The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s weighted H-1B selection system, administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, gives greater selection weight to higher wage levels as banking data shows substantial differences in sponsored salaries across roles, seniority levels and locations.
The system divides registrations into 4 wage-level brackets, with beneficiaries in the highest bracket receiving four entries into the selection process and those in the lowest tier receiving one. The weighted system applies to the FY2027 cap season, increasing the relevance of wage level within the H-1B selection process.
Banking salary data covering over 17,500 listings during the two years ending July 31st 2026 shows that engineers and other technology staff accounted for just under half of H-1B filings across the five biggest U.S. banks analysed. Front-office employees, including bankers, traders and relationship managers, were the next most common function and had average salaries of $180k, with many earning $300k or more.
Seniority also shows a concentration around mid-level positions. Vice presidents accounted for 38% of the banking H-1B dataset and had an average salary of $171k, while associates represented 25%. Managing directors formed just 0.4% of the H-1B pool analysed, with average salaries of $407.4k.
Geography produces another substantial difference in compensation. New York accounted for 28.5% of the H-1B filings in the banking data and 37% when Jersey City was included, with an average salary of $176k. Average salaries reached $182k in San Francisco and $198k in Palo Alto, although those California listings represented only about 2% of the dataset analysed. Texas banking technology hubs showed lower averages, with salaries in Dallas, Irving and Plano all below $156k and Dallas averaging $127k.
Across the five biggest U.S. banks in the analysis, average H-1B pay was $154k. Goldman Sachs recorded an average of $136k across 3,969 filings and a median of $128k. Morgan Stanley had the highest stated average at $165.5k, while Wells Fargo was, alongside Goldman Sachs, an exception to the group of banks paying above $160k on average.
With the highest wage bracket receiving four entries compared with one for the lowest tier, the FY2027 H-1B selection structure gives higher wage levels greater weight while existing banking data shows substantial variation in H-1B salaries by role, seniority and location.
