Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 49-3031.00, #242 of 1,410 by filings
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists
- Biggest sponsor
- W&B Service Company, LLC · 13% of its filings
- Busiest state
- IL · 26% 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
$57,366
all PERM $103,272
Filings
156
#242 of 1,410
Approval
92.7%
field 96.8%
Median days
498
21 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
$57,366above 41%
Approval rate
92.7%ahead of 24%
Median days to decision
498 daysahead of 1%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2025
$49,088 median · 77 certified cases
FY2026
$57,803 median · 58 certified cases
- 10th
- $47,518
- +2.8% since FY2025
- Median
- $57,803
- +17.8% since FY2025
- 90th
- $67,545
- +13.3% since FY2025
- 95th
- $72,517
- +12.9% since FY2025
Each row is that fiscal year's certified filings, counted on their own. A percentile is over the year, so a year with far fewer cases behind it is a thinner measurement than one with more.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 77 | $39,262 | $46,218 | $48,568 | $49,088 | $58,427 | $59,629 | $64,235 |
| FY2026 | 58 | $40,955 | $47,518 | $51,080 | $57,803 | $66,815 | $67,545 | $72,517 |
A median answers whether pay moved. 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
- W&B Service Company, LLC 21 filings
- Botha Trucking LLC 11 filings
- Polmax Truck And Trailer Repair Center 7 filings
- THFC Corporation 5 filings
- Go To Logistics, Inc. 4 filings
- JC MECHANIC, INC. 4 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 52 of 156 filings, 33% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Foley & Lardner LLP 21 filings
- Kurczaba & Brozek Law Offices, LLC 18 filings
- Karam Law 11 filings
- Kriezelman Burton & Associates, LLC 7 filings
- Najla Abu-Shaaban & Associates PC 6 filings
- PETERS CONSULTING 6 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 69 of 156 filings, 44% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Illinois 40
- Texas 37
- Florida 15
- Ohio 13
- New York 8
- California 7
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 120 of 156 filings.
Where the work is
- Dallas, TX 21
- Fredericksburg, OH 11
- Alsip, IL 8
- Austin, TX 6
- Orlando, FL 5
- Elk Grove Village, IL 4
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 55 of 156 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
- 36 cases
Chicago Sun-Times
- 21 cases
The Dallas Morning News
- 11 cases
Wooster Daily Record
- 6 cases
Austin American-Statesman
- 5 cases
Orlando Sentinel
- 4 cases
Miami Herald
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.
How long before filing it began
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 0.0%
30 to 59 days
- 23%
60 to 89 days
- 14%
90 to 119 days
- 14%
120 to 149 days
- 46%
150 to 180 days
- 2.6%
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 States289,960 jobs
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXDallas
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-INAlsip, Elk Grove Village
- North Northeastern Ohio nonmetropolitan area (noncontiguous)Fredericksburg
- Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TXAustin
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FLOrlando
- 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 | $61,770 | ||||
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $60,390 | $45,531 | $53,872 | $62,234 | $70,574 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $65,680 | $49,670 | $60,466 | $71,282 | $82,077 |
| North Northeastern Ohio nonmetropolitan area (noncontiguous) | $57,930 | $43,451 | $50,294 | $57,158 | $64,002 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $61,070 | $47,466 | $55,536 | $63,586 | $71,656 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $60,240 | $45,864 | $53,643 | $61,422 | $69,202 |
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 | $45,531 | $53,872 | $62,234 | $70,574 |
| 2025-26 | $44,762 | $52,770 | $60,798 | $68,806 |
| 2024-25 | $42,744 | $51,334 | $59,925 | $68,515 |
| 2023-24 | $39,728 | $48,547 | $57,346 | $66,165 |
| 2022-23 | $36,920 | $45,490 | $54,080 | $62,650 |
| 2021-22 | $39,645 | $48,173 | $56,722 | $65,250 |
What the job is
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul buses and trucks, or maintain and repair any type of diesel engines. Includes mechanics working primarily with automobile or marine diesel engines.
- Preparation
- Medium Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 3
- DOL's education basis
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Wage year 2026-27
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +3.6%
- About 24,400 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
- BLS
The work, most important first
- Use handtools, such as screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, pressure gauges, or precision instruments, as well as power tools, such as pneumatic wrenches, lathes, welding equipment, or jacks and hoists.
- Inspect brake systems, steering mechanisms, wheel bearings, and other important parts to ensure that they are in proper operating condition.
- Raise trucks, buses, and heavy parts or equipment using hydraulic jacks or hoists.
- Adjust and reline brakes, align wheels, tighten bolts and screws, and reassemble equipment.
- Attach test instruments to equipment, and read dials and gauges to diagnose malfunctions.
- Perform routine maintenance such as changing oil, checking batteries, and lubricating equipment and machinery.
The education workers in it report
- 37%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 39%
Post-Secondary Certificate
Titles people use for it
Bus Mechanic, Diesel Mechanic, Diesel Technician (Diesel Tech), Truck Mechanic, Fleet Mechanic, General Repair Mechanic, Heavy Truck Mechanic, Service Technician.
Related jobs: Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines, Rail Car Repairers, Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics, Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians, Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics, 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 242 of 1,410 by volume: 241 filed at least as many filings, and 1,168 filed no more.
- Just above
- Aerospace Engineers 157 filings
- Just below
- Design Coordinator 156 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.
- #216 First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers 189 filings · 10 denied
- #215 Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 190 filings · 5 denied
- #299 Industrial Machinery Mechanics 103 filings · 6 denied
- #182 Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics 237 filings · 19 denied
- #173 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers, All Other 269 filings · 37 denied
- #171 Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 272 filings · 24 denied
The same job on H-1B
4 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $77,500 a year; the middle half ran $63,638 to $85,000. 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 49-3031.00. 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 156 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 Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 156 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 W&B Service 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