Civil Service Pay Scale: GS Grades, Steps, and Locality Pay

The federal civil service pay scale, known formally as the General Schedule, sets salaries for about 1.5 million federal white-collar workers by sorting jobs into 15 grades and 10 steps within each grade, then adding a locality percentage based on where you work. For 2026, base pay rose 1.0 percent across the board, and locality percentages were held at their 2025 levels.¹

How the 15 Grades Work

The General Schedule is set by statute as a pay schedule of 15 grades, GS-1 through GS-15, with 10 rates of pay in each grade.² Lower grades cover clerical and entry-level work. Higher grades cover professional, technical, and senior management jobs. The grade assigned to a position reflects the complexity of the duties, the judgment required, and the scope of responsibility.

Education largely determines where you enter. A high school diploma with no additional experience typically qualifies you for GS-2. A bachelor’s degree opens the door to GS-5. A master’s degree generally qualifies you for GS-9.³ Specialized experience, graduate coursework, or a combination can push initial placement higher. GS-14 and GS-15 almost always require extensive professional experience plus demonstrated leadership or policy-making authority.

Steps and 2026 Base Pay

Within each grade, the 10 steps form a built-in raise structure. Step 1 is the entry rate; step 10 is the ceiling. A General Schedule pay table lays grades down the left side and steps across the top, and every intersection is a specific dollar figure.

Sample 2026 base pay figures at step 1, before any locality adjustment:

GS-5, Step 1: $34,799
GS-7, Step 1: $43,106
GS-9, Step 1: $52,727
GS-12, Step 1: $76,463

These are starting points. Nearly every federal employee also receives a locality payment on top. The full 2026 tables, covering all 15 grades and 10 steps, are published by the Office of Personnel Management and updated each January.⁴

Because every employee at a given grade and step earns the same base rate, there is no individual salary negotiation in the traditional sense. The grid removes that ambiguity, which is either a feature or a frustration depending on your perspective.

Locality Pay

Base pay understates what most federal employees actually earn. Under the locality-based comparability payment system, the government adds a percentage on top of base pay to keep federal salaries closer to private-sector wages in each region.⁵ Any area where federal pay trails private-sector pay by more than 5 percent qualifies.

For 2026, the government recognizes 56 locality pay areas, plus separate tables for Alaska and Hawaii.⁴ High-cost metros like San Francisco, New York, and the Washington-Baltimore corridor receive the largest bumps. Employees who work outside a named metro area fall under the “Rest of United States” category, which carries a 17.06 percent locality adjustment in 2026.⁶

These percentages are recalculated annually from surveys comparing federal to non-federal pay in each area, though the 2026 cycle held them at 2025 levels.¹ The effect is real: a GS-12, Step 1 employee earning $76,463 in base pay takes home noticeably more once the locality percentage is applied.

Non-Foreign OCONUS Areas

Federal employees stationed outside the contiguous United States but still in U.S. territory — Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands — receive a separate cost-of-living allowance instead of, or in addition to, standard locality pay. OPM sets the rate by comparing living costs in the duty station against living costs in the Washington, D.C., area. The allowance is paid as a percentage of basic pay, but it is not treated as basic pay for retirement or life insurance calculations.⁷

Moving Up Through the Steps

You don’t need a promotion to earn more. Within-grade increases carry you from one step to the next as long as your performance is at an acceptable level. Waiting periods lengthen as you climb:⁸

Steps 2, 3, and 4: 52 weeks at each preceding step
Steps 5, 6, and 7: 104 weeks at each preceding step
Steps 8, 9, and 10: 156 weeks at each preceding step

Running from step 1 to step 10 takes 18 years if you hit every waiting period on schedule. The only performance requirement is work at an “acceptable level of competence” as determined by your agency. A truly poor rating can delay or deny an increase, but the bar is not high, and most employees advance on time.

Quality Step Increases

Employees who earn the highest available performance rating can receive a quality step increase, moving them up one step without waiting out the normal period. You can only get one per 52-week span, and the rating must reflect sustained outstanding performance rather than a single strong quarter.⁹ These are discretionary. Many agencies grant them sparingly, but they reward high performers who might otherwise be stuck waiting for a three-year step clock.

Promotions and the Two-Step Rule

When you move to a higher grade, your new pay isn’t automatically step 1 of that grade. Federal law guarantees the new rate will be at least two step increases above your current rate in the lower grade.¹⁰ Your agency calculates what two step increases would add to your current pay, then places you at the lowest step in the new grade that meets or exceeds that amount.

The rule matters most at mid-career. A GS-11, Step 7 employee promoted to GS-12 won’t land on GS-12, Step 1 if that step pays less than two step increases above GS-11, Step 7. The rule ensures every promotion carries a meaningful raise.

Promotions happen two ways. Some positions are structured as “career ladders” where the announcement covers multiple grades, like GS-7 through GS-12. You move up each year as long as you demonstrate the ability to perform at the next level. Other promotions are competitive: you apply for a separate announcement at a higher grade and are selected through a merit-based process. Either way, most agencies require at least one year of service at your current grade before you’re eligible for the next.¹¹

Premium Pay and Special Rates

Federal employees who work outside standard daytime hours earn premium pay. For regularly scheduled work between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., the night pay differential adds 10 percent to your rate of basic pay, including any locality adjustment.¹² Regularly scheduled non-overtime work on Sundays carries a 25 percent premium on basic pay, up to eight hours for most employees.¹³ Night pay and Sunday premium pay stack. An employee working a regular Sunday night shift earns both.

Special Rates for Hard-to-Fill Jobs

When standard pay fails to attract or keep qualified workers in certain occupations or locations, OPM can establish special pay rates that exceed the normal General Schedule amounts.¹⁴ Triggers include private-sector pay that significantly outpaces federal pay, remote duty stations, hazardous working conditions, or any other circumstance making recruitment difficult. STEM positions, certain medical roles, and information technology jobs commonly receive special rates. The tables follow the same grade-and-step structure, so the system stays consistent even when the dollar amounts are higher.¹⁵

Pay Caps

No matter how high your grade, step, and locality percentage push your salary, General Schedule pay cannot exceed the rate for Level IV of the Executive Schedule.⁵ For 2026, that cap is $197,200.¹ This mainly hits GS-15 employees in high-cost locality areas, where a top step plus a large locality percentage would otherwise push total pay above the cap. When it hits, the locality-adjusted rate is simply capped at $197,200.

A separate aggregate limitation restricts total compensation, including bonuses, awards, overtime, and other premium payments, to $253,100 per calendar year, which is the rate for Executive Schedule Level I.¹⁶

Federal Jobs That Sit Outside the General Schedule

The General Schedule is the largest civil service pay system, not the only one. If you’re comparing an offer or reading a job announcement, check which system applies, because the rules for setting and advancing pay differ.

Federal Wage System

Blue-collar federal employees, including mechanics, electricians, warehouse workers, and other trade and labor occupations, are paid hourly under the Federal Wage System rather than the General Schedule. The goal is to match what local private-sector employers pay for comparable work, and OPM conducts wage surveys across local wage areas to set rates.¹⁷

Senior Executive Service

The Senior Executive Service covers top career leaders and executives. SES pay does not use grades and steps. It operates in a broad pay band with a minimum equal to 120 percent of GS-15, Step 1. The maximum depends on whether the agency has a certified performance appraisal system: certified agencies can pay up to Executive Schedule Level II, and uncertified agencies are capped at Level III.¹⁸ For 2026, the SES range runs from $151,661 to either $209,600 or $228,000 depending on certification status.¹⁶

Senior-Level and Scientific/Professional Positions

Positions classified as Senior Level (SL) or Scientific and Professional (ST) fall outside both the General Schedule and the SES. The pay band mirrors the SES formula: the floor is 120 percent of GS-15, Step 1, and the ceiling is Executive Schedule Level III or Level II depending on appraisal certification.¹⁹ These roles usually involve highly specialized technical or scientific expertise where the standard grade-and-step structure would be too rigid to recruit top talent.

1
Federal Register. January 2026 Pay Schedules
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5332 – The General Schedule
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. General Schedule
4
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2026 General Schedule Salary Tables
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5304 – Locality-Based Comparability Payments
6
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. 2026 Salary Table – Rest of United States
7
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 591 Subpart B – Cost-of-Living Allowance and Post Differential
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5335 – Periodic Step-Increases
9
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Quality Step Increase
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5334 – Rate on Change of Position or Grade
11
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Promotions
12
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Night Pay for General Schedule Employees
13
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fact Sheet: Sunday Premium Pay
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5305 – Special Pay Authority
15
eCFR. 5 CFR Part 530 Subpart C – Special Rate Schedules for Recruitment and Retention
16
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. January 2026 Pay Adjustments
17
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Wage System
18
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Senior Executive Service – Compensation
19
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 5376 – Pay for Certain Senior-Level Positions