Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 13-1051, #303 of 1,410 by filings
Cost Analyst
- Biggest sponsor
- CUMMING MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC. · 6% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 22% of its filings
- Major group
- Business and financial · SOC 13
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
$63,522
all PERM $103,272
Filings
102
#303 of 1,410
Approval
92.2%
field 96.8%
Median days
385
92 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
$63,522above 46%
Approval rate
92.2%ahead of 22%
Median days to decision
385 daysahead of 89%
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
- CUMMING MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC. 6 filings
- Coastal Construction Group of South Florida 4 filings
- MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY USA INC. 2 filings
- OCMI, Inc. 2 filings
- Precision 2000 2 filings
- A L of NY Corp dba Izakaya Toribar 1 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 17 of 102 filings, 17% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Corporate Immigration Partners, LLP 6 filings
- Barry Lieber, Attorney at Law, P.A. 5 filings
- JiunnLiang Sheu, Esq. 5 filings
- Park and Associates PC 4 filings
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 3 filings
- Alfano Immigration Law P.A. 2 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 25 of 102 filings, 25% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 22
- Florida 21
- New York 9
- Texas 9
- Georgia 5
- New Jersey 5
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 71 of 102 filings.
Where the work is
- New York, NY 5
- Los Angeles, CA 4
- Miami, FL 4
- Atlanta, GA 3
- Houston, TX 3
- Orlando, FL 3
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 22 of 102 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 235
- China 140
- South Korea 131
- Venezuela 64
- Ireland 57
- Mexico 44
Worker's education
- Bachelor's 584
- Master's 500
- None 45
- High School 33
- Associate's 18
- Other 14
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 600
- F-1 176
- E-2 75
- L-1 68
- B-2 47
- TN 33
Schools
- TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 15
- TEXAS AM UNIVERSITY 15
- UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 13
- PURDUE UNIVERSITY 12
- THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS 12
- DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 11
Fields of study
- CIVIL ENGINEERING 212
- CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 126
- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 118
- MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 53
- ECONOMICS 32
- ARCHITECTURE 28
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 States224,220 jobs
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJNew York
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CALos Angeles
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMiami
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GAAtlanta
- Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TXHouston
- 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 | $78,740 | ||||
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $82,380 | $55,723 | $74,090 | $92,456 | $110,822 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $82,260 | $55,806 | $73,195 | $90,605 | $107,994 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $76,040 | $48,547 | $65,104 | $81,640 | $98,197 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $82,870 | $55,536 | $70,949 | $86,341 | $101,754 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $78,200 | $51,272 | $67,974 | $84,656 | $101,358 |
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 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.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $55,723 | $74,090 | $92,456 | $110,822 |
| 2025-26 | $58,843 | $79,102 | $99,382 | $119,642 |
| 2024-25 | $56,285 | $74,360 | $92,456 | $110,531 |
| 2023-24 | $52,312 | $69,971 | $87,651 | $105,310 |
| 2022-23 | $55,848 | $71,739 | $87,630 | $103,522 |
| 2021-22 | $52,208 | $67,434 | $82,638 | $97,864 |
What the job is
Prepare cost estimates for product manufacturing, construction projects, or services to aid management in bidding on or determining price of product or service. May specialize according to particular service performed or type of product manufactured.
- 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
- -3.1%
- About 17,600 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
The work, most important first
- Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates.
- Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors, and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates.
- Collect historical cost data to estimate costs for current or future products.
- Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops.
- Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments, or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues.
- Establish and maintain tendering process, and conduct negotiations.
The education workers in it report
- 9%
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 82%
Bachelor's Degree
Titles people use for it
Construction Estimator, Cost Analyst, Cost Estimator, Estimator, Acquisition Cost Estimator, Analyst, Cost Consultant, Cost Engineer.
Related jobs: Logistics Engineers, Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Construction Managers, Industrial Engineers, Architectural and Engineering Managers, Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks.
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 303 of 1,410 by volume: 302 filed at least as many filings, and 1,107 filed no more.
- Just above
- Clinical Research Coordinators 102 filings
- Just below
- FirstLine Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers 102 filings
Other business and financial 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.
- #328 Compliance Officers 87 filings · 4 denied
- #275 Human Resources Specialists 123 filings · 8 denied
- #272 Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products 126 filings · 9 denied
- #335 Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners 84 filings · 9 denied
- #354 Personal Financial Advisors 79 filings · 2 denied
- #232 N/A 169 filings · 7 denied
The same job on H-1B
4,516 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $84,864 a year; the middle half ran $67,500 to $110,000. 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 13-1051. 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 102 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 Cost Analyst. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 102 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 CUMMING MANAGEMENT GROUP, 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