All occupations · #222 of 1,410 by volume
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists
SOC 19-1042.00, in the life, physical and social science major group. 184 PERM filings in DOL's current disclosure window, 166 certified and 2 denied.
This rate is level with the field
Computed over 168 decided filings. The 95% interval runs up to a 4.2% denial rate, which still covers the 3.20% the field as a whole records, so this record can't be told apart from the field in either direction.
Median wage
$106,340
all PERM $103,272
Filings
184
#222 of 1,410
Approval
98.8%
field 96.8%
Median days
482
5 slower than the field
Median offered wage
$106,340above 72%
Approval rate
98.8%ahead of 81%
Median days to decision
482 daysahead of 33%
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2025
$97,679 median · 94 certified cases
FY2026
$117,000 median · 61 certified cases
- 10th
- $72,000
- +16.6% since FY2025
- Median
- $117,000
- +19.8% since FY2025
- 90th
- $156,000
- -3.7% since FY2025
- 95th
- $179,766
- -4.1% since FY2025
Each row is that fiscal year's certified filings, counted on their own. A percentile is over the year, so a year with far fewer cases behind it is a thinner measurement than one with more.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 94 | $56,808 | $61,730 | $73,585 | $97,679 | $129,750 | $162,000 | $187,409 |
| FY2026 | 61 | $57,366 | $72,000 | $90,730 | $117,000 | $138,570 | $156,000 | $179,766 |
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
- Unicon Pharma Inc. 9 filings
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 6 filings
- Genentech, Inc. 6 filings
- Takeda Development Center Americas, Inc. 6 filings
- BostonGene Corporation 5 filings
- ClearView Healthcare Partners 5 filings
The employers with the most applications under this code. 37 of 184 filings, 20% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP 16 filings
- Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 14 filings
- Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty LLP 9 filings
- Zulkie Partners LLC 9 filings
- Corporate Immigration Partners, P.C. 8 filings
- Jackson & Hertogs LLP 6 filings
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 62 of 184 filings, 34% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- Massachusetts 44
- California 37
- New Jersey 23
- Texas 13
- New York 10
- Pennsylvania 9
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 136 of 184 filings.
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 222 of 1,410 by volume: 221 filed at least as many filings, and 1,188 filed no more.
- Just above
- Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products 186 filings
- Just below
- Animal Breeders 183 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. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #233 Chemists 166 filings · 6 denied
- #240 Food Scientists and Technologists 158 filings · 8 denied
- #195 Bioinformatics Scientists 221 filings · 4 denied
- #190 Biochemists and Biophysicists 229 filings · 1 denied
- #183 Molecular and Cellular Biologists 236 filings · none denied
- #280 Economists 119 filings · 1 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