If you're holding a job offer that comes with an H-1B or a green card case, or your employer is starting a PERM for you, the salary has to clear a floor DOL sets. That floor is the prevailing wage, and it comes in four levels for every occupation in every area. This guide shows what the levels are, reads them for one real job, and explains how to check your own.
The rule in one line each
PERM: the employer attests that "the offered wage equals or exceeds the prevailing wage" (20 CFR 656.10(c)(1)). H-1B: the wage must be "the greater of the actual wage rate" paid to similar workers "or the prevailing wage" (20 CFR 655.731(a)).
The four levels
The statute requires DOL's wage surveys to "provide at least four levels of wages commensurate with experience, education, and the level of supervision" (INA 212(p)(4)). DOL builds them from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' OEWS survey, and its own description, in a March 2026 proposal, places them at approximately these points of each occupation's wage distribution:
| Level | DOL's name | Roughly this point of the occupation's wages |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | Entry | 17th percentile |
| Level II | Qualified | 34th percentile |
| Level III | Experienced | 50th percentile |
| Level IV | Fully competent | 67th percentile |
The level depends on what the job requires. DOL's wage center starts every job at Level I and moves it up after comparing the job's requirements with what the occupation normally calls for, "including the education, training, experience, skills, knowledge, and tasks required in the occupation," in DOL's own description of its 2009 guidance. What the worker happens to hold beyond the job's requirements doesn't change it.
One job, three cities
Here are DOL's four levels for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) in the wage series that runs July 2026 to June 2027, read from DOL's own wage search on October 16, 2026:
| Area | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $95,202 | $116,896 | $138,590 | $160,285 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $111,613 | $143,104 | $174,595 | $206,086 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $152,797 | $187,075 | $221,374 | $255,653 |
The same job's Level I in San Jose is above its Level III in Dallas. The area is as large a factor as the level, which is why an offer has to be read against the area where the work is, and not where the company is based.
Check your own offer
Find the occupation code
Your job title isn't enough on its own. Search the job on PERM wages by job: each occupation page prints its SOC code, and the wage request or the LCA uses one.
Pick the area and the series
Open prevailing wage levels, choose the state and the metro or non-metro area where you'll work, and pick the series. Wages turn over every July 1, so a determination issued in October 2026 uses the July 2026 series.
Read the four levels against the offer
The tool asks DOL live and prints the yearly and hourly figure for each level.
See what certified offers paid
Compare my offer places a salary among the offers DOL certified for the same job, so you can see whether yours sits low, typical or high.
Who decides the level
- For PERM, the employer asks DOL for a prevailing wage determination on Form ETA-9141, and DOL's National Prevailing Wage Center sets the wage. Where that queue stands: As of September 30, 2026, DOL is issuing PERM wage determinations on requests filed in June 2026, 3 to 4 months after they were filed.
- For an H-1B, the employer can take the wage from DOL's OEWS levels itself, or from another legitimate source such as a published salary survey, under 20 CFR 655.731(a)(2). The LCA names the level and the source, and where H-1B wages come from shows how often each source is used.
The level can matter twice for an H-1B. Under the weighted selection rule DHS finalized on December 29, 2025 (90 FR 60864), which applied to the fiscal year 2027 cap season, the wage level of the offer affects the odds of being selected in the lottery. The H-1B lottery odds page explains how the weighting works at each level.
A proposal that would raise all four levels
On March 27, 2026, DOL proposed moving the levels up: Level I from about the 17th percentile to the 34th, Level II to the 52nd, Level III to the 70th and Level IV to the 88th (FR doc 2026-06017, 91 FR 15454). It would cover PERM and LCAs. Comments closed May 26, 2026, and as of October 16, 2026 no final rule had been published in the Federal Register. The current levels still apply. Policy changes tracks it.
What this can't tell you
- Which level your job is. DOL decides that for a PERM from the job's requirements, and your employer's attorney drafts them.
- Whether an employer will raise an offer. A wage at or above the prevailing wage meets the rule; anything more is the employer's choice.
- Anything about your case. Nothing here is legal advice.
