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- San Jose, CA vs Los Angeles, CA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
San Jose, CA vs Los Angeles, CA: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $8,553 more a year in San Jose, CA. 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 San Jose, CA than in Los Angeles, CA once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| San Jose, CA | Los Angeles, CA | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $126,817 | $118,264 |
| Locality pay | 46.34% | 36.47% |
| Local price level | 115.6 | 113.6 |
| What it buys | $109,691 | $104,137 |
| Rank on paper | #1 | #3 |
| Rank by what it buys | #22 | #44 |
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 San Jose, CA comes out ahead, negative means Los Angeles, CA does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | San Jose, CA | Los Angeles, CA | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 37,447 | 34,921 | +1,640 |
| GS-2 | 40,767 | 38,018 | +1,785 |
| GS-3 | 45,957 | 42,857 | +2,013 |
| GS-4 | 51,586 | 48,107 | +2,259 |
| GS-5 | 57,715 | 53,822 | +2,528 |
| GS-6 | 64,335 | 59,996 | +2,818 |
| GS-7 | 71,493 | 66,671 | +3,131 |
| GS-8 | 79,173 | 73,833 | +3,468 |
| GS-9 | 87,451 | 81,553 | +3,830 |
| GS-10 | 96,298 | 89,803 | +4,218 |
| GS-11 | 105,808 | 98,672 | +4,634 |
| GS-12 | 126,817 | 118,264 | +5,554 |
| GS-13 | 150,802 | 140,631 | +6,605 |
| GS-14 | 178,204 | 166,185 | +7,805 |
| GS-15 | 197,200 | 195,474 | −1,555 |
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 | San Jose, CA | Los Angeles, CA | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 111,896 | 104,349 | 7,547 |
| Step 2 | 115,626 | 107,828 | 7,798 |
| Step 3 | 119,356 | 111,306 | 8,050 |
| Step 4 | 123,087 | 114,785 | 8,302 |
| Step 5 | 126,817 | 118,264 | 8,553 |
| Step 6 | 130,547 | 121,742 | 8,805 |
| Step 7 | 134,277 | 125,221 | 9,056 |
| Step 8 | 138,007 | 128,699 | 9,308 |
| Step 9 | 141,738 | 132,178 | 9,560 |
| Step 10 | 145,468 | 135,657 | 9,811 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $8,553 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $5,554 of extra purchasing power — about 65% 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: $40.71 an hour in San Jose, CA against $37.97 in Los Angeles, CA. A GS-12 step 5 earns $60.77 an hour in San Jose, CA and $56.67 in Los Angeles, CA, and is paid $61.07 and $56.96 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 Jose, CA are higher, so a salary there does less work. The question that follows is obvious: what would you have to earn in Los Angeles, CA to be equally well off? These are the equivalents, at the same step:
- A GS-11 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-11 step 7 in Los Angeles, CA.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 7 in Los Angeles, CA.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 7 in Los Angeles, CA.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 7 in Los Angeles, CA.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from Los Angeles, CA to San Jose, 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.
San Jose, CA has 10 of its 150 cells pinned to the ceiling; Los Angeles, CA 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
San Jose, CA is the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA locality pay area, 16 counties. Los Angeles, CA is the Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA area. 9 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 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA table: every grade and step. The full Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.