Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 17-2061.00, #135 of 1,410 by filings

Computer Hardware Engineers

8,366 H-1B LCAs

Biggest sponsor: MICROSOFT CORPORATION · 15% of its filings
Busiest state: CA · 52% of its filings
Major group: Architecture and engineering · SOC 17

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

$158,113

all PERM $103,272

Filings

383

#135 of 1,410

Approval

98.9%

field 96.8%

Median days

482

5 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.

Position in the field 535 occupations with 30+ decided

Median offered wage

$158,113above 94%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

98.9%ahead of 82%

49% 100%

Median days to decision

482 daysahead of 33%

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

The wage ladder, year by year Computer Hardware Engineers, certified offers

5th to 95th
25th to 75th
Median
10th and 90th

FY2025

$157,518 median · 205 certified cases
FY2026

$162,589 median · 139 certified cases

$100k$150k$200k

10th: $119,800; +13.3% since FY2025
Median: $162,589; +3.2% since FY2025
90th: $215,594; +7.5% since FY2025
95th: $220,822; +4.6% 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.

Offered wage percentiles by fiscal year, with the number of certified cases behind each row.
Fiscal year	Cases	5th	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	95th
FY2025	205	$97,232	$105,743	$130,601	$157,518	$175,000	$200,540	$211,108
FY2026	139	$108,613	$119,800	$133,663	$162,589	$201,100	$215,594	$220,822

A median answers whether pay moved. More

A median answers whether pay moved. The whole ladder answers which part of it moved, and those are not the same question: a distribution can hold its middle while its top stretches away.

DOL PERM disclosure files, certified cases only

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

MICROSOFT CORPORATION 57 filings · 100.0% approved
Intel Corporation 53 filings · 100.0% approved
APPLE INC. 26 filings
TESLA, INC. 18 filings
NVIDIA Corporation 14 filings
Arm, Inc. 11 filings

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 179 of 383 filings, 47% of the total.

Firms filing it

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP 145 filings · 99.3% approved
Tafapolsky & Smith LLP 31 filings
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. 20 filings
EY Law LLP 19 filings
Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 17 filings
Vialto Partners LLP 17 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 249 of 383 filings, 65% of the total.

Where the jobs are

California 200
Texas 49
Washington 39
North Carolina 16
Michigan 10
Massachusetts 9

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 323 of 383 filings.

Where the work is

Santa Clara, CA 79
Austin, TX 41
Redmond, WA 36
San Jose, CA 24
Palo Alto, CA 20
Cupertino, CA 19

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 219 of 383 filings.

Newspapers it advertised in

The Mercury News

98 cases
San Jose Mercury News

46 cases
Austin American-Statesman

40 cases
The Seattle Times

37 cases
San Francisco Chronicle

32 cases
The News & Observer

12 cases

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

Job search websites

356 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers

324 cases
Trade or professional organizations

163 cases
Employee referral programs

83 cases
The employer's website

76 cases
Radio or TV ads

59 cases

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

Under 30 days

0.0%
30 to 59 days

0.0%
60 to 89 days

28%
90 to 119 days

24%
120 to 149 days

21%
150 to 180 days

27%
Over 180 days

0.3%

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.

Where every PERM employer recruits

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 9
China 1
Taiwan 1

Worker's education

Master's 6
Bachelor's 2
Doctorate 2
Associate's 1

Visa held when filed

H-1B 9
F-1 1
L-1 1

Schools

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY 1
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE BANGALORE 1
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 1
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1
RASHTRASANT TUKADOJI MAHARAJ NAGPUR UNIVERSITY 1
ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY 1

Fields of study

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 3
COMPUTER SCIENCE 2
ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING 2
COMPUTER ENGINEERING 1
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 1
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING 1

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
76,660 jobs
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Santa Clara, San Jose, Palo Alto
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX
Austin
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
Redmond

$100k$150k$200k$250k

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	$161,740
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$209,860	$152,173	$180,294	$208,437	$236,558
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$165,530	$116,958	$145,558	$174,179	$202,779
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$169,120	$121,576	$151,050	$180,523	$209,997

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 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, 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, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$152,173	$180,294	$208,437	$236,558
2025-26	$150,238	$176,696	$203,133	$229,590
2024-25	$141,981	$166,525	$191,048	$215,592
2023-24	$131,768	$158,226	$184,662	$211,120
2022-23	$130,894	$157,518	$184,163	$210,787
2021-22	$122,429	$151,008	$179,566	$208,146

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

What the job is

Research, design, develop, or test computer or computer-related equipment for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. May supervise the manufacturing and installation of computer or computer-related equipment and components.

Preparation: Considerable Preparation Needed; O*NET Job Zone 4
DOL's education basis: Bachelor's degree; Wage year 2026-27, on DOL's Appendix A list
Jobs, 2025 to 2035: +9.1%; About 4,100 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree; BLS

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

The work, most important first

Update knowledge and skills to keep up with rapid advancements in computer technology.
Design and develop computer hardware and support peripherals, including central processing units (CPUs), support logic, microprocessors, custom integrated circuits, and printers and disk drives.
Confer with engineering staff and consult specifications to evaluate interface between hardware and software and operational and performance requirements of overall system.
Build, test, and modify product prototypes, using working models or theoretical models constructed with computer simulation.
Write detailed functional specifications that document the hardware development process and support hardware introduction.
Test and verify hardware and support peripherals to ensure that they meet specifications and requirements, by recording and analyzing test data.

The education workers in it report

Some College Courses

7%
Bachelor's Degree

48%
Master's Degree

34%
Doctoral Degree

7%

Titles people use for it

Design Engineer, Engineer, Hardware Engineer, Systems Integration Engineer, Field Service Engineer, Hardware Design Engineer, Physical Design Engineer, Project Engineer.

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 135 of 1,410 by volume: 134 filed at least as many filings, and 1,275 filed no more.

Just above: Search Marketing Strategists 387 filings
Just below: Cashiers 382 filings

Other architecture and engineering 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

8,366 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $156,150 a year; the middle half ran $128,869 to $184,000. 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 17-2061.00. 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 383 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 Computer Hardware Engineers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 383 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 MICROSOFT CORPORATION. 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