Prevailing wage levels I to IV, explained
What the four Department of Labor wage levels mean, how employers pick one, and why the level explains more of the pay gap between two filings than the job title does.
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Two filings for the same job title at the same company can be forty thousand dollars apart, and nothing in the title explains it. The wage level usually does. Every filing on this site carries one, and it is the single most useful column for understanding why the numbers spread the way they do.
What a prevailing wage actually is
Before an employer can sponsor someone, it has to attest that it will pay at least the prevailing wage — the going rate for that occupation in that geographic area. The point is to stop sponsorship being used to undercut local pay. The figure comes from the Department of Labor’s wage survey data for the occupation and the metropolitan area, not from anything the employer chooses.
What the employer does choose is the level, and that choice moves the number a great deal.
The four levels
The Department of Labor defines four wage levels within each occupation and area. They describe the job as advertised — its requirements, supervision and independence — not the person filling it and not their seniority title.
| Level | Describes | Typically |
|---|---|---|
| I | Entry. Basic understanding, close supervision, routine tasks. | New graduates, first roles in the occupation |
| II | Qualified. Good understanding, moderate supervision, some judgement. | A few years in, still guided |
| III | Experienced. Works independently, may direct others. | Senior individual contributors |
| IV | Fully competent. Sets direction, supervises, handles the hardest problems. | Staff, principal, managerial scope |
Why this explains the spread
On any occupation page here, the gap between the 25th and 90th percentile is wide — often two-fold. A large part of that is not company generosity or location. It is the mix of levels. A population of level I filings and a population of level IV filings for the same occupation are describing genuinely different jobs.
So when you compare two employers and one looks dramatically cheaper, check what it is filing. An employer staffing entry-level roles will show a lower median than one hiring principals, without either paying badly for the work in question.
The level is a floor, not a salary
This is the part most often misread. The prevailing wage is a minimum the employer commits to. The wage actually filed can be — and at higher-paying employers routinely is — substantially above it. That is why this site shows the filed wage rather than the prevailing wage as the headline number: the filed wage is closer to the offer.
It is still not the offer. Filed wages are base salary only. See what this data does not say for where that matters most.
Reading a level in practice
- Level I at a high number — a genuinely well-paying entry role, or an expensive metro area. Check the city.
- Level IV at a low number — usually a smaller market, or an occupation where the survey base is thin.
- All four levels present — a large employer hiring across the career ladder. Its median is a blend and will sit below what a senior role pays.
Individual filings, with their levels, appear at the bottom of every company and job title page.