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- Houston, TX vs Washington, DC
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Houston, TX vs Washington, DC: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $919 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 Washington, DC once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| Houston, TX | Washington, DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $116,990 | $116,071 |
| Locality pay | 35% | 33.94% |
| Local price level | 98.6 | 108.9 |
| What it buys | $118,616 | $106,601 |
| Rank on paper | #4 | #5 |
| Rank by what it buys | #3 | #34 |
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 Washington, DC does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | Houston, TX | Washington, DC | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 34,545 | 34,274 | +3,548 |
| GS-2 | 37,608 | 37,313 | +3,862 |
| GS-3 | 42,395 | 42,063 | +4,353 |
| GS-4 | 47,589 | 47,215 | +4,888 |
| GS-5 | 53,243 | 52,825 | +5,468 |
| GS-6 | 59,350 | 58,884 | +6,095 |
| GS-7 | 65,953 | 65,435 | +6,774 |
| GS-8 | 73,038 | 72,464 | +7,502 |
| GS-9 | 80,675 | 80,041 | +8,286 |
| GS-10 | 88,835 | 88,138 | +9,123 |
| GS-11 | 97,609 | 96,843 | +10,024 |
| GS-12 | 116,990 | 116,071 | +12,016 |
| GS-13 | 139,116 | 138,024 | +14,287 |
| GS-14 | 164,395 | 163,104 | +16,884 |
| GS-15 | 193,369 | 191,850 | +19,860 |
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 | Washington, DC | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 103,225 | 102,415 | 810 |
| Step 2 | 106,666 | 105,829 | 837 |
| Step 3 | 110,107 | 109,243 | 864 |
| Step 4 | 113,549 | 112,657 | 892 |
| Step 5 | 116,990 | 116,071 | 919 |
| Step 6 | 120,431 | 119,485 | 946 |
| Step 7 | 123,872 | 122,899 | 973 |
| Step 8 | 127,313 | 126,313 | 1,000 |
| Step 9 | 130,754 | 129,728 | 1,026 |
| Step 10 | 134,195 | 133,142 | 1,053 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $919 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $12,016 of extra purchasing power — about 1307% 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 $37.26 in Washington, DC. A GS-12 step 5 earns $56.06 an hour in Houston, TX and $55.62 in Washington, DC, and is paid $56.34 and $55.89 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 Washington, DC 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 Washington, DC is matched by a GS-9 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-12 step 5 in Washington, DC is matched by a GS-11 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-13 step 5 in Washington, DC is matched by a GS-12 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-14 step 5 in Washington, DC is matched by a GS-13 step 8 in Houston, TX.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from Houston, TX to Washington, DC 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.
Washington, DC has 5 of its 150 cells pinned to the ceiling; Houston, TX has 5. 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. Washington, DC is the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA area. 55 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.