H-1B sponsorship in the Ames metro. U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data shows 718 Labor Condition Applications filed by 80 distinct employers across the Ames metropolitan area. DOL certified those petitions at a 68.9% rate, confirming that prevailing-wage and working-conditions attestations passed the Labor Department’s preliminary review before USCIS handled final H-1B adjudication. That volume places Ames on the map as a measurable node in the national H-1B program, with its own distinct employer mix and occupation concentration.

Pay and occupation mix. The average offered wage on LCAs filed in the metro is $441,543. Because each LCA must meet or exceed the DOL prevailing wage for the specific occupation and worksite, that figure represents real pay commitments rather than voluntary market reporting. The most frequently sponsored role in the metro is Materials Scientists, which signals where employer demand for specialty-occupation talent is concentrated locally. Salary levels in a metro reflect the balance of wage levels (DOL Level I through IV) and the seniority tier of the roles employers are filling through the H-1B channel, so metro averages are a useful read on the sophistication of the local tech, healthcare, engineering, or finance workforce.

Who is sponsoring. The top H-1B sponsor in the Ames metro is Iowa State University of Science and Technology, anchoring a pool of 80 employers active in the area. Petition volume moved from 268 in FY2023 to 228 in FY2025, a decreased trajectory that typically reflects shifts in local hiring, company growth, or program caps. Because DOL releases LCA disclosures as open public records, every figure here traces back to individual petitions filed with the Department of Labor, giving this metro snapshot the same auditability as a government-released dataset.