FedPayscale - Federal pay tables and calculators
Look up the official 2026 General Schedule base pay table, browse Federal Wage System hourly schedules, compare locality pay areas, review the law enforcement officer scale, check Senior Executive Service pay, open military pay charts and allowances, browse federal per diem rates, and pull up the federal holiday schedule. We publish public federal pay tables and allowance data in a simple, printable format with clear explanations and direct lookup pages.
Which pay system applies to you?
Most people coming here are trying to answer one simple question first: which federal pay table covers this job? General Schedule applies to most civilian office and professional roles. Federal Wage System applies to hourly trade, craft, and labor jobs. Law Enforcement Officer pay covers GL grades. Senior Executive Service and Executive Schedule cover senior leadership roles. Military basic pay covers enlisted, warrant officer, and commissioned officer grades.
General Schedule
Use this for most civilian white-collar federal jobs with grades, steps, and locality pay.
Federal Wage System
Use this for hourly trade, craft, and labor jobs with WG, WL, and WS pay tables.
Law enforcement and senior pay
Use LEO for GL law enforcement grades, or SES and Executive Schedule for senior leadership pay.
Military pay
Use this for enlisted, warrant officer, and officer basic pay, BAH, BAS, and branch rank pages.
Start here: how do you want to look up federal pay?
Most federal employees need one of three things: the nationwide GS base table, the locality-adjusted table for their duty station, or a quick salary estimate by grade and step. Pick whichever one matches your situation.
1. Browse the 2026 GS base table
The nationwide GS schedule. 15 grades, 10 steps. Links into every single-grade page.
2. Find your locality pay area
Every OPM locality pay area with its current adjustment percentage and full pay table.
3. Calculate your GS pay
Annual, biweekly and hourly salary for any grade, step and locality combination.
Jump straight to a 2026 GS grade
Every grade has its own pay scale page for each year. The number below each grade is that grade's nationwide Step 1 base salary for 2026.
2026 General Schedule at a glance
For 2026, OPM issued a 1.0% across-the-board increase to the base General Schedule. Every locality pay area adds its own geographic adjustment on top, ranging from 17.06% in Rest of U.S. to 46.34% in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland.
Top locality pay areas
GS base raise history
Base-only raise. See the full raise history.
Other federal pay and reference sections
Use these sections when you need an hourly Federal Wage System table, a Law Enforcement Officer pay chart, Senior Executive Service pay, military pay and allowances, federal per diem rates, holiday schedules, or the main federal departments directory.
General Schedule
Look up GS base pay, locality-adjusted tables, and simple grade-and-step salary estimates.
Law Enforcement
Find GL pay tables for federal law enforcement roles, plus grade pages and a quick calculator.
Federal Wage System
Check hourly federal trade, craft, and labor pay by state, wage area, and county coverage.
Senior Executive Service
See the SES pay range, Executive Schedule levels, and senior-pay reference pages.
Military Basic Pay
Browse military basic pay by grade or branch, then add BAH and BAS with the calculator.
Executive Schedule
See Level 1 through Level 5 pay for top appointed federal leadership roles.
Other federal reference pages people use a lot
Pay tables are usually only one part of the question. Travel planning, holiday schedules, and department contact pages come up all the time too, especially when you are comparing duty stations, travel rules, and agency information in one place.
Federal per diem rates
Look up current lodging and M&IE rates by state and destination for official federal travel.
Federal holidays
Check the holiday calendar, observed dates, and downloadable files for each federal holiday year.
Federal departments
Find the main executive departments, official websites, and public contact information.
Employee salary data
Browse agency and occupation pages to compare employee counts, average pay, and salary totals.
Common questions about federal pay
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What is the General Schedule (GS) pay scale?
The General Schedule is the pay scale used by about 70% of civilian white-collar federal employees. It has 15 grades (GS-1 to GS-15), and each grade has 10 steps. Your grade is tied to your position, and your step is based on how long you have served in that grade. Most employees are paid from a locality-adjusted version of the base table. -
How do I know my GS grade and step?
Your GS grade and step are printed on your latest SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action, under blocks 18 and 19. You can also check your earnings and leave statement (LES). Once you know both, look up the matching 2026 base table or your locality table. -
How is locality pay calculated?
Locality pay is a percentage set by the President's Pay Agent each year for each GS locality pay area. It is added on top of your base GS salary. For 2026, the average locality adjustment is 23.89%. The highest-paying area is San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland at 46.34%. -
How often do step increases happen?
Within-grade step increases happen automatically if performance is acceptable. Steps 1 to 4 take one year each, Steps 5 to 7 take two years each, and Steps 8 to 10 take three years each.