US Prevailing Wage for Chefs: PERM, H-2B and How to Look It Up

If you sponsor a chef through the green card process or hire cooks on H-2B visas, the US Department of Labor sets a minimum wage for that job, called the prevailing wage. It is often well above what restaurants expect, it varies by city, and it can change every July. This guide explains how it works for chefs and cooks, how to look it up, and what a rule proposed in March 2026 would change.

1. What the prevailing wage is

The Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) describes it this way: the wages offered to a foreign worker must be the prevailing wage rate for the occupation in the area of employment, meaning the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in that occupation and area. The aim, set by the Immigration and Nationality Act, is that hiring a foreign worker does not undercut the wages of US workers.

Three things follow for a restaurant:

• The wage is set by occupation, so whether your job is classified as a chef or a cook matters a great deal.
• It is set by area, usually the metro area of the worksite.
• It is set by the government, not the market. What your current staff earn does not lower it.

2. Which visa routes need one

OFLC's prevailing wage page is explicit: an H-2B application and a PERM labor certification (the first step of an EB-3 green card) may not be filed without a valid prevailing wage determination from the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC). For H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3, employers may request one or use other sources.

The routes restaurants most often use for Japanese chefs, E-2 and O-1, are not on that list. They are not filed with the Department of Labor, so no prevailing wage determination is part of them. See E-2 visas for Japanese restaurant staff.

This guide therefore matters mainly for EB-3 sponsorship and H-2B.

3. How DOL calculates it: mean vs wage levels

H-2B: the mean

Under 20 CFR 655.10(b), if no collective bargaining agreement covers the job, the H-2B prevailing wage is the arithmetic mean of wages for the occupation in the area, from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data, unless the employer submits an acceptable survey. There are no skill levels. Every H-2B cook in a given occupation and metro gets the same floor.

On top of that, 20 CFR 655.20(a) requires the offered wage to be at least the highest of the prevailing wage and the federal, state or local minimum wage. In a city with a high local minimum, that can be the binding figure for low-paid roles.

PERM: four wage levels

For PERM, OFLC assigns one of four wage levels based on the job's requirements compared with what is normal for the occupation. Under the methodology in use since 2005, those levels sit at roughly the 17th, 34th, 50th and 67th percentiles of the local wage distribution, according to DOL's own description in its March 2026 proposal.

Two inputs drive the level for a chef job: experience and education. OFLC's 2026–27 data classifies Chefs and Head Cooks (SOC 35-1011) as O*NET Job Zone 3 with a typical education of a high school diploma, and Cooks, Restaurant (35-2014) as Job Zone 2 with no typical education requirement. Asking for more experience, a culinary degree or special skills than is normal for the occupation can push the job to a higher level. Write the requirements you genuinely need, and no more.

The validity of a determination is between 90 days and one year for both programs (20 CFR 656.40(c) for PERM, 655.10(h) for H-2B). For PERM you must file, or begin the required recruitment, within that period.

4. Looking up chef wages yourself

The old address flcdatacenter.com now redirects to the OFLC Wage Search on flag.dol.gov. To look up a chef wage:

1. Open OFLC Wage Search and choose the current wage year. The 2026–27 wage year runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 and is based on BLS's May 2025 wage estimates.
2. Search the occupation by SOC code: 35-1011 Chefs and Head Cooks for a head chef or sushi chef who supervises, 35-2014 Cooks, Restaurant for a line cook.
3. Select the area of the worksite, usually the metro area.
4. Read the four levels (for PERM) and the mean (for H-2B).

If you need all areas at once, OFLC's Wage Data Downloads page offers the full data set as a zip file.

5. Chef prevailing wages in major metros, 2026–27

Hourly figures from OFLC's wage data for July 2026 to June 2027:

For restaurant cooks (35-2014), the H-2B mean ranges from $15.85 in Houston and $17.24 in Dallas-Fort Worth to $21.52 in Los Angeles, $23.38 in San Francisco and $23.56 in Seattle.

Note the difference between H-2B and PERM here. An H-2B chef in Chicago must be paid at least the $31.02 mean. A PERM chef job assessed at Level I has a floor of $22.48. The H-2B floor is effectively the Level III figure, which surprises employers who assume a temporary visa is the cheaper option.

For local pay context beyond these floors, see our guide to hiring a sushi chef in Chicago, which sets the prevailing wage against what the Chicago market actually pays.

6. Requesting a determination: Form ETA-9141

• Submit Form ETA-9141, Application for Prevailing Wage Determination, to the NPWC through the FLAG system. OFLC has accepted online 9141 filings for all programs since 10 June 2019.
• For H-2B, OFLC encourages filing at least 60 days before you need the determination.
• Processing. OFLC's figures as of 31 August 2026 show the NPWC working on H-2B requests filed in July 2026 and PERM requests filed in May 2026, with more than 14,000 PERM requests received in each of June, July and August still pending. Allow several months for PERM.
• If you disagree with the result, you can ask for a redetermination and then a Center Director review.

7. The March 2026 proposed rule

On 27 March 2026, DOL published a notice of proposed rulemaking, "Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States" (RIN 1205-AC30). It would raise the four wage levels:

What it means for restaurants:

• It covers PERM (EB-2 and EB-3), H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3. It does not cover H-2B, which keeps using the mean.
• Under the proposal, the Level I floor would move to roughly where Level II is now. On the 2026–27 figures, that would take a Chicago Level I chef job from about $22.48 to around the current Level II of $26.73, before any new data.
• Comments closed on 26 May 2026. As of September 2026 it remains a proposal. The effective date and any transition rules would be set in a final rule.

If you are planning an EB-3 case for a chef, the practical advice is to get the prevailing wage determination and file within its validity period, and to budget as if the higher levels may apply to later cases.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Prevailing wages update each July, and the March 2026 proposal may change before any final rule. Check the linked pages or an immigration attorney before acting.