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- Houston, TX vs San Diego, CA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Houston, TX vs San Diego, CA: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $1,110 more a year in Houston, TX. Whether that leaves you better off is a different question, and this page answers it.
That is how much more a GS-12 step 5 is worth in Houston, TX than in San Diego, CA once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| Houston, TX | San Diego, CA | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $116,990 | $115,880 |
| Locality pay | 35% | 33.72% |
| Local price level | 98.6 | 111.9 |
| What it buys | $118,616 | $103,569 |
| Rank on paper | #4 | #6 |
| Rank by what it buys | #3 | #46 |
The first two columns are the salaries as published. The last column is the difference in what those salaries buy after local prices — positive means Houston, TX comes out ahead, negative means San Diego, CA does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | Houston, TX | San Diego, CA | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 34,545 | 34,218 | +4,443 |
| GS-2 | 37,608 | 37,252 | +4,836 |
| GS-3 | 42,395 | 41,993 | +5,453 |
| GS-4 | 47,589 | 47,138 | +6,121 |
| GS-5 | 53,243 | 52,738 | +6,848 |
| GS-6 | 59,350 | 58,787 | +7,634 |
| GS-7 | 65,953 | 65,328 | +8,482 |
| GS-8 | 73,038 | 72,345 | +9,394 |
| GS-9 | 80,675 | 79,910 | +10,376 |
| GS-10 | 88,835 | 87,993 | +11,425 |
| GS-11 | 97,609 | 96,684 | +12,554 |
| GS-12 | 116,990 | 115,880 | +15,047 |
| GS-13 | 139,116 | 137,797 | +17,893 |
| GS-14 | 164,395 | 162,836 | +21,144 |
| GS-15 | 193,369 | 191,535 | +24,871 |
Step by step at GS-12
Comparing offers rarely means comparing the same cell. This is GS-12 across all ten steps in both areas, so a step 3 offer in one can be read against a step 7 offer in the other without arithmetic.
| GS-12 | Houston, TX | San Diego, CA | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 103,225 | 102,246 | 979 |
| Step 2 | 106,666 | 105,655 | 1,011 |
| Step 3 | 110,107 | 109,063 | 1,044 |
| Step 4 | 113,549 | 112,472 | 1,077 |
| Step 5 | 116,990 | 115,880 | 1,110 |
| Step 6 | 120,431 | 119,289 | 1,142 |
| Step 7 | 123,872 | 122,697 | 1,175 |
| Step 8 | 127,313 | 126,106 | 1,207 |
| Step 9 | 130,754 | 129,515 | 1,239 |
| Step 10 | 134,195 | 132,923 | 1,272 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $1,110 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $15,047 of extra purchasing power — about 1356% of what it looks like. The rest is absorbed by the difference in what things cost.
Overtime is capped, and the cap differs
Under 5 U.S.C. 5542 an overtime hour is paid at one and a half times your hourly rate only while that rate stays at or below the hourly rate of GS-10 step 1 in your own locality. Above it, the hour is paid at the greater of your own rate and one and a half times that GS-10 step 1 figure — not both.
That threshold is a local number, so it differs between these two areas: $37.56 an hour in Houston, TX against $37.20 in San Diego, CA. A GS-12 step 5 earns $56.06 an hour in Houston, TX and $55.52 in San Diego, CA, and is paid $56.34 and $55.80 respectively for an overtime hour.
In both areas the overtime hour still carries a genuine premium at this grade. It stops doing so higher up the schedule, and sooner in the better-paid area.
The same money, a grade lower
Prices in San Diego, CA are higher, so a salary there does less work. The question that follows is obvious: what would you have to earn in Houston, TX to be equally well off? These are the equivalents, at the same step:
- A GS-11 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-9 step 7 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-11 step 7 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 7 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 7 in Houston, TX.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from Houston, TX to San Diego, CA at the same grade is not a raise, whatever the offer letter says.
Where raises stop counting
No General Schedule rate may exceed Level IV of the Executive Schedule, $197,200 in 2026. Inside that band a step increase produces a bigger number in the formula, the law cuts it back, and the payslip does not move.
Houston, TX has 5 of its 150 cells pinned to the ceiling; San Diego, CA has 4. The higher-paying area runs out of room first, which matters more over a career than the difference in any single year.
What each area covers
Houston, TX is the Houston-The Woodlands, TX locality pay area, 19 counties. San Diego, CA is the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA area. 1 counties. Locality follows your duty station, not your home address and not your agency headquarters, so a house on the wrong side of a county line does not change the rate — the building you report to does.
The full Houston-The Woodlands, TX table: every grade and step. The full San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.