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- San Jose, CA vs San Diego, CA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
San Jose, CA vs San Diego, CA: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $10,937 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 San Diego, CA once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| San Jose, CA | San Diego, CA | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $126,817 | $115,880 |
| Locality pay | 46.34% | 33.72% |
| Local price level | 115.6 | 111.9 |
| What it buys | $109,691 | $103,569 |
| Rank on paper | #1 | #6 |
| Rank by what it buys | #22 | #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 San Jose, CA comes out ahead, negative means San Diego, CA does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | San Jose, CA | San Diego, CA | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 37,447 | 34,218 | +1,807 |
| GS-2 | 40,767 | 37,252 | +1,967 |
| GS-3 | 45,957 | 41,993 | +2,219 |
| GS-4 | 51,586 | 47,138 | +2,490 |
| GS-5 | 57,715 | 52,738 | +2,786 |
| GS-6 | 64,335 | 58,787 | +3,105 |
| GS-7 | 71,493 | 65,328 | +3,451 |
| GS-8 | 79,173 | 72,345 | +3,822 |
| GS-9 | 87,451 | 79,910 | +4,221 |
| GS-10 | 96,298 | 87,993 | +4,649 |
| GS-11 | 105,808 | 96,684 | +5,107 |
| GS-12 | 126,817 | 115,880 | +6,122 |
| GS-13 | 150,802 | 137,797 | +7,280 |
| GS-14 | 178,204 | 162,836 | +8,602 |
| GS-15 | 197,200 | 191,535 | −617 |
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 | San Diego, CA | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 111,896 | 102,246 | 9,650 |
| Step 2 | 115,626 | 105,655 | 9,971 |
| Step 3 | 119,356 | 109,063 | 10,293 |
| Step 4 | 123,087 | 112,472 | 10,615 |
| Step 5 | 126,817 | 115,880 | 10,937 |
| Step 6 | 130,547 | 119,289 | 11,258 |
| Step 7 | 134,277 | 122,697 | 11,580 |
| Step 8 | 138,007 | 126,106 | 11,901 |
| Step 9 | 141,738 | 129,515 | 12,223 |
| Step 10 | 145,468 | 132,923 | 12,545 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $10,937 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $6,122 of extra purchasing power — about 56% 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 $37.20 in San Diego, CA. A GS-12 step 5 earns $60.77 an hour in San Jose, CA and $55.52 in San Diego, CA, and is paid $61.07 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 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 San Diego, 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 8 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 8 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 8 in San Diego, CA.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 8 in San Diego, CA.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from San Diego, 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; 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
San Jose, CA is the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA locality pay area, 16 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 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, 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.