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- New York, NY vs Houston, TX
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
New York, NY vs Houston, TX: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $2,556 more a year in New York, NY. 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 New York, NY, once local prices are counted — even though New York, NY pays $2,556 more on paper.
| New York, NY | Houston, TX | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $119,546 | $116,990 |
| Locality pay | 37.95% | 35% |
| Local price level | 112.6 | 98.6 |
| What it buys | $106,204 | $118,616 |
| Rank on paper | #2 | #4 |
| Rank by what it buys | #37 | #3 |
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 New York, NY comes out ahead, negative means Houston, TX does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | New York, NY | Houston, TX | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 35,300 | 34,545 | −3,665 |
| GS-2 | 38,430 | 37,608 | −3,990 |
| GS-3 | 43,322 | 42,395 | −4,497 |
| GS-4 | 48,629 | 47,589 | −5,049 |
| GS-5 | 54,406 | 53,243 | −5,649 |
| GS-6 | 60,647 | 59,350 | −6,297 |
| GS-7 | 67,394 | 65,953 | −6,998 |
| GS-8 | 74,634 | 73,038 | −7,749 |
| GS-9 | 82,438 | 80,675 | −8,559 |
| GS-10 | 90,777 | 88,835 | −9,424 |
| GS-11 | 99,742 | 97,609 | −10,356 |
| GS-12 | 119,546 | 116,990 | −12,413 |
| GS-13 | 142,156 | 139,116 | −14,760 |
| GS-14 | 167,987 | 164,395 | −17,442 |
| GS-15 | 197,200 | 193,369 | −20,866 |
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 | New York, NY | Houston, TX | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 105,481 | 103,225 | 2,256 |
| Step 2 | 108,997 | 106,666 | 2,331 |
| Step 3 | 112,513 | 110,107 | 2,406 |
| Step 4 | 116,030 | 113,549 | 2,481 |
| Step 5 | 119,546 | 116,990 | 2,556 |
| Step 6 | 123,062 | 120,431 | 2,631 |
| Step 7 | 126,579 | 123,872 | 2,707 |
| Step 8 | 130,095 | 127,313 | 2,782 |
| Step 9 | 133,611 | 130,754 | 2,857 |
| Step 10 | 137,128 | 134,195 | 2,933 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $2,556 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $-12,413 of extra purchasing power — about -486% 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: $38.38 an hour in New York, NY against $37.56 in Houston, TX. A GS-12 step 5 earns $57.28 an hour in New York, NY and $56.06 in Houston, TX, and is paid $57.57 and $56.34 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 New York, NY 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 New York, NY is matched by a GS-9 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-12 step 5 in New York, NY is matched by a GS-11 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-13 step 5 in New York, NY is matched by a GS-12 step 8 in Houston, TX.
- A GS-14 step 5 in New York, NY 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 New York, NY 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.
New York, NY has 6 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
New York, NY is the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA locality pay area, 37 counties. Houston, TX is the Houston-The Woodlands, TX area. 19 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 New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA table: every grade and step. The full Houston-The Woodlands, TX table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.