GS-11 Pay Scale & Salary 2026: $63,795 Base, Up to $121,371

Who is on GS-11

Sources: OPM Federal Workforce Data, May 2026, pay only where OPM publishes it; national median wage: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (sources and caveats).
Employees on GS-11	182,099 employees, 14.2% of the 1,279,389 on the General Schedule (95 GS records carry no grade)
At GS-11 or higher	68.4% of them
Median full-time pay, locality included	$90,520, the median of the 93,294 full-time GS-11 employees whose pay OPM publishes, 52.2% of the grade’s 178,637 full-time employees
Median wage, all U.S. occupations	$50,980 a year, $24.51 an hour
Supervisors or managers	7%
At step 10	11%
Exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act	47%
Law enforcement officers	There is no GL table at GS-11: it stops at grade 10, so officers are paid from the table above unless OPM’s 2026 special rates cover the position (law enforcement pay)

GS-11 is the third-most common of the fifteen grades, with 182,099 employees in May 2026; the largest occupations are Miscellaneous Administration and Program (0301), Social Insurance Administration (0105) and Information Technology Management (2210), and the Department of Defense employs the most of them, 68,439.

11% have reached step 10, the top of the grade, the third-lowest share of any grade.

Every step of GS-11 is paid more an hour than GS-10 step 1, so for an employee exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (the rule, and who it covers) the overtime hour is capped at one and a half times the GS-10 step 1 rate: the premium is 36.6 percent at step 1 and 5.0 percent at step 10 in Rest of U.S.

68.4% of GS employees are at GS-11 or higher

At $90,520, the median full-time pay OPM publishes for GS-11 is 1.8 times the national median wage of $50,980 for all occupations; 182,099 of the 1,279,389 General Schedule employees in May 2026 are on GS-11.

Every step of GS-11 pays above the U.S. median hourly wage

$30.57 to $39.74 an hour in base pay, from step 1 to step 10, and with Rest of U.S. locality pay even step 1, $35.78, is above the national median of $24.51 an hour.

Military equivalent of GS-11: O-3

Military grade O-3 — a Captain in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a Lieutenant in the Navy and Coast Guard — is the rank DoD treats as equivalent to GS-11 on Geneva Conventions identification cards, as it does GS-10.

Source: DoD Instruction 1000.01, Tables 1 and 2 (what it is for, and its limits). This is not a pay equivalence.
Military grade	O-3
Geneva Conventions category	III, company grade officer
Army, Air Force, Marine Corps	Captain
Navy, Coast Guard	Lieutenant
Other GS grades in the same row	GS-10

GS-11 base pay, step by step

OPM 2026 base table, before locality pay; waits by 5 CFR 531.405 (reading these tables; the date of your next).
Step	Base rate	Hourly	Increase	Wait (weeks)	Total (years)
Step 1	$63,795	$30.57	—	—	0
Step 2	$65,922	$31.59	+$2,127	52	1
Step 3	$68,049	$32.61	+$2,127	52	2
Step 4	$70,176	$33.63	+$2,127	52	3
Step 5	$72,303	$34.64	+$2,127	104	5
Step 6	$74,430	$35.66	+$2,127	104	7
Step 7	$76,557	$36.68	+$2,127	104	9
Step 8	$78,684	$37.70	+$2,127	156	12
Step 9	$80,811	$38.72	+$2,127	156	15
Step 10	$82,938	$39.74	+$2,127	156	18

Who qualifies at GS-11

Under OPM’s qualification standard for administrative and management positions, GS-11 takes a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to one, or an LL.M. if related; or, instead of education, 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-9. Equivalent combinations of education and experience also qualify.

Each occupation has its own standard, and the qualifications section of a vacancy announcement is what decides. Source: OPM, General Schedule Qualification Standards, administrative and management positions.

GS-11 step 5 in every locality pay area

$84,638 in Rest of U.S. to $105,808 in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA, **$21,170** apart. Best off after prices: Laredo, TX, $87,913, worth $101,101 at national prices. Sources: OPM 2026 tables; BEA RPP 2024 (reading this table).
#	Locality	Salary	Price level	What it buys
1	San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA	$105,808	110.4	$95,821
2	New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA	$99,742	112.6	$88,610
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA	$98,672	113.6	$86,885
4	Houston-The Woodlands, TX	$97,609	98.6	$98,966
5	Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA	$96,843	108.9	$88,941
6	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$96,684	111.9	$86,412
7	Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME-VT	$95,859	108.3	$88,540
8	State of Alaska	$95,700	102.4	$93,494
9	Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA	$95,498	102.7	$92,946
10	Seattle-Tacoma, WA	$95,129	111.1	$85,599
11	Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI	$94,616	103.6	$91,333
12	Denver-Aurora, CO	$94,370	105.8	$89,212
13	Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV	$93,820	106.7	$87,954
14	Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI	$93,358	100.3	$93,081
15	Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$93,264	102.6	$90,941
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	$92,273	104.8	$88,028
17	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK	$92,013	103.1	$89,255
18	Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA	$91,196	105.4	$86,506
19	Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$90,140	114.2	$78,963
20	Atlanta--Athens-Clarke County--Sandy Springs, GA-AL	$89,504	100.1	$89,452
21	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	$88,535	103.3	$85,693
22	Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI	$88,513	96.9	$91,310
23	Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY	$88,506	95.8	$92,344
24	Richmond, VA	$88,412	97.9	$90,347
25	Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC	$88,383	98.2	$90,042
26	Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH-PA	$88,376	93.9	$94,094
27	State of Hawaii	$88,361	110.0	$80,364
28	Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH	$88,318	95.5	$92,510
29	Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN	$88,159	95.4	$92,439
30	Huntsville-Decatur, AL-TN	$88,145	93.1	$94,706
31	Laredo, TX	$87,913	87.0	$101,101
32	Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH	$87,790	92.7	$94,709
33	Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV	$87,508	94.7	$92,434
34	Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA	$87,320	99.6	$87,701
35	Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX	$87,017	98.1	$88,733
36	Colorado Springs, CO	$86,872	100.7	$86,262
37	St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL	$86,785	95.1	$91,268
38	Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC	$86,525	97.3	$88,882
39	Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ	$86,453	100.2	$86,268
40	Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT	$86,366	100.9	$85,554
41	Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA	$86,351	98.7	$87,533
42	Tucson-Nogales, AZ	$86,243	96.9	$89,006
43	Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS	$86,019	92.5	$92,950
44	Davenport-Moline, IA-IL	$85,990	89.1	$96,532
45	Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC	$85,896	97.9	$87,702
46	San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX	$85,882	94.7	$90,673
47	Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM	$85,556	95.5	$89,544
48	Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL	$85,491	91.6	$93,286
49	Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA	$85,484	91.9	$93,007
50	Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN	$85,426	95.7	$89,268
51	Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA	$85,325	91.7	$93,047
52	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$85,267	100.0	$85,263
53	Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY	$85,231	97.0	$87,835
54	Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d'Alene, WA-ID	$85,079	100.3	$84,786
55	Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA	$85,064	102.2	$83,267
56	Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX	$85,050	92.7	$91,776
57	Reno-Fernley, NV	$84,970	101.0	$84,117
58	Rest of U.S.	$84,638	—	—

What a GS-11 earns where you are

GS-11, step 5 in Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PAWashington, DC

$96,843

Locality pay area

Grade

Step

Promotion from GS-11 to GS-12

By the two-step rule; the step clock restarts (this row on the promotion calculator).
At GS-11	Lands on GS-12	Base increase
Step 1	Step 1	+$12,668
Step 2	Step 1	+$10,541
Step 3	Step 1	+$8,414
Step 4	Step 1	+$6,287
Step 5	Step 2	+$6,709
Step 6	Step 2	+$4,582
Step 7	Step 3	+$5,004
Step 8	Step 4	+$5,426
Step 9	Step 5	+$5,848
Step 10	Step 6	+$6,270

Until 18 January 2027 a promotion to GS-12 needs 52 weeks at GS-11, with no two-grade route from GS-12 up (5 CFR 300.604; OPM’s final rule, 91 FR 65887, removes it from 19 January 2027; qualification standards still apply, and OPM says it is reviewing separately the one-year service period they have historically included).