H-1B demand profile: Astronomers. Under U.S. Department of Labor standard occupational classification 19-2011-00, employers filed 555 Labor Condition Applications for Astronomers positions across 93 distinct H-1B sponsors. The DOL certified these petitions at a 98% rate, a measure of how cleanly the prevailing-wage and working-conditions attestations cleared preliminary review. That volume places Astronomers among the concrete, data-backed specialty occupations qualifying under the H-1B program’s bachelor’s-degree-plus-theoretical-knowledge standard.

Salary band for Astronomers. Offered wages on LCAs range from $58,781 at the floor to $945,672 at the ceiling, with an average of $91,987. These figures reflect what employers commit to pay sponsored workers, not market averages, each offer must meet or exceed the DOL prevailing wage (Level I through IV) for the worksite, so the distribution tracks wage-level geography, years of experience, and regional cost of labor more than it does any single employer’s pay philosophy.

Where and who sponsors Astronomers. The top sponsor is AURA/Space Telescope Science Institute with 25 petitions at an average offered wage of $121,111, followed by Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii, University of Maryland College Park, National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Geographically, CA leads with 91 filings (avg $98,207), followed by MD, MA, HI. Taken together, the sponsor concentration and state footprint give a practical read on where demand for Astronomers actually clusters in the U.S. labor market, and how competitive pay for the role looks through the DOL’s H-1B lens.