All occupations · #25 of 1,410 by volume
Cooks, Restaurant
SOC 35-2014.00, in the food preparation and serving major group. 2,472 PERM filings in DOL's current disclosure window, 2,240 certified and 137 denied.
Median wage
$37,232
all PERM $103,272
Filings
2,472
#25 of 1,410
Approval
94.2%
field 96.8%
Median days
487
10 slower than the field
Median offered wage
$37,232above 20%
Approval rate
94.2%ahead of 33%
Median days to decision
487 daysahead of 13%
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2024
$35,214 median · 109 certified cases
FY2025
$36,000 median · 1,193 certified cases
FY2026
$39,333 median · 938 certified cases
- 10th
- $25,376
- -6.7% since FY2024
- Median
- $39,333
- +11.7% since FY2024
- 90th
- $45,552
- +4.1% since FY2024
- 95th
- $47,048
- -1.8% since FY2024
These years are not measuring the same group of filings. The count moves by 10.9 times between the largest year and the smallest, so a change in the ladder is at least partly a change in which employers filed rather than a change in what the work pays. Read the shape, not the difference.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | 109 | $27,206 | $27,206 | $29,640 | $35,214 | $40,040 | $43,755 | $47,928 |
| FY2025 | 1,193 | $22,568 | $24,000 | $31,200 | $36,000 | $40,200 | $42,245 | $45,000 |
| FY2026 | 938 | $23,442 | $25,376 | $32,013 | $39,333 | $42,328 | $45,552 | $47,048 |
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
- Robison Venture Group, LLC 53 filings · 100.0% approved
- Omni Hotels Management Corp. 30 filings
- DC Organic Farm LLC 19 filings
- JHT Venture LLC 15 filings
- La Cosecha Inc. 15 filings
- La Cosecha Griffin, LLC 14 filings
The employers with the most applications under this code. 146 of 2,472 filings, 6% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Law Office of Li Wei, P.C. 154 filings · 99.3% approved
- White and Shepherd, LLP 122 filings · 98.2% approved
- Aum & Lee, LLC 95 filings · 98.9% approved
- Law Office of David Yurkofsky, Esq. 70 filings · 100.0% approved
- Law Offices of Yong Men, P.C. 57 filings · 100.0% approved
- LAU & CHOI, P.C. 49 filings · 100.0% approved
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 547 of 2,472 filings, 22% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 271
- Georgia 208
- Colorado 168
- Oregon 155
- Texas 143
- New York 140
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 1,085 of 2,472 filings.
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 25 of 1,410 by volume: 24 filed at least as many filings, and 1,385 filed no more.
- Just above
- Team Assemblers 2,504 filings
- Just below
- Management Analysts 2,468 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. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #5 Fast Food and Counter Workers 7,871 filings · 96 denied
- #47 Chefs and Head Cooks 1,340 filings · 56 denied
- #51 Food Preparation Workers 1,284 filings · 45 denied
- #80 Cooks, Restaurant 793 filings · 57 denied
- #108 Waiters and Waitresses 497 filings · 41 denied
- #118 Cooks, Fast Food 452 filings · 33 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