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- Washington, DC vs San Diego, CA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Washington, DC vs San Diego, CA: GS pay compared, 2026
The same grade and step pays $191 more a year in Washington, DC. 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 Washington, DC than in San Diego, CA once local prices are counted. Here the bigger paycheck and the better outcome point the same way.
| Washington, DC | San Diego, CA | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary on paper | $116,071 | $115,880 |
| Locality pay | 33.94% | 33.72% |
| Local price level | 108.9 | 111.9 |
| What it buys | $106,601 | $103,569 |
| Rank on paper | #5 | #6 |
| Rank by what it buys | #34 | #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 Washington, DC comes out ahead, negative means San Diego, CA does. Cells marked ▲ have been cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
| Grade | Washington, DC | San Diego, CA | Difference after prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 34,274 | 34,218 | +895 |
| GS-2 | 37,313 | 37,252 | +974 |
| GS-3 | 42,063 | 41,993 | +1,099 |
| GS-4 | 47,215 | 47,138 | +1,233 |
| GS-5 | 52,825 | 52,738 | +1,380 |
| GS-6 | 58,884 | 58,787 | +1,538 |
| GS-7 | 65,435 | 65,328 | +1,709 |
| GS-8 | 72,464 | 72,345 | +1,893 |
| GS-9 | 80,041 | 79,910 | +2,090 |
| GS-10 | 88,138 | 87,993 | +2,302 |
| GS-11 | 96,843 | 96,684 | +2,529 |
| GS-12 | 116,071 | 115,880 | +3,032 |
| GS-13 | 138,024 | 137,797 | +3,605 |
| GS-14 | 163,104 | 162,836 | +4,260 |
| GS-15 | 191,850 | 191,535 | +5,011 |
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 | Washington, DC | San Diego, CA | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Step 1 | 102,415 | 102,246 | 169 |
| Step 2 | 105,829 | 105,655 | 174 |
| Step 3 | 109,243 | 109,063 | 180 |
| Step 4 | 112,657 | 112,472 | 185 |
| Step 5 | 116,071 | 115,880 | 191 |
| Step 6 | 119,485 | 119,289 | 196 |
| Step 7 | 122,899 | 122,697 | 202 |
| Step 8 | 126,313 | 126,106 | 207 |
| Step 9 | 129,728 | 129,515 | 213 |
| Step 10 | 133,142 | 132,923 | 219 |
The gap in the last column is the one on the offer letter. After local prices, $191 of extra salary at step 5 is worth $3,032 of extra purchasing power — about 1587% 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: $37.26 an hour in Washington, DC against $37.20 in San Diego, CA. A GS-12 step 5 earns $55.62 an hour in Washington, DC and $55.52 in San Diego, CA, and is paid $55.89 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 Diego, 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 Diego, CA is matched by a GS-10 step 8 in Washington, DC.
- A GS-12 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-12 step 5 in Washington, DC.
- A GS-13 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-13 step 5 in Washington, DC.
- A GS-14 step 5 in San Diego, CA is matched by a GS-14 step 5 in Washington, DC.
Read that in the other direction and it is a negotiating fact: a move from Washington, DC to San Diego, 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.
Washington, DC has 5 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
Washington, DC is the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA locality pay area, 55 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 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA 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.