Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 27-1024, #204 of 1,410 by filings
Graphic Designers
- Biggest sponsor
- AMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTER U.S., INC · 4% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 44% of its filings
- Major group
- Arts, design, media and sport · SOC 27
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
This rate is level with the field
Over 214 decided filings, this rate can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Why
The 95% interval runs up to a 7.8% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records.
Median wage
$78,650
all PERM $103,272
Filings
214
#204 of 1,410
Approval
95.8%
field 96.8%
Median days
386
91 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
$78,650above 57%
Approval rate
95.8%ahead of 44%
Median days to decision
386 daysahead of 86%
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
- AMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTER U.S., INC 9 filings
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC 7 filings
- GRAND SUPERCENTER INC 3 filings
- LinkedIn Corporation 3 filings
- NB VENTURES DBA GLOBAL EPROCURE 3 filings
- ROKU, INC. 3 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 28 of 214 filings, 13% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 28 filings
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 16 filings
- Erickson Immigration Group 11 filings
- Global Immigration Associates, P.C. 5 filings
- Law Offices of Shim Paick, P.C. 5 filings
- CNC Professional, Inc. 3 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 68 of 214 filings, 32% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 94
- New York 31
- New Jersey 14
- Washington 14
- Texas 11
- Florida 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 173 of 214 filings.
Where the work is
- New York, NY 24
- San Francisco, CA 22
- Los Angeles, CA 12
- East Palo Alto, CA 9
- San Jose, CA 7
- Bellevue, WA 5
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 79 of 214 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
- South Korea 741
- China 256
- India 113
- Canada 100
- Venezuela 80
- Mexico 72
Worker's education
- Bachelor's 1,239
- Master's 515
- None 118
- Associate's 94
- High School 44
- Other 34
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 843
- F-1 409
- O-1 119
- TN 89
- J-1 66
- NOT IN USA 59
Schools
- ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY 83
- SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS 73
- PRATT INSTITUTE 45
- SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN 41
- ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN 37
- HONGIK UNIVERSITY 25
Fields of study
- GRAPHIC DESIGN 371
- FINE ARTS 135
- INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 80
- DESIGN 78
- ADVERTISING 35
- VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN 34
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 States197,830 jobs
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CASan Francisco, East Palo Alto
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJNew York
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CALos Angeles
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CASan Jose
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WABellevue
- 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 | $62,960 | ||||
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $92,050 | $58,947 | $80,434 | $101,899 | $123,386 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $79,280 | $54,080 | $69,930 | $85,800 | $101,650 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $72,400 | $48,880 | $65,187 | $81,515 | $97,822 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $97,360 | $64,085 | $85,613 | $107,162 | $128,690 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $76,720 | $54,434 | $68,286 | $82,160 | $96,013 |
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 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, 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.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $58,947 | $80,434 | $101,899 | $123,386 |
| 2025-26 | $57,262 | $80,891 | $104,541 | $128,170 |
| 2024-25 | $56,077 | $75,650 | $95,202 | $114,774 |
| 2023-24 | $54,454 | $75,234 | $96,013 | $116,792 |
| 2022-23 | $48,360 | $66,123 | $83,886 | $101,650 |
| 2021-22 | $49,858 | $65,333 | $80,829 | $96,304 |
What the job is
Design or create graphics to meet specific commercial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, or logos. May use a variety of mediums to achieve artistic or decorative effects.
- 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
- -1.7%
- About 16,000 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
The work, most important first
- Key information into computer equipment to create layouts for client or supervisor.
- Review final layouts and suggest improvements, as needed.
- Determine size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, and select style and size of type.
- Develop graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos, and Web sites.
- Create designs, concepts, and sample layouts, based on knowledge of layout principles and esthetic design concepts.
- Use computer software to generate new images.
The education workers in it report
- 15%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 5%
Some College Courses
- 5%
Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 65%
Bachelor's Degree
- 10%
Master's Degree
Titles people use for it
Artist, Designer, Graphic Artist, Graphic Designer, Brand Designer, Graphic Design Coordinator, Online Producer, Production Artist.
Related jobs: Special Effects Artists and Animators, Art Directors, Web and Digital Interface Designers, Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators, Desktop Publishers, Video Game Designers.
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 204 of 1,410 by volume: 203 filed at least as many filings, and 1,206 filed no more.
- Just above
- Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders 214 filings
- Just below
- Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 210 filings
Other arts, design, media and sport 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.
- #175 Interior Designers 267 filings · 10 denied
- #236 Fashion Designers 162 filings · 3 denied
- #169 Special Effects Artists and Animators 274 filings · 3 denied
- #166 Commercial and Industrial Designers 286 filings · 7 denied
- #153 Public Relations Specialists 316 filings · 10 denied
- #145 Coaches and Scouts 335 filings · 29 denied
The same job on H-1B
10,632 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $100,000 a year; the middle half ran $66,851 to $146,000. 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 27-1024. 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 214 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 Graphic Designers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 214 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 AMAZON DEVELOPMENT CENTER U.S., 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