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- San Jose, CA vs Washington, DC
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
San Jose, CA vs Washington, DC: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $10,746 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 Washington, DC once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| San Jose, CA | Washington, DC | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $126,817 | $116,071 |
| Locality pay | 46.34% | 33.94% |
| Local price level | 115.6 | 108.9 |
| What it buys | $109,691 | $106,601 |
| Rank on paper | #1 | #5 |
| Rank by what it buys | #22 | #34 |
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 Washington, DC does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | San Jose, CA | Washington, DC | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 37,447 | 34,274 | +912 |
| GS-2 | 40,767 | 37,313 | +993 |
| GS-3 | 45,957 | 42,063 | +1,120 |
| GS-4 | 51,586 | 47,215 | +1,257 |
| GS-5 | 57,715 | 52,825 | +1,406 |
| GS-6 | 64,335 | 58,884 | +1,567 |
| GS-7 | 71,493 | 65,435 | +1,742 |
| GS-8 | 79,173 | 72,464 | +1,929 |
| GS-9 | 87,451 | 80,041 | +2,131 |
| GS-10 | 96,298 | 88,138 | +2,347 |
| GS-11 | 105,808 | 96,843 | +2,578 |
| GS-12 | 126,817 | 116,071 | +3,090 |
| GS-13 | 150,802 | 138,024 | +3,674 |
| GS-14 | 178,204 | 163,104 | +4,342 |
| GS-15 | 197,200 | 191,850 | −5,628 |
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 | Washington, DC | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 111,896 | 102,415 | 9,481 |
| Step 2 | 115,626 | 105,829 | 9,797 |
| Step 3 | 119,356 | 109,243 | 10,113 |
| Step 4 | 123,087 | 112,657 | 10,430 |
| Step 5 | 126,817 | 116,071 | 10,746 |
| Step 6 | 130,547 | 119,485 | 11,062 |
| Step 7 | 134,277 | 122,899 | 11,378 |
| Step 8 | 138,007 | 126,313 | 11,694 |
| Step 9 | 141,738 | 129,728 | 12,010 |
| Step 10 | 145,468 | 133,142 | 12,326 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $10,746 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $3,090 of extra purchasing power — about 29% 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 $37.26 in Washington, DC. A GS-12 step 5 earns $60.77 an hour in San Jose, CA and $55.62 in Washington, DC, and is paid $61.07 and $55.89 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 Washington, DC 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 Washington, DC.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 6 in Washington, DC.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 6 in Washington, DC.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Jose, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 6 in Washington, DC.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from Washington, DC 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; Washington, DC 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. Washington, DC is the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA area. 55 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA table: every grade and step. To put your own grade and step against either, use the pay calculator.