Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 35-1011, #185 of 1,410 by filings

Chefs and Head Cooks

361 H-1B LCAs

Biggest sponsor: FOGO DE CHAO HOLDINGS INC. · 7% of its filings
Busiest state: CA · 20% of its filings
Major group: Food preparation and serving · SOC 35

Weighing an offer for this job?

Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.

Compare my offer DOL's wage levels for this job

Median wage

$59,197

all PERM $103,272

Filings

234

#185 of 1,410

Approval

88.4%

field 96.8%

Median days

391

86 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.

Position in the field 535 occupations with 30+ decided

Median offered wage

$59,197above 42%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

88.4%ahead of 11%

49% 100%

Median days to decision

391 daysahead of 79%

323d 536d

Each bar counts occupations at that value. More

Each bar counts occupations at that value. PERM runs two labour markets through one process, which is why the wage axis is two humps rather than a bell. The line marks this one.

DOL PERM disclosure files

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

FOGO DE CHAO HOLDINGS INC. 16 filings
So so fresh sushi llc 7 filings
WORLD FOOD ENTERPRISES, LLC. DBA DELI 4 YOU 5 filings
BHTJ INVESTMENT INC 4 filings
DOMO CAFE 3 filings
2TASTE BK INC 2 filings

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 37 of 234 filings, 16% of the total.

Firms filing it

Baker Hostetler LLP 16 filings
Kriezelman Burton Associates, LLC 10 filings
Baker, Olson,LeCroy, Danielian 6 filings
Lau Immigration Law, PLLC 6 filings
LAW OFFICES OF D ROBERT JONES PLLC 6 filings
Law Offices of Dale N. Chen 6 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 50 of 234 filings, 21% of the total.

Where the jobs are

California 46
Florida 26
New York 22
Texas 22
Illinois 19
Pennsylvania 10

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 145 of 234 filings.

Where the work is

New York, NY 12
Louisville, KY 9
Chicago, IL 6
Los Angeles, CA 5
Norridge, IL 5
Beverly Hills, CA 4

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 41 of 234 filings.

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

South Korea 503
China 432
Japan 172
Thailand 160
Mexico 159
Brazil 148

Worker's education

None 1,932
High School 433
Bachelor's 135
Associate's 128
Other 100
Master's 16

Visa held when filed

NOT IN USA 485
F-1 350
E-2 305
B-2 205
EWI 97
F-2 63

Schools

N/A 19
NA 14
THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA 10
CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA 6
DONGIL HOTEL SCHOOL 4
FONDATION AL-KAFAAT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 4

Fields of study

CULINARY ARTS 82
GENERAL 56
GENERAL EDUCATION 48
HIGH SCHOOL 35
N/A 32
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA 29

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.

What the job pays outside PERM BLS May 2025, DOL wage year 2026-27

United States
200,040 jobs
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
New York
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Chicago, Norridge
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
Louisville
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Los Angeles, Beverly Hills

$40k$60k$80k$100k$120k

middle half of pay (BLS)
median
10th to 90th percentile
DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
median PERM offer

Market pay and DOL wage levels, by area
Area	BLS median	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
United States	$62,470
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$71,780	$48,194	$61,443	$74,714	$87,963
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$60,770	$46,758	$55,598	$64,418	$73,258
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$46,310	$34,590	$45,157	$55,702	$66,269
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$69,990	$41,101	$55,120	$69,118	$83,138

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

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; DOL OFLC wage tables

DOL's levels for this job in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, 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.

DOL wage levels by wage year, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$48,194	$61,443	$74,714	$87,963
2025-26	$47,154	$59,738	$72,301	$84,885
2024-25	$42,266	$56,098	$69,930	$83,762
2023-24	$45,552	$60,570	$75,587	$90,605
2022-23	$44,658	$58,531	$72,384	$86,258
2021-22	$35,901	$51,584	$67,246	$82,930

Every area and both wage tables in the wage-level tool.

What the job is

Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts.

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: +6.6%; About 25,200 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent; 5 years or more of related work (BLS)

Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth.

The work, most important first

Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.
Check the quantity and quality of received products.

The education workers in it report

High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)

12%
Post-Secondary Certificate

17%
Some College Courses

8%
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree

54%
Bachelor's Degree

8%

Titles people use for it

Chef, Executive Chef (Ex Chef), Kitchen Manager, Sous Chef, Banquet Chef, Cook, Executive Pastry Chef, Executive Sous Chef.

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 185 of 1,410 by volume: 184 filed at least as many filings, and 1,225 filed no more.

Just above: Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks 235 filings
Just below: Nursery Worker 234 filings

Other food preparation and serving 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.

The same job on H-1B

361 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $65,000 a year; the middle half ran $52,042 to $76,482. 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 35-1011. 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 234 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 Chefs and Head Cooks. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 234 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 FOGO DE CHAO HOLDINGS 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