Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 15-1132, #8 of 1,410 by filings
Software Developers, Applications
- Biggest sponsor
- GOOGLE LLC · 23% of its filings
- Busiest state
- CA · 27% of its filings
- Major group
- Computer and mathematical · SOC 15
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
$124,883
all PERM $103,272
Filings
5,081
#8 of 1,410
Approval
91.8%
field 96.8%
Median days
366
111 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
$124,883above 81%
Approval rate
91.8%ahead of 21%
Median days to decision
366 daysahead of 98%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
CA
$144,726 median · 1,327 certified cases
WA
$140,920 median · 550 certified cases
TX
$111,176 median · 518 certified cases
NY
$145,000 median · 353 certified cases
NJ
$123,614 median · 323 certified cases
IL
$108,000 median · 257 certified cases
| State | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 1,327 | $104,291 | $104,291 | $121,763 | $144,726 | $157,477 | $184,080 | $185,000 |
| WA | 550 | $97,760 | $97,760 | $119,350 | $140,920 | $145,800 | $162,510 | $175,446 |
| TX | 518 | $90,638 | $92,685 | $93,558 | $111,176 | $128,315 | $142,289 | $150,000 |
| NY | 353 | $80,000 | $80,000 | $123,614 | $145,000 | $145,454 | $157,975 | $184,900 |
| NJ | 323 | $101,754 | $101,754 | $101,754 | $123,614 | $145,454 | $145,500 | $158,100 |
| IL | 257 | $90,397 | $90,397 | $100,000 | $108,000 | $117,000 | $125,445 | $130,150 |
One SOC code, one federal process, and a wage range that moves with the state. 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
- GOOGLE LLC 1,158 filings · 99.7% approved
- MICROSOFT CORPORATION 161 filings · 83.9% approved
- CAPGEMINI AMERICA, INC. 158 filings · 100.0% approved
- WIPRO LIMITED 122 filings · 0.0% approved
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC 119 filings · 100.0% approved
- TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED 98 filings · 100.0% approved
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 1,816 of 5,081 filings, 36% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Berry Appleman Leiden LLP 1,353 filings · 99.0% approved
- Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen Loewy, LLP 833 filings · 97.2% approved
- Fakhoury Global Immigration, USA PC 162 filings · 100.0% approved
- Vialto Partners LLP 127 filings · 90.6% approved
- Dentons Cohen Grigsby P.C. 126 filings · 3.2% approved
- Sidley Austin LLP 119 filings · 100.0% approved
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 2,720 of 5,081 filings, 54% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- California 1,364
- Washington 591
- Texas 554
- New Jersey 506
- New York 366
- Illinois 268
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 3,649 of 5,081 filings.
Where the work is
- Mountain View, CA 687
- New York, NY 298
- Seattle, WA 293
- Chicago, IL 196
- Redmond, WA 151
- Kirkland, WA 129
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 1,754 of 5,081 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
- India 185,442
- China 22,843
- Canada 4,239
- Mexico 1,792
- Nepal 1,762
- Russia 1,488
Worker's education
- Master's 126,671
- Bachelor's 102,769
- Doctorate 3,112
- Other 1,928
- None 1,453
- Associate's 370
Visa held when filed
- H-1B 200,473
- L-1 12,031
- F-1 10,193
- TN 3,050
- NOT IN USA 1,549
- H-4 968
Schools
- JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 10,825
- ANNA UNIVERSITY 9,103
- OSMANIA UNIVERSITY 4,667
- UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS 4,087
- CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 3,357
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 3,179
Fields of study
- COMPUTER SCIENCE 56,582
- COMPUTER ENGINEERING 20,572
- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 10,242
- ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 9,757
- COMPUTER APPLICATIONS 8,934
- ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING 7,903
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.
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CAMountain View
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WASeattle, Redmond, Kirkland
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJNew York
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-INChicago
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | — | $104,291 | $130,894 | $157,477 | $184,080 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | — | $97,760 | $119,350 | $140,920 | $162,510 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | — | $79,914 | $101,754 | $123,614 | $145,454 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | — | $72,883 | $90,397 | $107,931 | $125,445 |
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
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 8 of 1,410 by volume: 7 filed at least as many filings, and 1,402 filed no more.
- Just above
- Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers 6,215 filings
- Just below
- Nursing Assistants 5,006 filings
Other computer and mathematical 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.
- #7 Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers 6,215 filings · 70 denied
- #6 Data Scientists 6,928 filings · 53 denied
- #2 Computer Systems Analysts 15,316 filings · 240 denied
- #1 Software Developers 76,524 filings · 881 denied
- #15 Business Intelligence Analysts 3,466 filings · 46 denied
- #22 Computer Occupations, All Other 2,605 filings · 95 denied
The same job on H-1B
496,528 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $108,680 a year; the middle half ran $92,000 to $133,900. 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 15-1132. 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 5,081 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 Software Developers, Applications. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 5,081 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 GOOGLE LLC. 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