How a determination is built · Wage year 2026-27
How the four wage levels are determined
Four figures per cell, set by the requirements in the job description rather than by the job title. Here’s what moves a determination up a step, and what the four figures look like once you measure them.
Every occupation and area pairing in the wage file carries four figures. The employer doesn’t pick one. The level follows from what the employer says the job requires, and the wage follows from the level.
The arithmetic, measured rather than asserted
Department of Labor guidance describes Level I and Level IV as percentile anchors taken from the underlying wage survey, with Levels II and III set between them. The published file doesn’t show that working. What it does show, and what can be checked directly, is the relationship between the four numbers once they’re published: Levels II and III sit at exact thirds of the Level I to Level IV range. Of the 2,367 cells in this build, 2,177, or 92.0%, have all three steps equal to the cent.
| Cell | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV | Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $52.81 | $66.21 | $79.61 | $93.01 | $13.40 |
| Software Developers, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $73.46 | $89.94 | $106.43 | $122.91 | $16.48 |
| Software Developers, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $45.77 | $56.20 | $66.63 | $77.06 | $10.43 |
Computed from ALC_Export.csv in OFLC_Wages_2026-27.zip, wage year 2026-27.
The practical consequence: one step up in level costs the same as any other step in that cell. Moving a filing from Level I to Level II and from Level III to Level IV are the same increase in dollars. That’s not true of the underlying labor market, and it’s worth remembering when an argument about a single step-up starts to feel abstract.
What moves a job up a level
The determination starts at Level I and steps up. The document that governs how is the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration's prevailing wage determination policy guidance for nonagricultural immigration programs. Our step-by-step reading of that guidance drives the calculator on this site, and it hasn't yet been reconciled line by line against the current revision, so treat every derivation here as a model you can check rather than an answer you can rely on.
- Start at Level I. Every determination begins there, on the reading that the entry figure is the default and each step above it has to be earned by something in the job description.
- Experience. If the employer requires more experience than is ordinary for the occupation, that’s a step. What counts as ordinary comes from the occupation, not from the employer, and it’s set by the Job Zone.
- Education. If the employer requires more education than the occupation usually needs at entry, that’s a step. For most professional occupations the usual entry level is a bachelor's degree, so requiring one changes nothing.
- Special skills and other requirements. If the employer requires skills, licenses or conditions beyond those ordinary for the occupation, that’s a step. This is the most argued step, because "ordinary" is a judgement.
- Supervisory duties. If the position supervises and supervision isn’t already inherent in the occupation, that’s a step. For a management occupation it’s inherent and adds nothing.
Add the steps, cap at four, and the total is the level. A job with no step-ups is Level I. A job that clears every one of them is Level IV. Nothing in that sequence looks at the title on the offer letter, which is why two positions called "senior engineer" at two employers can land on different levels.
How the levels are actually used
| Level | Certified filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | 11,925 | 13.9% |
| Level II | 36,397 | 42.4% |
| Level III | 20,437 | 23.8% |
| Level IV | 17,176 | 20.0% |
Computed from the OFLC LCA disclosure data, FY2025 Q1 to Q4, certified H-1B filings only.
Level II is the plurality across the 60 occupations covered here. That’s a fact about filing behavior rather than a rule, and it’s not a defense: a determination has to follow from the job description, not from what other employers filed. It does mean an unusual level attracts attention, which is the theme of Common wage level mistakes on filings.
Working one out
The four side-by-side, with what each is meant to describe, is the subject of Wage levels I to IV, compared. The two occupation attributes that decide where the steps land before any employer preference gets involved are covered in Job Zones, and how they set the experience baseline and Appendix A, and which occupations are on it. To run a specific set of requirements against a specific cell, use the Prevailing wage calculator.
More in how a determination is built
- What the prevailing wage is, and why it exists. The floor, what it measures, and the statutory reason it exists at all.
- Job Zones, and how they set the experience baseline. Where the experience ceiling comes from, and why five years means different things in different occupations.
- Appendix A, and which occupations are on it. The professional occupations list, what it does to the education step, and the name it gets confused with.
- SOC codes, and how a job maps to one. How the classification is structured, how duties drive the match, and the pairs that get confused.
All 24 guides are indexed at Guides. Wage figures throughout are read from ALC_Export.csv, wage year 2026-27.