Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 49-3021.00, #377 of 1,410 by filings
Automotive Body and Related Repairers
- Biggest sponsor
- BRAZDENT LLC · 7% of its filings
- Busiest state
- TX · 18% of its filings
- Major group
- Installation, maintenance and repair · SOC 49
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
Median wage
$57,418
all PERM $103,272
Filings
72
#377 of 1,410
Approval
91.4%
field 96.8%
Median days
488
11 slower 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
$57,418above 41%
Approval rate
91.4%ahead of 18%
Median days to decision
488 daysahead of 10%
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
- BRAZDENT LLC 5 filings
- KBS Auto Sales 5 filings
- Frank & Son Auto Body, Ltd. 3 filings
- Planet Dents, Inc. 3 filings
- PRO TOP TOUCH UP, INC. 3 filings
- HAIL REPAIR A1 LLC 2 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 21 of 72 filings, 29% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Law Offices of Carla A. Anzaldi, P.A. 5 filings
- The Fleischer Law Firm 5 filings
- Law Office of Shayne J. Epstein, PA 3 filings
- PREMIER INTERNATIONAL LAW GROUP 3 filings
- ROBERT S KLEINMAN PA 3 filings
- Velez and Cipriano PLLC 3 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 22 of 72 filings, 31% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Texas 13
- Florida 11
- California 8
- New York 7
- Illinois 6
- Ohio 6
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 51 of 72 filings.
Where the work is
- Allen, TX 5
- Cincinnati, OH 5
- Bedford Park, IL 3
- Bronx, NY 3
- Garden Grove, CA 3
- Miami, FL 3
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 22 of 72 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
Newspapers it advertised in
- 9 cases
The Dallas Morning News
- 6 cases
Chicago Sun-Times
- 5 cases
Cincinnati Enquirer
- 3 cases
Miami Herald
- 3 cases
The New York Times
- 3 cases
The Orange County Register
How this is counted
The newspaper or professional journal named for each case's two print ads, one count per paper per case, however the filer spelled it.
Additional steps it used
- 1 cases
Job search websites
- 1 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers
- 1 cases
Radio or TV ads
How this is counted
The steps a professional job needs beyond the job order and the ads, by the number of cases that name each.
How long before filing it began
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 1.4%
30 to 59 days
- 17%
60 to 89 days
- 35%
90 to 119 days
- 15%
120 to 149 days
- 30%
150 to 180 days
- 1.4%
Over 180 days
How this is counted
Days from the first recruitment step to the filing. 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) puts the job order and ads 30 to 180 days before filing.
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 States149,310 jobs
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXAllen
- Cincinnati, OH-KY-INCincinnati
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-INBedford Park
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJBronx
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAGarden Grove
- 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 | $54,890 | ||||
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $57,280 | $38,730 | $48,984 | $59,238 | $69,493 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $50,020 | $37,149 | $46,509 | $55,890 | $65,250 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $52,040 | $41,642 | $49,650 | $57,658 | $65,666 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $57,920 | $40,498 | $50,357 | $60,237 | $70,096 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $67,090 | $44,554 | $57,283 | $69,992 | $82,722 |
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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, 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 | $38,730 | $48,984 | $59,238 | $69,493 |
| 2025-26 | $41,038 | $51,314 | $61,568 | $71,843 |
| 2024-25 | $38,522 | $48,651 | $58,802 | $68,931 |
| 2023-24 | $35,734 | $45,677 | $55,619 | $65,562 |
| 2022-23 | $36,026 | $44,970 | $53,934 | $62,878 |
| 2021-22 | $32,490 | $40,934 | $49,358 | $57,803 |
What the job is
Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle frames.
- Preparation
- Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 1-2
- DOL's education basis
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Wage year 2026-27
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +3.7%
- About 12,600 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
- BLS
The work, most important first
- File, grind, sand, and smooth filled or repaired surfaces, using power tools and hand tools.
- Inspect repaired vehicles for proper functioning, completion of work, dimensional accuracy, and overall appearance of paint job, and test-drive vehicles to ensure proper alignment and handling.
- Fit and weld replacement parts into place, using wrenches and welding equipment, and grind down welds to smooth them, using power grinders and other tools.
- Prime and paint repaired surfaces, using paint sprayguns and motorized sanders.
- Follow supervisors' instructions as to which parts to restore or replace and how much time the job should take.
- Sand body areas to be painted and cover bumpers, windows, and trim with masking tape or paper to protect them from the paint.
The education workers in it report
- 23%
Less than a High School Diploma
- 42%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 35%
Post-Secondary Certificate
Titles people use for it
Auto Body Man, Automotive Body Technician (Auto Body Tech), Body Man, Body Technician (Body Tech), Auto Body Repair Technician (Auto Body Repair Tech), Auto Body Repairman, Collision Repair Technician (Collision Repair Tech), Collision Technician (Collision Tech).
Related jobs: Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics, Rail Car Repairers, Tire Builders, Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers, Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers, Engine and Other Machine Assemblers.
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 377 of 1,410 by volume: 376 filed at least as many filings, and 1,033 filed no more.
- Just above
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Serv 73 filings
- Just below
- Public Relations Specialist 72 filings
Other installation, maintenance and repair 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.
- #360 Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers 77 filings · 3 denied
- #412 Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers 62 filings · 2 denied
- #421 Automotive Specialty Technician 61 filings · 14 denied
- #454 Maintenance Workers, Machinery 51 filings · 1 denied
- #299 Industrial Machinery Mechanics 103 filings · 6 denied
- #467 Medical Equipment Repairers 48 filings · 1 denied
The same job on H-1B
8 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $53,664 a year; the middle half ran $43,160 to $74,998. 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 49-3021.00. 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 72 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 Automotive Body and Related Repairers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 72 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 BRAZDENT 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