dol_lca_h1b_county_year
H-1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) activity aggregated to county and year. One row per county per year. Source is DOL OFLC case-level LCA disclosure data filtered to H-1B visa class only. Wage and staffing metrics use certified cases only; application and certification counts include all statuses.
overview
~10,406 county-year rows (county x fiscal_year, only county-years with H-1B activity).
current vintage — FY2026 Q1
history — FY2009-present (matches base table)
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| h1b_applications | int64 · count | Total number of H-1B Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) filed across all statuses (certified, denied, withdrawn) for the county-year. Higher values indicate greater employer demand for H-1B workers in the area. |
| h1b_certification_rate | float64 · share (0–1) | Fraction of filed H-1B LCA applications that were certified, calculated as h1b_certified / h1b_applications. Higher values indicate a greater proportion of applications receiving DOL approval. |
| h1b_certified | int64 · count | Number of H-1B LCA applications approved by the Department of Labor for the county-year. Higher values indicate more employer authorizations to hire H-1B workers. |
| h1b_dependent_employer_pct | float64 · share (0–1) | Fraction of certified H-1B applications originating from H-1B-dependent employers, defined as firms where H-1B workers constitute more than 15% of the full-time workforce. Higher values indicate greater concentration of applications from heavily H-1B-reliant employers. |
| h1b_median_wage | float64 · dollars (nominal) | Median offered annual wage in nominal USD across certified H-1B applications for the county-year. Higher values indicate higher typical compensation offered to sponsored H-1B workers. |
| h1b_positions | int64 · count | Total number of H-1B worker positions requested across all certified applications for the county-year. Exceeds h1b_certified when individual applications cover multiple positions. |
| h1b_staffing_firm_pct | float64 · share (0–1) | Fraction of certified H-1B applications filed by staffing or consulting firms, which place workers at third-party client sites rather than employing them directly. Higher values indicate greater reliance on outsourced or contract labor arrangements. |
| h1b_wage_above_prevailing_pct | float64 · share (0–1) | Fraction of certified H-1B applications where the offered wage exceeds the DOL-determined prevailing wage for the role and location. Higher values indicate employers more frequently offering above-market compensation. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
Aggregated from dol_lca_h1b filtered to visa_class='H-1B'. Wage and staffing metrics computed on certified cases only; application and certification counts include all statuses.
Same caveats as base table; FY2020 schema break still applies; non-H-1B visa classes (E-3, H-1B1) excluded.
Inherits FY2020 schema break from base. County-year cells with no H-1B activity are absent (not zero).