New-age companies like Netflix, Airbnb top H-1B salaries

Netflix pays the most to H-1B talent. The content platform pays $205,532 in average compensation, followed by vacation rental marketplace Airbnb ($168,306), ridesharing service Lyft ($167,650) and on-demand food delivery service Doordash ($160,444), data from Dice.com and H-1B Visa Salary Database shows.

This new breed of technology firms shell out more to H-1B employees than Google and Apple, which pay $144,285 and $139,457 respectively. H-1Bs are longterm work visas and many of the recipients are Indians.

Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe distinguished professor at Tuck at Dartmouth, said Netflix’s average compensation per employee (not just those on H-1B visas but across all employees) is higher than for other tech companies. “For the same token, the return on each rock star will be huge for Netflix. In fact, in 2020, each Netflix employee generated an average of $2.6 million in revenue and $26.5 million in shareholder value, more than most other companies in entertainment,” he said.


Larger tech companies recruit H-1B talent to perform diverse types of tasks, including a few with specialised skills that command premium salaries. “Therefore, average compensation per employee on H-1B visas in large tech firms tend to be lower as compared to a similar figure for smaller tech firms,” Govindarajan said.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump had made H-1B rules more and more stringent as part of his efforts to discourage immigration. Many in India hope president-elect Joe Biden will roll back some of these measures. Biden has supported the expansion of the number of high-skilled visas, and the elimination of limits on employment-based visas by country.