All occupations · #419 of 1,410 by volume
Biochemists and Biophysicists
SOC 19-1021, in the life, physical and social science major group. 61 PERM filings in DOL's current disclosure window, 58 certified and 1 denied.
This rate is level with the field
Computed over 59 decided filings. The 95% interval runs up to a 9.0% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records, so this record can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Median wage
$96,000
all PERM $103,272
Filings
61
#419 of 1,410
Approval
98.3%
field 96.8%
Median days
380
97 faster than the field
Median offered wage
$96,000above 67%
Approval rate
98.3%ahead of 72%
Median days to decision
380 daysahead of 95%
Who files this job
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, and the states the work sits in.
Sponsors filing it
- GILEAD SCIENCES, INC. 4 filings
- AMGEN INC. 3 filings
- Accent Therapeutics 2 filings
- ASTRAZENECA PHARMACEUTICALS LP 2 filings
- NOVARTIS INSTITUTES FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH, INC. 2 filings
- TAKEDA DEVELOPMENT CENTER AMERICAS, INC. 2 filings
The employers with the most applications under this code. 15 of 61 filings, 25% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy LP 8 filings
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 5 filings
- Zulkie Partners LLC 3 filings
- Brown Immigration Law P.C., L.L.O. 2 filings
- Clark Lau LLC 2 filings
- Global Immigration Associates, P.C. 2 filings
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 22 of 61 filings, 36% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Massachusetts 20
- California 17
- Maryland 4
- New Jersey 4
- Pennsylvania 2
- Texas 2
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 49 of 61 filings.
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 419 of 1,410 by volume: 418 filed at least as many filings, and 991 filed no more.
- Just above
- Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians 61 filings
- Just below
- Admin. Assistant and Sales Representative 61 filings
Other life, physical and social science roles
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.
- #422 Clinical and Counseling Psychologists 60 filings · 2 denied
- #414 Transportation Planners 62 filings · 3 denied
- #427 Occupational Health and Safety Specialists 59 filings · 4 denied
- #407 Materials Scientists 63 filings · 2 denied
- #432 Physicists 58 filings · none denied
- #434 Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health 58 filings · 1 denied
Reading the wage
This 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.
What these numbers don't say
- The code is the identity
- 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 every wage 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. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- Every case in DOL's disclosure files carries a decision date, so a case still waiting is in none of these counts. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover
DOL's FY2026 Q3 and FY2025 Q4 and New Form FY2024 Q4 and FY2024 Q4 PERM disclosure files, unioned and de-duplicated by case number: 373,939 cases. Every case in them carries a decision, so nothing here counts what’s still pending. How each figure is built, and what it can and can't answer, is set out in the methodology.
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.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from the disclosure corpus · data through Aug 26, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly ingest