Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 19-2043.00, #750 of 1,410 by filings
Hydrologists
- Biggest sponsor
- OMEGA ENGINEERS, INC. · 15% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CO · 23% of its filings
- Major group
- Life, physical and social science · SOC 19
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
Too few cases for a rate
13 decided filings: too few for an approval rate.
Why
Across every PERM case DOL decided in this window, 3.20% were denied. At that rate a file this size comes back clean most of the time whatever the occupation did, so a percentage would be a fact about how few cases there are. Telling a clean record apart from the field takes about 117 decided cases.
Median wage
$94,931
all PERM $103,272
Filings
13
#750 of 1,410
Approval
Not shown
withheld: 13 decided
Median days
495
18 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.
Median offered wage
$94,931median of 13 filings, too few decided to rank
Approval rate
not shownunder 30 decided
Median days to decision
495 daysmiddle of 13 decided, too few to rank
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
- OMEGA ENGINEERS, INC. 2 filings
- Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. 2 filings
- Freeport-McMoRan Miami Inc. 1 filings
- INTERA Incorporated 1 filings
- Michael Baker International, Inc. 1 filings
- Mississippi State University 1 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 8 of 13 filings, 62% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP 2 filings
- KPMG Law LLP 2 filings
- LAW OFFICES OF ADRIAN S. BAER 2 filings
- Ware | Immigration 2 filings
- Corporate Immigration Partners, P.C. 1 filings
- K&L Gates LLP 1 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 10 of 13 filings, 77% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Colorado 3
- Texas 3
- Mississippi 2
- Arizona 1
- District of Columbia 1
- Kansas 1
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 11 of 13 filings.
Where the work is
- Denver, CO 2
- Houston, TX 2
- Austin, TX 1
- Boulder, CO 1
- Claypool, AZ 1
- Emporia, KS 1
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 8 of 13 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
Newspapers it advertised in
- 2 cases
The Denver Post
- 2 cases
Houston Chronicles
- 1 cases
The Arizona Republic
- 1 cases
Austin American-Statesman
- 1 cases
Biloxi Sun Herald
- 1 cases
The Clarion-Ledger - Jackson
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
- 13 cases
Job search websites
- 11 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers
- 6 cases
The employer's website
- 6 cases
Radio or TV ads
- 2 cases
Campus placement offices
- 2 cases
Employee referral programs
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
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 0.0%
30 to 59 days
- 23%
60 to 89 days
- 31%
90 to 119 days
- 46%
120 to 149 days
- 0.0%
150 to 180 days
- 0.0%
Over 180 days
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.
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 States5,850 jobs
- Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CODenver
- Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TXHouston
- Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TXAustin
- Boulder, COBoulder
- Kansas nonmetropolitan areaEmporia
- 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 | $96,600 | ||||
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $108,680 | $83,970 | $102,627 | $121,285 | $139,942 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $99,320 | $58,136 | $76,211 | $94,307 | $112,382 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $73,810 | $56,326 | $67,080 | $77,834 | $88,587 |
| Boulder, CO | — | $84,074 | $103,584 | $123,115 | $142,626 |
| Kansas nonmetropolitan area | — | $76,315 | $88,774 | $101,254 | $113,714 |
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 Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO, 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 | $83,970 | $102,627 | $121,285 | $139,942 |
| 2025-26 | $83,138 | $103,792 | $124,426 | $145,080 |
| 2024-25 | $82,014 | $104,374 | $126,714 | $149,074 |
| 2023-24 | $66,331 | $84,261 | $102,190 | $120,120 |
| 2022-23 | $82,472 | $96,054 | $109,637 | $123,219 |
| 2021-22 | $79,456 | $91,707 | $103,958 | $116,210 |
What the job is
Research the distribution, circulation, and physical properties of underground and surface waters; and study the form and intensity of precipitation and its rate of infiltration into the soil, movement through the earth, and return to the ocean and atmosphere.
- 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
- +1.5%
- About 400 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
The work, most important first
- Design and conduct scientific hydrogeological investigations to ensure that accurate and appropriate information is available for use in water resource management decisions.
- Study and document quantities, distribution, disposition, and development of underground and surface waters.
- Prepare reports or presentations describing research results, using illustrations, maps, appendices, and other information.
- Apply research findings to help minimize the environmental impacts of pollution, waterborne diseases, erosion, and sedimentation.
- Measure and graph phenomena such as lake levels, stream flows, and changes in water volumes.
- Conduct research and communicate information to promote the conservation and preservation of water resources.
Titles people use for it
Groundwater Consultant, Hydrogeologist, Research Hydrologist, Source Water Protection Specialist, Research Hydrologic Engineer.
Related jobs: Geoscientists, Except Hydrologists and Geographers, Hydrologic Technicians, Industrial Ecologists, Water Resource Specialists, Conservation Scientists, Water/Wastewater Engineers.
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 750 of 1,410 by volume: 749 filed at least as many filings, and 660 filed no more.
- Just above
- Construction and Building Inspectors 13 filings
- Just below
- Electrical Engineers, R&D 13 filings
Other life, physical and social science 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.
- #741 MATERIALS SCIENTISTS 14 filings · none denied
- #739 Urban Regional Planners 14 filings · none denied
- #730 Industrial-Organizational Psychologists 14 filings · 1 denied
- #770 Sociologists 12 filings · 1 denied
- #772 Epidemiologists 12 filings · 1 denied
- #780 Biological Scientists, All Other 11 filings · 1 denied
The same job on H-1B
474 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $71,615 a year; the middle half ran $60,000 to $87,155. 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 19-2043.00. 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 13 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 Hydrologists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 13 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 OMEGA ENGINEERS, 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