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- San Jose, CA vs New York, NY
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
San Jose, CA vs New York, NY: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $7,271 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 New York, NY once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| San Jose, CA | New York, NY | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $126,817 | $119,546 |
| Locality pay | 46.34% | 37.95% |
| Local price level | 115.6 | 112.6 |
| What it buys | $109,691 | $106,204 |
| Rank on paper | #1 | #2 |
| Rank by what it buys | #22 | #37 |
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 New York, NY does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | San Jose, CA | New York, NY | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 37,447 | 35,300 | +1,030 |
| GS-2 | 40,767 | 38,430 | +1,121 |
| GS-3 | 45,957 | 43,322 | +1,264 |
| GS-4 | 51,586 | 48,629 | +1,418 |
| GS-5 | 57,715 | 54,406 | +1,587 |
| GS-6 | 64,335 | 60,647 | +1,769 |
| GS-7 | 71,493 | 67,394 | +1,966 |
| GS-8 | 79,173 | 74,634 | +2,177 |
| GS-9 | 87,451 | 82,438 | +2,404 |
| GS-10 | 96,298 | 90,777 | +2,648 |
| GS-11 | 105,808 | 99,742 | +2,909 |
| GS-12 | 126,817 | 119,546 | +3,487 |
| GS-13 | 150,802 | 142,156 | +4,147 |
| GS-14 | 178,204 | 167,987 | +4,900 |
| GS-15 | 197,200 | 197,200 | −4,622 |
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 | New York, NY | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 111,896 | 105,481 | 6,415 |
| Step 2 | 115,626 | 108,997 | 6,629 |
| Step 3 | 119,356 | 112,513 | 6,843 |
| Step 4 | 123,087 | 116,030 | 7,057 |
| Step 5 | 126,817 | 119,546 | 7,271 |
| Step 6 | 130,547 | 123,062 | 7,485 |
| Step 7 | 134,277 | 126,579 | 7,698 |
| Step 8 | 138,007 | 130,095 | 7,912 |
| Step 9 | 141,738 | 133,611 | 8,127 |
| Step 10 | 145,468 | 137,128 | 8,340 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $7,271 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $3,487 of extra purchasing power — about 48% 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 $38.38 in New York, NY. A GS-12 step 5 earns $60.77 an hour in San Jose, CA and $57.28 in New York, NY, and is paid $61.07 and $57.57 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 New York, NY 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-10 step 10 in New York, NY.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 7 in New York, NY.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 7 in New York, NY.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 7 in New York, NY.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from New York, NY 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; New York, NY has 6. 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. New York, NY is the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA area. 37 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 New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.