Prevailing Wage for Agricultural Inspectors
Prevailing wage for Agricultural Inspectors is set by DOL across four experience levels, and the floor shifts significantly depending on where the worksite is located. Whether your offer is for a Food Inspector, Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI), or Brand Inspector role, the level and city together determine the minimum a sponsored employer must pay.
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Level 1 covers entry-level inspectors with limited experience, typically recent graduates or those new to compliance work. Duties are routine and closely supervised, with little independent judgment expected. Employers filing at this level must meet the lowest DOL floor for the worksite area.
Level 2 applies to qualified inspectors who work independently on standard inspection tasks with moderate supervision. This is the most common filing level for Agricultural Inspectors, reflecting the occupation's typical requirement for some field experience before unsupervised assignment.
Level 3 covers experienced inspectors who handle complex cases, mentor junior staff, or manage specialized compliance programs. These professionals exercise significant independent judgment and may coordinate across agencies or facilities. Employers filing here face a meaningfully higher wage floor.
Level 4 is reserved for fully competent inspectors in senior or lead roles, including those overseeing programs, developing policy, or managing teams. This level applies to roles with broad authority over inspection standards, and the wage floor reflects that seniority.
Prevailing Wage for Agricultural Inspectors by OES area
Each shape is a DOL OES area, the unit prevailing wage is published for.
What’s an OES area?
The Department of Labor publishes prevailing wages for geographic zones called OES areas. Every U.S. county belongs to exactly one, and the wage floor applies across the whole area. A worker in Oakland gets the San Francisco metro wage, not a separate Oakland wage.
Top 10 cities · Level 1
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See which U.S. employers are actively hiring for Agricultural Inspectors and sponsoring H-1B, OPT, and green card visas at or above the prevailing wage.
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Confirm your title maps to SOC 45-2011
Job titles like Food Sanitarian, Grain Inspector, and FSIS Inspector all map to SOC 45-2011, but some employers file these roles under adjacent SOC codes. If your LCA lists a different SOC, the prevailing wage floor used may not match the Agricultural Inspectors schedule.
Watch for low-paying metro filings in Southern markets
Metros like Dothan, AL and Tampa, FL carry prevailing wage floors well below the national median for this occupation. If your offer is worksite-specific to one of these areas, verify the cited floor matches the correct OES survey region, not a blended national figure.
Check which employers have sponsored Agricultural Inspectors before
Use Migrate Mate to filter by role and see which employers have a verified history of sponsoring Agricultural Inspector positions. Federal contractors and large food processing companies appear most frequently in historical sponsorship data for this SOC.
Account for the California metro wage gap
San Francisco and San Luis Obispo carry prevailing wage floors that can be more than double those in lower-cost metros for the same Level 1 or Level 2 classification. Candidates relocating to California for this role should recalibrate salary expectations against the correct worksite-specific floor, not national figures.
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Find Jobs for Agricultural InspectorsPrevailing Wage by Reported Job Title
DOL classifies these titles under SOC 45-2011.00 alongside Agricultural Inspectors, so the same four-tier wage schedule applies to each. Tap a title to see the full breakdown.
Brand Inspector Prevailing Wage
Brand Inspector Prevailing Wage
Brand Inspector positions fall under SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). DOL OFLC publishes one four-tier prevailing wage schedule for the entire classification; employers filing H-1B, E-3, or PERM petitions for this title use the levels below.
Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI) Prevailing Wage
Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI) Prevailing Wage
When a U.S. employer sponsors a Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI) for a work visa or green card, DOL applies the prevailing wage schedule for SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). Wage level reflects the role's experience and responsibility, not the title itself.
Food Inspector Prevailing Wage
Food Inspector Prevailing Wage
Food Inspector is an O*NET-reported job title within SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). All roles in this SOC share the same prevailing wage tiers. The level an employer files at depends on what the role requires, not which title is used.
Food Safety and Inspection Service Inspector (FSIS Inspector) Prevailing Wage
Food Safety and Inspection Service Inspector (FSIS Inspector) Prevailing Wage
Food Safety and Inspection Service Inspector (FSIS Inspector) positions fall under SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). DOL OFLC publishes one four-tier prevailing wage schedule for the entire classification; employers filing H-1B, E-3, or PERM petitions for this title use the levels below.
Food Sanitarian Prevailing Wage
Food Sanitarian Prevailing Wage
When a U.S. employer sponsors a Food Sanitarian for a work visa or green card, DOL applies the prevailing wage schedule for SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). Wage level reflects the role's experience and responsibility, not the title itself.
Grain Inspector Prevailing Wage
Grain Inspector Prevailing Wage
Grain Inspector is an O*NET-reported job title within SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). All roles in this SOC share the same prevailing wage tiers. The level an employer files at depends on what the role requires, not which title is used.
Inspector Prevailing Wage
Inspector Prevailing Wage
Inspector positions fall under SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). DOL OFLC publishes one four-tier prevailing wage schedule for the entire classification; employers filing H-1B, E-3, or PERM petitions for this title use the levels below.
Seed and Fertilizer Specialist Prevailing Wage
Seed and Fertilizer Specialist Prevailing Wage
When a U.S. employer sponsors a Seed and Fertilizer Specialist for a work visa or green card, DOL applies the prevailing wage schedule for SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). Wage level reflects the role's experience and responsibility, not the title itself.
Shipping Point Inspector Prevailing Wage
Shipping Point Inspector Prevailing Wage
Shipping Point Inspector is an O*NET-reported job title within SOC 45-2011.00 (Agricultural Inspectors). All roles in this SOC share the same prevailing wage tiers. The level an employer files at depends on what the role requires, not which title is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does DOL set the prevailing wage for Agricultural Inspectors?
DOL uses Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics through regional employer surveys. For Agricultural Inspectors (SOC 45-2011), OFLC calculates four wage levels based on experience and responsibility, then assigns a dollar floor to each level for every defined survey area. Employers sponsoring H-1B or PERM applicants must certify on the LCA that the offered wage meets or exceeds the applicable floor.
What do the four wage levels mean and how do I identify mine?
Level 1 is entry-level with close supervision; Level 2 is qualified with independent task completion; Level 3 is experienced with complex assignments and some supervisory scope; Level 4 is fully competent in senior or lead positions. Your level is determined by the actual job duties in the LCA, not your title alone. Review the position description your employer files with OFLC to confirm the level matches your responsibilities.
Why does the prevailing wage for the same Agricultural Inspector role vary so much by city?
OFLC bases prevailing wages on regional OES surveys, which capture local employer pay practices. A Food Inspector role in San Francisco sits in a high-cost, high-demand labor market, so the surveyed wages are higher. The LCA worksite rule requires employers to use the wage floor for the actual work location, not headquarters or a national average, so even identical job duties carry different floors in Dothan versus Seattle.
What happens if my job offer is below the prevailing wage for a sponsored position?
An LCA certified with a wage below the DOL prevailing wage floor is invalid. USCIS will not approve an H-1B petition supported by a noncompliant LCA, and PERM applications face rejection at the OFLC stage. If you discover the offered salary falls below the applicable floor, the employer must either increase the offered wage before filing or refile at a corrected level. You should not accept sponsorship based on a below-floor LCA.
How do I find and verify the prevailing wage for Agricultural Inspectors in a specific U.S. city?
Use the OFLC Wage Search tool to look up SOC 45-2011 by metropolitan area or county. Select the survey year matching your employer's intended LCA filing period. Cross-check the result against O*NET for occupation-level context. For finding employers who have actually sponsored this role in your target city, Migrate Mate lets you filter sponsored job listings by role and location so you can compare real offers against the DOL floor.
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