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Why H1B Applicants Are Paying Attention To Illinois Right Now
Chicago does not come up as often as New York or San Francisco in H1B conversations. That is a mistake.
Illinois has one of the deepest and most diverse H1B employer bases in the country. Finance giants like JPMorgan, Northern Trust, Discover, TransUnion, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange all file hundreds of petitions here every year. Consulting heavyweights like Accenture, Capgemini, and ZS Associates dominate the top of the list. Pharma companies like AbbVie and Abbott have major Illinois operations. And world-class universities like University of Chicago and Northwestern round out the academic side.
That diversity is genuinely useful if you are job hunting on an H1B. If your tech job search is not going well, Illinois gives you real options in finance, pharma, and professional services that other states simply do not have at this scale.
The wages here are strong too. JPMorgan’s average prevailing wage is $147,656. Northern Trust is at $144,123. RSM US leads the list at $140,658. These are not startup salaries, but they are serious corporate compensation numbers in a city where the cost of living is meaningfully lower than New York or San Francisco.
If you are a finance professional, a consultant, a pharma researcher, or an engineer open to the Midwest, Illinois deserves a serious look in your H1B job search strategy.
What The Numbers Actually Show
Here are Illinois’s top H1B sponsors ranked by total filings for FY2024-2025:
- JPMorgan Chase and Co – 5,086 filings, 5,058 approvals, 28 denials, 99.4% approval rate, avg wage $147,656
- Capgemini America Inc – 5,059 filings, 4,980 approvals, 79 denials, 98.4% approval rate, avg wage $117,724
- Accenture LLP – 4,072 filings, 4,043 approvals, 29 denials, 99.3% approval rate, avg wage $124,288
- DFS Corporate Services LLC – 877 filings, 868 approvals, 9 denials, 99.0% approval rate, avg wage $121,398
- The University of Chicago – 558 filings, 556 approvals, 2 denials, 99.6% approval rate, avg wage $92,522
- ZS Associates Inc – 475 filings, 473 approvals, 2 denials, 99.6% approval rate
- Northwestern University – 459 filings, 454 approvals, 5 denials, 98.9% approval rate, avg wage $84,335
- AbbVie Inc – 372 filings, 369 approvals, 3 denials, 99.2% approval rate
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – 345 filings, 339 approvals, 6 denials, 98.3% approval rate
- Zensar Technologies Inc – 316 filings, 312 approvals, 4 denials, 98.7% approval rate
- Deere and Company – 310 filings, 310 approvals, 0 denials, 100% approval rate, avg wage $124,893
- University of Illinois Chicago – 305 filings, 305 approvals, 0 denials, 100% approval rate, avg wage $114,837
- Health Care Service Corporation – 301 filings, 297 approvals, 4 denials, 98.7% approval rate, avg wage $117,129
- Discover Products Inc – 298 filings, 297 approvals, 1 denial, 99.7% approval rate, avg wage $119,687
- The Northern Trust Company – 279 filings, 275 approvals, 4 denials, 98.6% approval rate, avg wage $144,123
- Medline Industries LP – 267 filings, 260 approvals, 7 denials, 97.4% approval rate
- TransUnion LLC – 243 filings, 241 approvals, 2 denials, 99.2% approval rate, avg wage $120,804
- Archer Daniels Midland Company – 239 filings, 239 approvals, 0 denials, 100% approval rate, avg wage $109,301
- MSR Technology Group LLC – 227 filings, 223 approvals, 4 denials, 98.2% approval rate, avg wage $87,881
- Motorola Solutions Inc – 216 filings, 211 approvals, 5 denials, 97.7% approval rate
- UChicago Argonne LLC – 206 filings, 205 approvals, 1 denial, 99.5% approval rate, avg wage $85,573
- BDO USA PC – 166 filings, 163 approvals, 3 denials, 98.2% approval rate
- Bitwise Inc – 159 filings, 158 approvals, 1 denial, 99.4% approval rate
- Zifo Technologies Inc – 156 filings, 153 approvals, 3 denials, 98.1% approval rate
- Yash Technologies Inc – 152 filings, 151 approvals, 1 denial, 99.3% approval rate
- Zurich American Insurance Company – 152 filings, 151 approvals, 1 denial, 99.3% approval rate, avg wage $136,780
- RSM US LLP – 138 filings, 132 approvals, 6 denials, 95.7% approval rate, avg wage $140,658
- The Options Clearing Corporation – 134 filings, 133 approvals, 1 denial, 99.3% approval rate, avg wage $133,162
- Abbott Laboratories – 134 filings, 132 approvals, 2 denials, 98.5% approval rate, avg wage $119,675
- Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc – 129 filings, 127 approvals, 2 denials, 98.4% approval rate
Source: USCIS public disclosure records, FY2024-2025. Wage data from DOL LCA filings where available.
Let us talk through what this data is really saying.
The top three employers alone, JPMorgan, Capgemini, and Accenture, filed over 14,000 petitions between them in two years. That is an extraordinary concentration of H1B activity. And honestly, it makes sense. JPMorgan’s Chicago operation is one of its largest technology hubs in the country. Capgemini and Accenture both use Illinois as a major consulting delivery center. If you are in technology consulting or financial services technology, you are essentially living at the center of the Illinois H1B universe.
What surprised us most about this data is how clean the approval rates are across the board. The lowest approval rate on this entire list is RSM US at 95.7%. That is the floor. Every other employer cleared 97% or above. Compare that to Georgia where Insight Global came in at 82% or Florida where Kforce sat at 90%. Illinois is simply operating at a different level of petition quality across the board.
John Deere deserves a moment here. Most people hear the name and think tractors, not H1B visas. But Deere and Company filed 310 petitions in Illinois with a perfect 100% approval rate and an average prevailing wage of $124,893. Deere is deep into autonomous equipment, precision agriculture software, and embedded systems engineering. If you are a software or hardware engineer who has never considered Deere because it sounds like an agricultural company, this data is telling you to reconsider.
The pharma cluster is real and worth understanding. AbbVie with 372 filings and Abbott with 134 filings are both headquartered in the northern Chicago suburbs. Illinois is one of the most important pharmaceutical research states in the country, and both companies have excellent approval records. If you are a chemist, biologist, clinical researcher, or regulatory affairs professional, this is a market worth targeting specifically.
DFS Corporate Services LLC is a name most people will not recognize immediately. It is the technology and services arm of Discover Financial Services. With 877 filings and a 99% approval rate, Discover is one of the most active and reliable H1B sponsors in the state. The average prevailing wage of $121,398 is solid for financial technology roles. This is exactly the kind of employer that does not make headlines but shows up consistently in the data.
UChicago Argonne LLC is the management entity for Argonne National Laboratory, one of the US Department of Energy’s major research facilities outside Chicago. With 206 filings and a 99.5% approval rate, Argonne is an active H1B sponsor for research scientists and engineers. The average wage of $85,573 reflects government-adjacent research compensation, but the work itself and the cap-exempt status make it a compelling option for the right candidate.
The Standouts: Best and Worst Illinois H1B Sponsors
JPMorgan Chase and Co. The top employer by volume and one of the strongest overall packages on the list. Five thousand filings, 99.4% approval rate, and an average wage of $147,656. For a software engineer or data scientist choosing between a JPMorgan Illinois role and a similar position elsewhere, the sponsorship track record here is about as reliable as it gets at this scale. JPMorgan’s Chicago technology hub is a serious operation, not a satellite office.
Deere and Company. Three hundred and ten filings, zero denials, 100% approval rate, $124,893 average wage. For example, if you are a software engineer with an interest in embedded systems, robotics, or precision technology and you have been ignoring Deere because it does not sound like a tech company, this is your data point to change that thinking. Perfect record, strong pay, and far less competition for roles than you would face at a household tech name.
Northern Trust Company. Two hundred and seventy-nine filings, 98.6% approval rate, and an average prevailing wage of $144,123. Northern Trust is a wealth management and asset servicing firm that most people outside finance have never heard of. Inside finance, it is a blue-chip employer. If you are in financial technology, data engineering, or quantitative analytics and you want a stable long-term H1B sponsor in Chicago, Northern Trust is one of the smartest targets on this list.
RSM US LLP. The lowest approval rate on the list at 95.7% with 6 denials out of 138 filings. RSM is a large accounting and consulting firm. A 95.7% rate is not alarming in absolute terms, but it stands out in a state where everyone else is clearing 97% or above. Worth asking your immigration attorney specifically about RSM’s petition history in your job category before accepting an offer.
Capgemini America Inc. This one needs context. Capgemini has the second most filings in the state at 5,059, but also the most denials in raw numbers at 79. The 98.4% approval rate is still strong. But the volume of denials is worth understanding: at this scale, even a small percentage rate produces a large raw number. Capgemini is a legitimate employer with a solid overall record. Just go in with eyes open about the staffing and consulting model, which draws more USCIS scrutiny than direct corporate employment.
What This Means If You Are Job Hunting Right Now
Illinois rewards candidates who think beyond the obvious tech companies.
If you are a software engineer or data professional, JPMorgan, Accenture, Capgemini, Discover, and TransUnion are all filing at scale with excellent records. These are not backup options. They are primary targets that offer serious careers, strong salaries, and reliable H1B processes. Chicago’s financial technology scene in particular is significantly underrated by candidates who are only looking at San Francisco and Seattle.
If you are in pharma or life sciences, AbbVie and Abbott are both active Illinois sponsors with clean records. The North Shore suburbs of Chicago have a dense concentration of pharmaceutical and medical device companies. This is one of the best pharma H1B markets outside New Jersey.
For researchers and academics, the Illinois university system is strong. University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and Argonne National Laboratory all appear on this list. Multiple options across different research focuses and compensation levels.
One practical tip: ZS Associates is worth a specific callout. With 475 filings and a 99.6% approval rate, ZS is a management consulting firm focused specifically on pharma and life sciences strategy. If your background sits at the intersection of life sciences and business, ZS is one of the most active and reliable H1B sponsors in the country, and Illinois is their home base.
What This Data Does Not Tell You
Wage data is missing for several employers including ZS Associates, AbbVie, Northwestern University, and Capgemini. That is a dataset matching limitation, not a sign those companies pay poorly. ZS Associates and AbbVie in particular are known for very competitive compensation in their respective markets.
The three employers at 100% approval, Deere, University of Illinois Chicago, and Archer Daniels Midland, are working with smaller sample sizes than JPMorgan or Capgemini. A perfect rate across 239 filings is meaningful but not the same statistical statement as 99.4% across 5,086 filings. Factor that in when you are comparing employers.
This data also does not capture what happens after an H1B is approved. Extension rates, green card sponsorship, and long-term immigration support vary significantly by employer. A company with a great H1B approval record is not automatically a good partner for your long-term immigration journey. Ask about green card sponsorship policies specifically before you accept any offer.
The Bottom Line
Illinois is one of the most underrated H1B states in the country. The combination of finance, consulting, pharma, technology, and world-class universities creates an employer base that very few states can match for sheer diversity.
The approval rates here are among the cleanest we have seen in any state. The floor is 95.7%. Most employers are clearing 98% or above. That tells you Illinois employers are filing strong, well-documented petitions consistently.
Chicago is not San Francisco. But for the right candidate, that is exactly the point. Lower cost of living, serious employers, excellent approval rates, and strong wages in finance and professional services. If Illinois is not already on your H1B job search list, it should be.
Reviewed and edited by the H1BTrack editorial team. Data verified against USCIS public disclosure records and DOL LCA filings as of June 2026.
Data sourced from publicly available USCIS and Department of Labor records. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice. Always verify current information at uscis.gov before making any decisions.