Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 13-1161.01, #134 of 1,410 by filings
Search Marketing Strategists
- Biggest sponsor
- WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC. · 2% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 24% 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
$65,000
all PERM $103,272
Filings
387
#134 of 1,410
Approval
94.8%
field 96.8%
Median days
478
1 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
$65,000above 47%
Approval rate
94.8%ahead of 37%
Median days to decision
478 daysahead of 44%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2025
$65,000 median · 168 certified cases
FY2026
$67,706 median · 138 certified cases
- 10th
- $43,343
- +8.4% since FY2025
- Median
- $67,706
- +4.2% since FY2025
- 90th
- $148,656
- +1.0% since FY2025
- 95th
- $160,572
- -3.3% 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 | 168 | $39,187 | $39,988 | $45,949 | $65,000 | $106,066 | $147,186 | $165,967 |
| FY2026 | 138 | $39,957 | $43,343 | $47,315 | $67,706 | $113,976 | $148,656 | $160,572 |
A median answers whether pay moved. 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
- WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC. 6 filings
- ByteDance Inc. 5 filings
- Home Depot Management Company LLC 3 filings
- iQuanti, Inc. 3 filings
- Uber Technologies, Inc. 3 filings
- AutoZone, Inc. 2 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 22 of 387 filings, 6% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP 28 filings
- Santos Law Firm PL 15 filings
- Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP 12 filings
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. 7 filings
- BELTRAN BRITO CASAMAYOR LLP 6 filings
- Corporate Immigration Partners, P.C. 6 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 74 of 387 filings, 19% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 94
- Florida 79
- New York 59
- Texas 25
- New Jersey 21
- Massachusetts 20
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 298 of 387 filings.
Where the work is
- New York, NY 46
- Miami, FL 21
- Orlando, FL 13
- Los Angeles, CA 12
- Boston, MA 8
- San Francisco, CA 8
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 108 of 387 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
- 41 cases
The New York Times
- 26 cases
Miami Herald
- 21 cases
San Francisco Chronicle
- 19 cases
Los Angeles Times
- 16 cases
Orlando Sentinel
- 14 cases
Sun-Sentinel
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
- 302 cases
Job search websites
- 257 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers
- 155 cases
Radio or TV ads
- 125 cases
The employer's website
- 44 cases
Employee referral programs
- 40 cases
Trade or professional organizations
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
- 0.3%
30 to 59 days
- 29%
60 to 89 days
- 28%
90 to 119 days
- 15%
120 to 149 days
- 26%
150 to 180 days
- 1.7%
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 States899,580 jobs
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJNew York
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMiami
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FLOrlando
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CALos Angeles
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHBoston
- 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 | $78,760 | ||||
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $100,520 | $64,834 | $85,467 | $106,122 | $126,755 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $78,990 | $46,613 | $64,251 | $81,890 | $99,528 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $72,860 | $45,926 | $64,022 | $82,118 | $100,214 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $82,990 | $55,370 | $75,546 | $95,722 | $115,898 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $102,390 | $65,395 | $87,506 | $109,616 | $131,726 |
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 | $64,834 | $85,467 | $106,122 | $126,755 |
| 2025-26 | $61,797 | $82,139 | $102,482 | $122,824 |
| 2024-25 | $60,174 | $79,789 | $99,424 | $119,038 |
| 2023-24 | $56,784 | $76,877 | $96,949 | $117,042 |
| 2022-23 | $54,475 | $72,925 | $91,395 | $109,845 |
| 2021-22 | $50,066 | $69,514 | $88,941 | $108,389 |
What the job is
Research conditions in local, regional, national, or online markets. Gather information to determine potential sales of a product or service, or plan a marketing or advertising campaign. May gather information on competitors, prices, sales, and methods of marketing and distribution. May employ search marketing tactics, analyze web metrics, and develop recommendations to increase search engine ranking and visibility to target markets.
- 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
- +7.0%
- About 82,000 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth and numerous job openings.
The work, most important first
- Prepare reports of findings, illustrating data graphically and translating complex findings into written text.
- Seek and provide information to help companies determine their position in the marketplace.
- Conduct research on consumer opinions and marketing strategies, collaborating with marketing professionals, statisticians, pollsters, and other professionals.
- Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.
- Devise and evaluate methods and procedures for collecting data, such as surveys, opinion polls, or questionnaires, or arrange to obtain existing data.
- Gather data on competitors and analyze their prices, sales, and method of marketing and distribution.
Titles people use for it
Market Analyst, Market Research Analyst, Market Research Consultant, Market Researcher, Business Development Specialist, Communications Consultant, Communications Specialist, Content Strategist.
O*NET also describes Search Marketing Strategists under this SOC code.
Related jobs: Marketing Managers, Advertising and Promotions Managers, Search Marketing Strategists, Business Intelligence Analysts, Management Analysts, Sales Managers.
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 134 of 1,410 by volume: 133 filed at least as many filings, and 1,276 filed no more.
- Just above
- Materials Engineers 391 filings
- Just below
- Computer Hardware Engineers 383 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.
The same job on H-1B
32,065 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $83,200 a year; the middle half ran $63,398 to $120,162. 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 13-1161.01. 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 387 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 Search Marketing Strategists. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 387 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 WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, 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