Updated
PERM jobs in Santa Barbara, CA
- Decisions
- 355
- Approved
- 92.4%
- Median certified wage
- $97,157
- Years
- FY2016 to FY2026
Year by year
- certified
- denied
- withdrawn
Fiscal years run October to September. More
Fiscal years run October to September. FY2016 to FY2023 come from DOL's closed-year files, and FY2024 on from its current ones. The newest year is partial until DOL publishes its fourth quarter.
Every year as a table
| Fiscal year | Certified | Denied | Withdrawn |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2016 | 35 | 1 | 1 |
| FY2017 | 43 | 3 | 1 |
| FY2018 | 45 | 2 | 1 |
| FY2019 | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| FY2020 | 21 | 2 | 2 |
| FY2021 | 28 | 0 | 1 |
| FY2022 | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| FY2023 | 20 | 1 | 3 |
| FY2024 | 33 | 13 | 1 |
| FY2025 | 23 | 2 | 1 |
| FY2026 | 26 | 0 | 1 |
Top sponsors
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA BARBARA 76
- Sonos, Inc. 51
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC 15
- Home County Pizza, Inc. 13
- Green Hills Software LLC 10
- QAD Inc. 8
- BRIGHT MARKET, LLC 7
- Impact Tech, Inc. 6
- Pacific Diagnostic Laboratories 6
- GRAPHIQ INC. 6
Top occupations
- Software Developers, Applications 32
- Software Developers, Systems Software 19
- Software Developers 16
- Fast Food and Counter Workers 12
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists 12
- Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary 11
- Cooks, Restaurant 11
- Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary 11
- Computer Occupations, All Other 10
- Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary 10
Industries
- Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools 85
- Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing 49
- Software Publishers 18
- Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses 16
- Limited-Service Restaurants 13
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services 13
- Custom Computer Programming Services 10
- Computer Systems Design Services 10
- Full-Service Restaurants 9
- Architectural Services 8
Countries of citizenship
Worker's education
- Master's 93
- Doctorate 82
- Bachelor's 69
- None 34
- High School 11
- Other 7
- Associate's 2
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 149
- F-1 43
- TN 17
- L-1 11
- J-1 10
- NOT IN USA 8
- EWI 7
- O-1 6
- H-4 3
- B-2 3
H-1B in Santa Barbara, CA
1,191 labor condition applications name a worksite here, FY2020 to FY2026, and DOL certified 1,079 (91%). An LCA is the employer's wage attestation before an H-1B petition, so it counts positions offered. It doesn't count people hired.
Employers, certified LCAs since FY2024
Jobs, certified LCAs since FY2024
Where Santa Barbara, CA sits
- County
- Santa Barbara County
- Census places Santa Barbara city in it
- Metro area
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
- Metropolitan statistical area
- DOL wage area
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
- The area DOL sets prevailing wages for, wage year 2026-27
108.8 is BEA's price level for the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro area in 2024, against 100 for the country as a whole; for housing rents it's 151.4. A salary here buys about 92% of what the same salary buys at the national price level.
- Software Developers16 PERM decisions
- Fast Food and Counter Workers12 PERM decisions
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists12 PERM decisions
- Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary11 PERM decisions
- Cooks, Restaurant11 PERM decisions
- Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary11 PERM decisions
Each row has its own scale, marked at its ends: these jobs pay too differently to share one. The table compares them.
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
| Job | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | $158,290 | $109,595 | $133,786 | $157,976 | $182,166 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $42,940 | $35,776 | $38,542 | $41,288 | $44,054 |
| Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists | — | $48,277 | $56,139 | $63,981 | $71,843 |
| Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $131,980 | $90,560 | $123,057 | $155,553 | $188,050 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | $43,340 | $36,982 | $40,269 | $43,534 | $46,821 |
| Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $173,640 | $85,340 | $130,900 | $176,460 | $222,020 |
Any job in any area, and every wage year since 2021-22, in the wage-level tool.
The worksite city on each application, from DOL's decided cases since FY2016. Spellings of one city are pooled, and a city counts as one place per state.
Case data through Jun 30, 2026 · LCA disclosures through Jun 30, 2026 · Census places and metros through Jan 1, 2026 · BLS market pay through May 31, 2025 · DOL wage tables through Jul 1, 2026. How these figures are counted. Spotted an error? Tell us; every fix is dated in the corrections log.
The sources in full
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
LCA disclosures: DOL quarterly LCA disclosure files (www.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Census places and metros: Census Bureau Gazetteer and metro delineation files (census.gov) · data through Jan 1, 2026 · yearly
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
LCA disclosures: Certified and denied H-1B labor condition applications only, with the wage offered.
Census places and metros: Where each worksite city sits: its county, metro area and DOL wage area, matched to Census's place and county files. A city Census lists in no single place is left unmatched. This site doesn't guess it.
BLS market pay: Pay employers report for everyone in each job, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). It's shown nationally, by state and by metro. It covers citizens and immigrants alike, and it isn't drawn from PERM offers.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. They're the floors an offer is held to. They don't show what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it
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