Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 17-2011, #624 of 1,410 by filings
Aerospace Engineers
- Biggest sponsor
- Honda Aircraft Company, LLC · 14% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 38% of its filings
- Major group
- Architecture and engineering · SOC 17
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
Too few cases for a rate
21 decided filings: too few for an approval rate.
Why
Across every PERM case DOL decided in this window, 3.20% were denied. At that rate a file this size comes back clean most of the time whatever the occupation did, so a percentage would be a fact about how few cases there are. Telling a clean record apart from the field takes about 117 decided cases.
Median wage
$132,122
all PERM $103,272
Filings
21
#624 of 1,410
Approval
Not shown
withheld: 21 decided
Median days
389
88 faster than the field
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$132,122median of 21 filings, too few decided to rank
Approval rate
not shownunder 30 decided
Median days to decision
389 daysmiddle of 21 decided, too few to rank
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- Honda Aircraft Company, LLC 3 filings
- ARCHER AVIATION INC 2 filings
- GARMIN INTERNATIONAL, INC. 2 filings
- Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation 2 filings
- JOBY AERO 2 filings
- ADVENTA CORPORATION 1 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 12 of 21 filings, 57% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP 3 filings
- Fisher Phillips LLP 2 filings
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 2 filings
- The Law Office of Kelly S. Wachs, PC 2 filings
- Maximilian Law Inc. 2 filings
- Bay Immigration Law 1 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 12 of 21 filings, 57% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 8
- Georgia 3
- North Carolina 3
- Alabama 2
- Kansas 2
- Michigan 1
How this is counted
The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 19 of 21 filings.
Where the work is
- Greensboro, NC 3
- Savannah, GA 3
- Olathe, KS 2
- San Jose, CA 2
- Bellevue, WA 1
- Cypress, CA 1
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 12 of 21 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023
From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.
Country of citizenship
- India 111
- Canada 83
- Philippines 48
- France 26
- United Kingdom 24
- Australia 16
Worker's education
- Master's 199
- Bachelor's 178
- Other 31
- Doctorate 28
- Associate's 13
- High School 8
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 271
- TN 55
- L-1 38
- F-1 32
- E-3 14
- E-2 12
Schools
- EMBRYRIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY 16
- WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY 13
- EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY 12
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA 11
- PATTS COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS 10
- CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 9
Fields of study
- AEROSPACE ENGINEERING 126
- MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 98
- AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING 30
- AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY 14
- ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 14
- INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 9
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States67,710 jobs
- Greensboro-High Point, NCGreensboro
- Savannah, GASavannah
- Kansas City, MO-KSOlathe
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CASan Jose
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WABellevue
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $134,960 | ||||
| Greensboro-High Point, NC | — | $84,302 | $104,374 | $124,426 | $144,498 |
| Savannah, GA | — | $91,936 | $115,939 | $139,922 | $163,925 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $105,730 | $69,410 | $87,838 | $106,246 | $124,675 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $181,630 | $133,598 | $157,518 | $181,459 | $205,379 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $163,580 | $114,774 | $135,762 | $156,770 | $177,757 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in Greensboro-High Point, NC, year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $84,302 | $104,374 | $124,426 | $144,498 |
| 2025-26 | $79,061 | $96,866 | $114,691 | $132,496 |
| 2024-25 | $74,942 | $92,227 | $109,533 | $126,818 |
| 2023-24 | $81,245 | $98,093 | $114,962 | $131,810 |
| 2022-23 | $90,355 | $106,330 | $122,283 | $138,258 |
| 2021-22 | $75,005 | $89,086 | $103,147 | $117,229 |
What the job is
Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques.
- Preparation
- Considerable Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 4
- DOL's education basis
- Bachelor's degree
- Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +8.3%
- About 3,800 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth.
The work, most important first
- Formulate conceptual design of aeronautical or aerospace products or systems to meet customer requirements or conform to environmental regulations.
- Evaluate product data or design from inspections or reports for conformance to engineering principles, customer requirements, environmental regulations, or quality standards.
- Direct or coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel involved in designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products.
- Plan or conduct experimental, environmental, operational, or stress tests on models or prototypes of aircraft or aerospace systems or equipment.
- Diagnose performance problems by reviewing reports or documentation from customers or field engineers or by inspecting malfunctioning or damaged products.
- Formulate mathematical models or other methods of computer analysis to develop, evaluate, or modify design, according to customer engineering requirements.
Titles people use for it
Avionics Engineer, Design Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, Special Mission Engineer, Aeronautical Engineer, Aerospace Stress Engineer, Flight Controls Engineer, Flight Systems Test Engineer.
Related jobs: Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians, Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians, Avionics Technicians, Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Mechanical Engineers, Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 624 of 1,410 by volume: 623 filed at least as many filings, and 786 filed no more.
- Just above
- Rock Splitters, Quarry 21 filings
- Just below
- Dental Laboratory Technicians 21 filings
Other architecture and engineering roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #622 Surveyors 21 filings · none denied
- #628 Mechanical Engineers, R&D 20 filings · none denied
- #632 Fire-Prevention and Protection Engineers 20 filings · 2 denied
- #612 Environmental Engineers 22 filings · none denied
- #601 Nanosystems Engineers 22 filings · none denied
- #649 Surveying and Mapping Technicians 19 filings · 1 denied
The same job on H-1B
1,667 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $115,003 a year; the middle half ran $93,941 to $140,000. By state and year in the salary explorer.
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median is
The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 17-2011. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
- A median isn’t an offer
- It's the middle of all 21 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
- Approval isn’t about the occupation
- The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of Aerospace Engineers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 21 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is Honda Aircraft Company, LLC. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
Weighing an offer?
Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.
Setting one?
All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
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.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
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. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it