Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 31-9093.00, #1,019 of 1,410 by filings

Medical Equipment Preparers

Biggest sponsor: ENGILBERTA R. SANTOS, M.D. · 25% of its filings
Busiest state: CO · 25% of its filings
Major group: Healthcare support · SOC 31

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

Too few cases for a rate

4 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

$38,220

all PERM $103,272

Filings

#1,019 of 1,410

Approval

Not shown

withheld: 4 decided

Median days

456

middle of 4 decided

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

$38,220median of 4 filings, too few decided to rank

$18k $500k

Approval rate

not shownunder 30 decided

49% 100%

Median days to decision

456 daysmiddle of 4 decided, too few to rank

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. This occupation has 4 decided cases, so its wage and its median days are marked but left unranked, and no approval rate is drawn at all.

DOL PERM disclosure files

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

ENGILBERTA R. SANTOS, M.D. 1 filings
Open and Affordable Dental - Loveland 1 filings
Paincure Medical Supply LLC 1 filings
The Oak Brook Surgical Centre, Inc 1 filings

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 4 of 4 filings, 100% of the total.

Firms filing it

Joseph & Hall P.C. 1 filings
Kamran I Makhdoom 1 filings
Nakone Law LLC 1 filings
THE LAW OFFICE OF DAVID R GATES, PLLC 1 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 4 of 4 filings, 100% of the total.

Where the jobs are

Colorado 1
Illinois 1
New York 1
Texas 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 4 states cover 4 of 4 filings.

Where the work is

Loveland, CO 1
Oak Brook, IL 1
Spring, TX 1
Woodside, NY 1

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 4 cities cover 4 of 4 filings.

Newspapers it advertised in

Chicago Sun-Times

1 cases
Daily News

1 cases
Fort Collins Coloradoan

1 cases
Houston Chronicle

1 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.

How long before filing it began

Under 30 days

0.0%
30 to 59 days

0.0%
60 to 89 days

75%
90 to 119 days

25%
120 to 149 days

0.0%
150 to 180 days

0.0%
Over 180 days

0.0%

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

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
77,420 jobs
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
Loveland
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
Oak Brook
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
Spring

$40k$50k$60k$70k

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	$47,700
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$51,360	$38,293	$44,990	$51,667	$58,365
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$48,630	$42,890	$47,778	$52,666	$57,554
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$47,270	$37,648	$43,867	$50,107	$56,326

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 Fort Collins-Loveland, 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.

DOL wage levels by wage year, Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$38,293	$44,990	$51,667	$58,365
2025-26	$39,874	$49,691	$59,488	$69,306
2024-25	$42,224	$50,981	$59,758	$68,515
2023-24	$38,043	$45,219	$52,374	$59,550
2022-23	$35,797	$39,395	$42,994	$46,592
2021-22	$34,154	$37,856	$41,538	$45,240

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

What the job is

Prepare, sterilize, install, or clean laboratory or healthcare equipment. May perform routine laboratory tasks and operate or inspect equipment.

Preparation: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed; O*NET Job Zone 1-2
DOL's education basis: High school diploma or equivalent; Wage year 2026-27
Jobs, 2025 to 2035: +10.8%; About 10,700 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent; BLS

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

The work, most important first

Examine equipment to detect leaks, worn or loose parts, or other indications of disrepair.
Check sterile supplies to ensure that they are not outdated.
Record sterilizer test results.
Organize and assemble routine or specialty surgical instrument trays or other sterilized supplies, filling special requests as needed.
Operate and maintain steam autoclaves, keeping records of loads completed, items in loads, and maintenance procedures performed.
Clean instruments to prepare them for sterilization.

The education workers in it report

High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)

44%
Post-Secondary Certificate

31%
Bachelor's Degree

15%

Titles people use for it

Central Sterile Technician (Central Sterile Tech), CRCST (Certified Registered Central Supply Technician), CSS Technician (Central Sterile Supply Technician), CST (Central Service Technician), Central Supply Processing Department Technician (CSPDT), Certified Registered Central Service Technician (CRCST), Equipment Technician (Equipment Tech), Sterile Preparation Technician (Sterile Preparation Tech).

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 1,019 of 1,410 by volume: 1,018 filed at least as many filings, and 391 filed no more.

Just above: Insulation Workers, Mechanical 4 filings
Just below: Locksmiths and Safe Repairers 4 filings

Other healthcare support 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.

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 31-9093.00. 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 4 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 Medical Equipment Preparers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 4 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 ENGILBERTA R. SANTOS, M.D.. 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