median in FY2025. Base pay only — hover a year for its figures.
Does Tesla pay Staff Mechanical Design Engineers above the market?
Tesla's all-years median against every employer's certified Staff Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs — 3% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tesla | 106 | $160k |
| All employers · Staff Mechanical Design Engineer | 133 | $165k |
How has Tesla's Staff Mechanical Design Engineer hiring changed by year?
9 certified Staff Mechanical Design Engineer filings in FY2017 → 13 in FY2026. The change column is each year against the one before.
| Fiscal year | Filings | vs prior FY | Median base |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 13 | −43% | $198k |
| FY2025 | 23 | +64% | $177k |
| FY2024 | 14 | +40% | $160k |
| FY2023 | 10 | 0% | $162k |
| FY2022 | 10 | 0% | $153k |
| FY2021 | 10 | +43% | $144k |
| FY2020 | 7 | +40% | $150k |
| FY2019 | 5 | 0% | $150k |
| FY2018 | 5 | −44% | $144k |
| FY2017 | 9 | — | $137k |
Which wage levels does Tesla file for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer?
DOL prevailing-wage levels I–IV approximate experience tiers (I = entry, IV = fully competent). 99% of Tesla's Staff Mechanical Design Engineer filings sit at Level III–IV. Higher levels earn more entries in the wage-weighted H-1B lottery.
Share of 86 Staff Mechanical Design Engineer filings with a wage level · all years
- Level II1.2%1
- Level III8.1%7
- Level IV90.7%78
Where does Tesla hire H-1B Staff Mechanical Design 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 | 98 | $162k |
| Texas | 6 | $160k |
| Michigan | 1 | $132k |
| Nevada | 1 | $128k |
| City | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto, CA | 44 | $166k |
| Fremont, CA | 42 | $154k |
| Austin, TX | 6 | $160k |
| Hawthorne, CA | 5 | $175k |
| Mountain View, CA | 2 | $177k |
| Dublin, CA | 1 | $171k |
| Novi, MI | 1 | $132k |
| Palto Alto, CA | 1 | $205k |
Also filed as
Tesla's other sponsored titles, and the employers that file the most Staff Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs. All years.
Other titles at Tesla
| Job title | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Software Development Engineer | 437 | $140k |
| Mechanical Design Engineer | 354 | $122k |
| Process Engineer | 300 | $103k |
| Manufacturing Engineer | 284 | $114k |
| Senior Software Development Engineer | 274 | $157k |
| Manufacturing Equipment Engineer | 245 | $108k |
| Staff Software Development Engineer | 229 | $197k |
| Software Engineer | 154 | $130k |
| Senior Mechanical Design Engineer | 139 | $130k |
| Sr Software Development Engineer | 139 | $183k |
Top Staff Mechanical Design Engineer sponsors
| Employer | Filings | Median base |
|---|---|---|
| Rivian Automotive | 12 | $166k |
| Matic Robots | 2 | $200k |
| Atomic Machines | 2 | $190k |
| Proterra Powered LLC F K a Volvo Battery Solutions | 2 | $167k |
| Cymer | 1 | $107k |
| Form Energy | 1 | $180k |
| Lightmatter | 1 | $197k |
| Asml US | 1 | $98k |
| Twelve Benefit | 1 | $192k |
Common questions about Staff Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B pay at Tesla
- How much does Tesla pay a Staff Mechanical Design Engineer on an H-1B?
- Tesla's median certified H-1B base salary for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer is $177k in FY2025, from 23 filings; the middle 50% of offers fall between $171k and $184k. Across all years the median is $160k.
- How many Staff Mechanical Design Engineer H-1B LCAs has Tesla filed?
- Tesla has 106 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer on record (FY2017–FY2026), 13 of them in FY2026. That is 1% of its 13,893 certified filings across all titles.
- Does Tesla pay Staff Mechanical Design Engineers above the market?
- Tesla's all-years median of $160k is 3% below the $165k median for Staff Mechanical Design Engineer across all H-1B employers (133 certified filings).
- Where does Tesla hire H-1B Staff Mechanical Design Engineers?
- Tesla's Staff Mechanical Design Engineer LCAs name worksites mostly in California, Texas, Michigan; the top cities are Palo Alto, CA, Fremont, CA, Austin, TX.
- 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 (FY2017–FY2026). An LCA is not an approved visa; pay figures are base salary and exclude bonus and equity. Methodology →