Guide
H-1B LCA Filing Geography
Where DOL LCA filings are recorded by metro and state, and the limits of that historical filing record.
A guide to reading LCA worksite and employer-filer fields without turning them into job, salary, approval, or visa-outcome claims.
The short answer
DOL LCA worksites concentrate in a handful of states and metros. In PlainVisa's FY2023–FY2026 extract, California leads with 395,690 filings and New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is the largest metro at 226,133. Those counts describe disclosed worksite geography, not job availability or USCIS outcomes.
- 55
- states + territories indexed
- 113
- metros with LCA worksites
- 2,095,703
- LCA filings in registry
Registry reference only. Filing geography describes where an LCA worksite was recorded, not employer headquarters, confirmed hires, or future sponsorship.
Reading the Geography
A metro's LCA volume counts disclosed filings with worksites in that metro. It is useful for comparing the geographic distribution of this source extract, but it does not reveal why a filing was made or whether a worker was hired, placed, or approved.
Top 10 states by LCA filing volume
Disclosed H-1B LCA worksite filings in the PlainVisa DOL extract (FY2023–FY2026)
- CA
California
395,690 LCA filings
- TX
Texas
309,528 LCA filings
- NY
New York
170,381 LCA filings
- WA 127,138
Washington
127,138 LCA filings
- NJ 106,854
New Jersey
106,854 LCA filings
- IL 88,440
Illinois
88,440 LCA filings
- GA 80,509
Georgia
80,509 LCA filings
- NC 79,378
North Carolina
79,378 LCA filings
- MA 76,773
Massachusetts
76,773 LCA filings
- FL 67,810
Florida
67,810 LCA filings
What this shows California accounts for 395,690 of 2,095,703 filings in the registry. Compare states for distribution, not for local job availability or cost-of-living guidance.
Use PlainVisa's metro pages to inspect the disclosed filing volume, employer-filer count, occupation fields, and listed wages. Treat those fields as historical DOL records rather than job-search or cost-of-living guidance.
Metro-Level Listed Wages
What it tells you: The DOL extract can include listed offered wages and prevailing-wage levels for LCAs associated with a metro. Those values are useful descriptive fields for the recorded filings.
What it doesn't tell you: An LCA wage field is not verified payroll, total compensation, a current market rate, or a promise of an offer.
How to use it: Compare the same occupation and filing fields across metros, then consult independent current sources for compensation, living costs, eligibility, and legal advice.
Changes in the Record
What it tells you: A year-to-year change on a metro page describes the change in disclosed LCA volume for that source window.
What it doesn't tell you: Filing growth does not establish USCIS approval rates, employer quality, future hiring, or the cause of a change.
How to use it: Use PlainVisa's state pages and metro pages to inspect the source record, then corroborate any real-world decision with independent current sources.
What This Means for You: A Practical Framework
Step 1, Identify a source-record comparison. Use PlainVisa's metro pages to compare disclosed filing volume and named employer filers by metro. This is not a job-search ranking.
Step 2, Compare listed wage fields. For a specific occupation, compare the disclosed LCA wage fields across metros, then use independent current sources for compensation and living-cost decisions.
Step 3, Read employer fields in context. Check which employers appear in each metro's disclosed filings on PlainVisa employer pages. A filing pattern does not establish an office, opening, hire, or expansion plan.
Step 4, use separate sources for real-world decisions. Obtain current, independent information for compensation, housing, openings, eligibility, and immigration advice; PlainVisa's LCA record cannot answer those questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which metro areas have the most H-1B filings?
Use the current PlainVisa metro ranking to see the DOL LCA filing volume in this source window. The ranking is a disclosure-record comparison, not an indicator of job availability or future sponsorship.
What does the occupation mix show?
The DOL extract can be grouped by occupation, but its filing counts do not measure employment, job demand, eligibility, or sponsorship decisions.
How do H-1B salaries vary by metro?
The metro pages show listed offered-wage fields in LCA filings. Those fields are not verified payroll, total compensation, current market pay, or cost-of-living guidance.
Which states are growing fastest in H-1B filings?
State pages show historical changes in disclosed LCA filing volume. A change does not establish its cause or predict future hiring, USCIS outcomes, or local economic conditions.
Turn geography into a next step
These filing counts describe where DOL recorded an LCA worksite. Drill into a state, metro, or wage field without treating volume as job availability.
- Browse every state’s disclosed LCA filing volume, employer filers, and listed wage fields. Browse by state
- Compare metro-level filing records and occupation mix for the largest worksite markets. Browse by metro
- Inspect California’s full worksite record, the largest state in this extract. See CA record
- Compare listed offered-wage fields by occupation without treating them as verified pay. Read wage-level guide
LCA geography ranks disclosed worksite filings, not confirmed hires, open roles, or USCIS outcomes.
Sources: DOL Employment and Training Administration, Foreign Labor Certification Performance Data, FY2023-FY2026.
Last updated: August 2026
Every figure on PlainVisa is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error.