Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 19-1021, #419 of 1,410 by filings
Biochemists and Biophysicists
- Biggest sponsor
- GILEAD SCIENCES, INC. · 7% of its filings
- Busiest state
- MA · 33% of its filings
- Major group
- Life, physical and social science · SOC 19
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
This rate is level with the field
Over 59 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Why
The 95% interval runs up to a 9.0% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.
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
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
$96,000above 67%
Approval rate
98.3%ahead of 72%
Median days to decision
380 daysahead of 95%
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
- 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
How this is counted
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
How this is counted
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
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 49 of 61 filings.
Where the work is
- Cambridge, MA 11
- San Diego, CA 4
- Foster City, CA 3
- Boston, MA 2
- Gaithersburg, MD 2
- Lexington, MA 2
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 24 of 61 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 542
- China 185
- Canada 85
- South Korea 42
- Taiwan 38
- France 22
Worker's education
- Master's 714
- Doctorate 402
- Bachelor's 115
- Other 13
- None 1
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 1,031
- F-1 72
- TN 38
- L-1 34
- J-1 13
- O-1 10
Schools
- NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY 127
- GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY 17
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 17
- DREXEL UNIVERSITY 13
- UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS 13
- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 12
Fields of study
- BIOTECHNOLOGY 204
- CHEMISTRY 106
- BIOCHEMISTRY 67
- BIOLOGY 67
- PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES 65
- BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 53
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 States33,830 jobs
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHCambridge, Boston, Lexington
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CASan Diego
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CAFoster City
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVGaithersburg
- 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 | $127,410 | ||||
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $131,550 | $90,730 | $114,795 | $138,882 | $162,947 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $121,740 | $81,827 | $104,270 | $126,693 | $149,136 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $165,050 | $114,899 | $141,648 | $168,376 | $195,125 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $103,660 | $66,040 | $87,235 | $108,430 | $129,626 |
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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, 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 | $90,730 | $114,795 | $138,882 | $162,947 |
| 2025-26 | $79,581 | $101,026 | $122,450 | $143,894 |
What the job is
Study the chemical composition or physical principles of living cells and organisms, their electrical and mechanical energy, and related phenomena. May conduct research to further understanding of the complex chemical combinations and reactions involved in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and heredity. May determine the effects of foods, drugs, serums, hormones, and other substances on tissues and vital processes of living organisms.
- Preparation
- Extensive Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 5
- DOL's education basis
- Doctoral or professional degree
- Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +12.3%
- About 2,900 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Doctoral or professional degree
- BLS
Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth.
The work, most important first
- Share research findings by writing scientific articles or by making presentations at scientific conferences.
- Teach or advise undergraduate or graduate students or supervise their research.
- Study physical principles of living cells or organisms and their electrical or mechanical energy, applying methods and knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology.
- Manage laboratory teams or monitor the quality of a team's work.
- Develop new methods to study the mechanisms of biological processes.
- Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.
The education workers in it report
- 25%
Bachelor's Degree
- 10%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.
- 25%
Doctoral Degree
- 40%
Post-Doctoral Training
Titles people use for it
Analytical Research Chemist, Biochemist, Biophysics Researcher, Scientist.
Related jobs: Molecular and Cellular Biologists, Microbiologists, Geneticists, Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists, Chemists, Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers.
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 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. 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.
- #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
The same job on H-1B
17,572 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $72,000 a year; the middle half ran $60,000 to $93,200. 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 19-1021. 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 61 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 Biochemists and Biophysicists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 61 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 GILEAD SCIENCES, INC.. 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