The TDA serves Texas farmers, ranchers, rural communities, and the Future Farmers of America. Its 660 employees work on food safety, rural economic development, agriculture inspections, and the programs that support family farms across the state. Its IT operation, however, is staffed almost entirely through H-1B vendors — 11 visa workers from 9 outside firms.
Texas farmers depend on the Department of Agriculture to inspect their products, enforce fair market rules, and run the programs that keep rural Texas alive. The agency's IT systems support all of that. And every single IT worker brought in under H-1B sponsorship this year came through a staffing firm — not one was hired directly as a Texas employee.
The agency's average employee salary is $74,087 — the lowest of any agency in this series. The H-1B vendors are billing an average of $104,284 for the same work. Solware IT Technologies filed two petitions for what appears to be the same .NET programming role under different titles — a $38,439 wage gap for ostensibly identical work at the same agency — and AMMADAR filed at an hourly rate that obscures its true annual cost.
| Ethnicity | Employees | % of Agency | Avg Salary | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHITE | 312 | 47.3% | $74,692 | |
| HISPANIC | 181 | 27.4% | $69,227 | |
| BLACK | 99 | 15% | $78,094 | |
| OTHER | 38 | 5.8% | $79,399 | |
| ASIAN | 27 | 4.1% | $73,207 | |
| AM INDIAN | 3 | 0.5% | $112,758 |
| Ethnicity | <$50K | $50–75K | $75–100K | $100–150K | >$150K | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHITE | 42 | 156 | 76 | 29 | 9 | 312 |
| HISPANIC | 42 | 86 | 35 | 16 | 2 | 181 |
| BLACK | 12 | 51 | 20 | 14 | 2 | 99 |
| OTHER | 7 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 38 |
| ASIAN | 3 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 27 |
| AM INDIAN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Vendor / Sponsor | Workers | Avg Wage | Job Titles | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
AlgebraIT LLC
One petition Certified-Withdrawn. Both filed hourly ($55.17/hr and $43.44/hr). The Design & UX Engineer petition is Certified-Withdrawn. I-200-26160-998559, I-200-26133-905146
|
2 | $102,554 | Software Developer / Design & UX Engineer | I/II |
|
Solware IT Technologies LLC
$38,439 wage gap between two titles for what appears to be the same role. I-200-26036-622349, I-200-25336-449073
|
2 | $95,535 | .NET Developer ($114,754) / .Net Programmer ($76,315) | II |
|
AMMADAR, LLC
Filed hourly at $45.73/hr — annualizes to ~$95,118. I-200-25326-431063
|
1 | $95,118 | Software Programmer | III |
|
COMPUNNEL SOFTWARE GROUP, INC
I-200-25307-365494
|
1 | $106,000 | Software Developer | II |
|
Intellisoft Technologies, Inc.
I-200-26111-818135
|
1 | $114,754 | Software Developer | II |
|
KEYSTONE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS INC
I-200-25307-365139
|
1 | $112,923 | Software Developer | II |
|
Softtechers LLC
Highest-paid placement in this dataset. I-200-26154-974863
|
1 | $139,152 | Software Developer | III |
|
SYSINTEL, INC.
I-200-26110-814071
|
1 | $92,300 | Business Analyst | II |
|
SYSTECHCORP, INC.
I-200-25308-371243
|
1 | $90,700 | Business Analyst | II |
| TOTAL (9 vendors) | 11 | $104,284 | FY2026, cumulative through Q3 | |
| Class Code | Title | Employees | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1322 | INSPECTOR II | 47 | $49,826 |
| 1326 | INSPECTOR VI | 32 | $65,722 |
| 1401 | COMPLIANCE ANALYST II | 32 | $70,190 |
| 1572 | PROGRAM SPECIALIST III | 26 | $59,673 |
| 1573 | PROGRAM SPECIALIST IV | 21 | $65,913 |
| 1321 | INSPECTOR I | 21 | $43,348 |
| 1324 | INSPECTOR IV | 20 | $52,579 |
| 1588 | PROGRAM SUPERVISOR VI | 20 | $97,607 |
| 1621 | DIRECTOR II | 19 | $129,869 |
| 1785 | TRAINING AND DEV SPEC V | 16 | $71,110 |
| 1921 | GRANT SPECIALIST III | 15 | $66,188 |
| 1620 | DIRECTOR I | 14 | $111,345 |
| 1323 | INSPECTOR III | 13 | $53,169 |
| 1603 | MANAGER IV | 13 | $87,307 |
| 1570 | PROGRAM SPECIALIST I | 13 | $50,642 |
| 1325 | INSPECTOR V | 13 | $59,249 |
| 1825 | MARKETING SPECIALIST IV | 12 | $73,054 |
| 1571 | PROGRAM SPECIALIST II | 11 | $56,015 |
| 1048 | AUDITOR III | 9 | $78,027 |
| 1922 | GRANT SPECIALIST IV | 9 | $72,667 |
| Name | Title | Ethnicity | Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| KEEL , TERRENCE | DEPUTY DIRECTOR III | WHITE | $237,313 |
| MALDONADO , SUSAN | GENERAL COUNSEL V | WHITE | $226,397 |
| SMITH , TODD | DEPUTY DIRECTOR II | WHITE | $218,582 |
| PARPOUNAS , MARIOS | DEPUTY DIRECTOR I | WHITE | $218,000 |
| HARRIS-WILSON , LENA | DEPUTY DIRECTOR I | BLACK | $218,000 |
| MURRAY , BRIAN | DIRECTOR V | WHITE | $182,326 |
| ROBINSON , STEPHANIE | DIRECTOR V | OTHER | $176,400 |
| RODGERS , LINDSAY | DIRECTOR V | WHITE | $176,400 |
| SERNA , BERTHA | DIRECTOR V | HISPANIC | $174,000 |
| BUNTON , CHRISTOPHER | DIRECTOR IV | BLACK | $171,328 |
| SANTOS , FRANK | DIRECTOR V | HISPANIC | $170,000 |
| WRIGHT-STEELE , CATHERINE | DIRECTOR IV | WHITE | $169,939 |
| DAVIS , RALPH | DIRECTOR V | OTHER | $160,000 |
| REICHEK , KAREN | DIRECTOR IV | WHITE | $157,768 |
| SCOTT , DALE | DIRECTOR IV | WHITE | $156,000 |
| WRIGHT , PHILIP | DIRECTOR IV | AM INDIAN | $156,000 |
| NUNES , EMILIA | DIRECTOR IV | HISPANIC | $144,000 |
| SMITH , CHRISTINA | DIRECTOR III | BLACK | $144,000 |
| MALDONADO , JUANA | DIRECTOR III | HISPANIC | $141,750 |
| BROWN , STEPHANIE | DIRECTOR III | WHITE | $141,750 |
| TEGBE , ANTHONY | DIRECTOR III | BLACK | $141,038 |
| MILLER , SIDNEY | COMMISSIONER, DEPT OF AGRIC | WHITE | $140,938 |
| WISE , KELLI | DIRECTOR II | WHITE | $139,659 |
| JUERGENS , LARRY | DIRECTOR III | OTHER | $138,663 |
| MADDOX , ALFREDA | DIRECTOR II | BLACK | $138,005 |
2026h1b_combined,
SOURCE_QUARTER='Q3' — DOL's Q3 FY2026 quarterly extract is cumulative
fiscal-year-to-date, so this single extract supersedes the separate Q1/Q2 files used in an
earlier version of this report and requires no cross-quarter deduplication. Filtered to
records listing the Texas Department of Agriculture as the secondary entity (worksite client
agency).
Research by GuestWorkerVisas.com.