The wage on a PERM filing is the wage an employer committed to in a federal filing, under penalty of the case. That makes PERM disclosure data the hardest salary data that exists for sponsored roles: no self-reporting, no survey sampling, no anonymous levels. Below are the medians by occupation for the current disclosure window - 259,489 decided cases from the Department of Labor's own files. The live, searchable version of all sixty occupations is on our wages page.
The biggest occupations, and their median offered wage
| Occupation | Filings | Median offered wage |
|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 57,876 | $139,464 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 11,592 | $128,774 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters | 8,524 | $26,000 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 7,119 | $25,480 |
| Project Management Specialists | 6,528 | $133,500 |
| Data Scientists | 5,572 | $136,246 |
| Software QA Analysts and Testers | 4,691 | $118,900 |
| Medical and Clinical Lab Technologists | 4,549 | $56,576 |
| Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers | 4,315 | $34,100 |
| Nursing Assistants | 3,593 | $36,899 |
Hourly, weekly and monthly wage units are annualized before the median is taken, so a $12.50/hour poultry line wage and a $170,000 salary sit on one scale.
PERM is two labor markets wearing one process
The table's shape is the finding. Sponsorship is bimodal: a six-figure knowledge-work market (Software Developers at $139,464, Computer and Information Systems Managers at $191,755, Data Scientists at $136,246) and a hard-to-fill hourly market (meat cutters at $26,000, fast food workers at $25,480, landscapers at $34,100), with surprisingly little in between. Both halves run through the identical regulatory machine - the same prevailing wage determination, the same recruitment, the same national queue.
The median of the sixty occupation medians in the current window. Half the top occupations pay more than this at the median, half pay less - the centre of what a sponsored role commits to on paper.
What this means for your own offer
A PERM wage is a floor, not a market rate: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for that occupation, level and county. So compare your offer against your occupation's median here, then remember the median mixes every experience level and metro. The state map shows how the same occupation's medians move by worksite state - California's overall median offered wage is $141,958 against Georgia's $30,202, and that gap is industry mix, not geography pay adjustment.
What it means for wage strategy
For attorneys, the useful comparison runs the other way: an offered wage that sits far below the occupation's national median invites a harder look at the prevailing wage level selection, and one far above it costs the client nothing at audit. The figures here are decided cases - what actually certified - which makes them a better benchmark than any survey. The methodology sets out exactly how each median is computed, and the deadline calculator carries the dates side of the same filings.
How the PERM wage compares to what the job really pays
The offered wage on a PERM is a floor, not a market rate, and the difference matters if you are reading these numbers to judge an offer.
It has to meet or beat the prevailing wage the Department of Labor determines for that occupation, at that skill level, in that metropolitan area. So the figure answers "what did the employer commit to in a federal filing" rather than "what does this job pay". Total compensation is usually higher, because bonuses, equity and shift differentials are not in it at all.
Two consequences worth holding onto:
- A low PERM wage is not evidence of a low salary. An employer may legitimately file at the determined wage and pay well above it.
- A high PERM wage is a real commitment. The employer signed a federal form saying it will pay at least that.
Where the wage floor comes from
Before any of this, the employer asks DOL what the job pays. That request is Form ETA-9141, and DOL's answer sets the floor. It is based on the occupational code, the skill level 1 to 4, and the area, drawn from the federal wage survey unless the employer supplies its own.
That determination is public too. The site holds about 634,000 decided ones
with the wage DOL set, so a request looked up by its P- number shows the
actual figure rather than a category. There is more on the mechanics in
how DOL sets a prevailing wage.
Reading a percentile without over-reading it
The ladder on the wages page cuts every certified case with a readable wage at five points: 10th, 25th, median, 75th and 90th. For the current window the whole distribution runs from $29,120 at the 10th to $175,000 at the 90th, with a median of $103,272.
A single median across all occupations is close to meaningless, because the same process covers software developers and poultry line workers. Always read the percentile within an occupation, and ideally within a state.
What this data cannot tell you
- What you personally should be paid. It is a floor across a whole occupation, not a benchmark for one offer.
- Total compensation. Equity and bonuses are excluded by construction.
- Anything about pending cases. Wages appear only once DOL decides.
