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- Los Angeles, CA vs San Diego, CA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Los Angeles, CA vs San Diego, CA: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $2,384 more a year in Los Angeles, CA. Whether that leaves you better off is a different question, and this page answers it.
That is the difference in purchasing power between the two — less than one percent of the salary, which is inside the error of the price data. On the money these are the same place, and the choice belongs to everything else.
| Los Angeles, CA | San Diego, CA | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $118,264 | $115,880 |
| Locality pay | 36.47% | 33.72% |
| Local price level | 113.6 | 111.9 |
| What it buys | $104,137 | $103,569 |
| Rank on paper | #3 | #6 |
| Rank by what it buys | #44 | #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 Los Angeles, CA comes out ahead, negative means San Diego, CA does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | Los Angeles, CA | San Diego, CA | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 34,921 | 34,218 | +167 |
| GS-2 | 38,018 | 37,252 | +182 |
| GS-3 | 42,857 | 41,993 | +206 |
| GS-4 | 48,107 | 47,138 | +230 |
| GS-5 | 53,822 | 52,738 | +258 |
| GS-6 | 59,996 | 58,787 | +288 |
| GS-7 | 66,671 | 65,328 | +319 |
| GS-8 | 73,833 | 72,345 | +354 |
| GS-9 | 81,553 | 79,910 | +391 |
| GS-10 | 89,803 | 87,993 | +431 |
| GS-11 | 98,672 | 96,684 | +473 |
| GS-12 | 118,264 | 115,880 | +568 |
| GS-13 | 140,631 | 137,797 | +675 |
| GS-14 | 166,185 | 162,836 | +797 |
| GS-15 | 195,474 | 191,535 | +938 |
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 | Los Angeles, CA | San Diego, CA | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 104,349 | 102,246 | 2,103 |
| Step 2 | 107,828 | 105,655 | 2,173 |
| Step 3 | 111,306 | 109,063 | 2,243 |
| Step 4 | 114,785 | 112,472 | 2,313 |
| Step 5 | 118,264 | 115,880 | 2,384 |
| Step 6 | 121,742 | 119,289 | 2,453 |
| Step 7 | 125,221 | 122,697 | 2,524 |
| Step 8 | 128,699 | 126,106 | 2,593 |
| Step 9 | 132,178 | 129,515 | 2,663 |
| Step 10 | 135,657 | 132,923 | 2,734 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $2,384 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $568 of extra purchasing power — about 24% 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: $37.97 an hour in Los Angeles, CA against $37.20 in San Diego, CA. A GS-12 step 5 earns $56.67 an hour in Los Angeles, CA and $55.52 in San Diego, CA, and is paid $56.96 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 Los Angeles, CA are higher, so a salary there does less work. The question that follows is obvious: what would you have to earn in San Diego, CA to be equally well off? These are the equivalents, at the same step:
- A GS-11 step 5 in Los Angeles, CA is matched by a GS-10 step 9 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-12 step 5 in Los Angeles, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 6 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-13 step 5 in Los Angeles, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 6 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-14 step 5 in Los Angeles, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 6 in San Diego, CA.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from San Diego, CA to Los Angeles, 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.
Los Angeles, CA 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
Los Angeles, CA is the Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA locality pay area, 9 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 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.