GS-7 Pay Scale & Salary 2026: $43,106 Base, Up to $82,007

Who is on GS-7

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-7	82,974 employees, 6.5% of the 1,279,389 on the General Schedule (95 GS records carry no grade)
At GS-7 or higher	87.8% of them
Median full-time pay, locality included	$61,586, the median of the 45,217 full-time GS-7 employees whose pay OPM publishes, 56.7% of the grade’s 79,787 full-time employees
Median wage, all U.S. occupations	$50,980 a year, $24.51 an hour
Supervisors or managers	2%
At step 10	13%
Exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act	7%
Law enforcement officers	GL-7 step 1 is $48,854, 13.3% more than GS-7 step 1, with the same locality percentage on top (the GL pay scale)

GS-7 is the seventh-most common of the fifteen grades, with 82,974 employees in May 2026; the largest occupations are Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant (0303), Tax Examining (0592) and Contact Representative (0962), and the Department of Defense employs the most of them, 28,204.

Every step of GS-7 is paid less an hour than GS-10 step 1, so an overtime hour is paid at time and a half at every step of the grade, in all 58 areas.

87.8% of GS employees are at GS-7 or higher

82,974 of the 1,279,389 General Schedule employees in May 2026 are on GS-7, and the median full-time pay OPM publishes for GS-7, $61,586, is 1.2 times the national median wage of $50,980 for all occupations.

Where GS-7 passes the U.S. median hourly wage

$20.65 to $26.85 an hour in base pay, from step 1 to step 10, and in Rest of U.S. it passes the national median of $24.51 an hour at step 2, $24.98.

Military equivalent of GS-7: O-1

Military grade O-1 — a Second Lieutenant in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, an Ensign in the Navy and Coast Guard — and warrant officer grades W-1 and W-2 are the ranks DoD treats as equivalent to GS-7 on Geneva Conventions identification cards.

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-1
Warrant officer grades	W-1 and W-2
Geneva Conventions category	III, company grade officer
Army, Air Force, Marine Corps	Second Lieutenant
Navy, Coast Guard	Ensign
Other GS grades in the same row	none

GS-7 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	$43,106	$20.65	—	—	0
Step 2	$44,543	$21.34	+$1,437	52	1
Step 3	$45,980	$22.03	+$1,437	52	2
Step 4	$47,417	$22.72	+$1,437	52	3
Step 5	$48,854	$23.41	+$1,437	104	5
Step 6	$50,291	$24.10	+$1,437	104	7
Step 7	$51,728	$24.79	+$1,437	104	9
Step 8	$53,165	$25.47	+$1,437	156	12
Step 9	$54,602	$26.16	+$1,437	156	15
Step 10	$56,039	$26.85	+$1,437	156	18

Who qualifies at GS-7

Under OPM’s qualification standard for administrative and management positions, GS-7 takes 1 full year of graduate-level education, or superior academic achievement; or, instead of education, 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-5. 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-7 step 5 in every locality pay area

$57,188 in Rest of U.S. to $71,493 in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA, **$14,305** apart. Best off after prices: Laredo, TX, $59,402, worth $68,313 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	$71,493	110.4	$64,745
2	New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA	$67,394	112.6	$59,872
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA	$66,671	113.6	$58,707
4	Houston-The Woodlands, TX	$65,953	98.6	$66,870
5	Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA	$65,435	108.9	$60,096
6	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$65,328	111.9	$58,387
7	Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME-VT	$64,771	108.3	$59,826
8	State of Alaska	$64,663	102.4	$63,173
9	Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA	$64,526	102.7	$62,801
10	Seattle-Tacoma, WA	$64,277	111.1	$57,838
11	Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI	$63,930	103.6	$61,711
12	Denver-Aurora, CO	$63,764	105.8	$60,279
13	Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV	$63,393	106.7	$59,429
14	Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI	$63,080	100.3	$62,893
15	Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$63,017	102.6	$61,448
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	$62,347	104.8	$59,479
17	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK	$62,172	103.1	$60,308
18	Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA	$61,620	105.4	$58,451
19	Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$60,906	114.2	$53,354
20	Atlanta--Athens-Clarke County--Sandy Springs, GA-AL	$60,476	100.1	$60,441
21	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	$59,822	103.3	$57,902
22	Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI	$59,807	96.9	$61,697
23	Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY	$59,802	95.8	$62,395
24	Richmond, VA	$59,739	97.9	$61,047
25	Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC	$59,719	98.2	$60,840
26	Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH-PA	$59,714	93.9	$63,578
27	State of Hawaii	$59,704	110.0	$54,301
28	Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH	$59,675	95.5	$62,507
29	Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN	$59,568	95.4	$62,460
30	Huntsville-Decatur, AL-TN	$59,558	93.1	$63,991
31	Laredo, TX	$59,402	87.0	$68,313
32	Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH	$59,319	92.7	$63,994
33	Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV	$59,128	94.7	$62,456
34	Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA	$59,001	99.6	$59,258
35	Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX	$58,796	98.1	$59,956
36	Colorado Springs, CO	$58,698	100.7	$58,286
37	St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL	$58,639	95.1	$61,668
38	Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC	$58,464	97.3	$60,057
39	Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ	$58,415	100.2	$58,290
40	Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT	$58,356	100.9	$57,807
41	Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA	$58,346	98.7	$59,144
42	Tucson-Nogales, AZ	$58,273	96.9	$60,140
43	Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS	$58,122	92.5	$62,805
44	Davenport-Moline, IA-IL	$58,102	89.1	$65,225
45	Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC	$58,039	97.9	$59,259
46	San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX	$58,029	94.7	$61,266
47	Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM	$57,809	95.5	$60,504
48	Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL	$57,765	91.6	$63,032
49	Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA	$57,760	91.9	$62,843
50	Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN	$57,721	95.7	$60,317
51	Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA	$57,653	91.7	$62,871
52	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$57,614	100.0	$57,611
53	Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY	$57,589	97.0	$59,349
54	Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d'Alene, WA-ID	$57,487	100.3	$57,289
55	Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA	$57,477	102.2	$56,263
56	Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX	$57,467	92.7	$62,012
57	Reno-Fernley, NV	$57,413	101.0	$56,837
58	Rest of U.S.	$57,188	—	—

What a GS-7 earns where you are

GS-7, step 5 in Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PAWashington, DC

$65,435

Locality pay area

Grade

Step

Promotion from GS-7 to GS-8

By the two-step rule; the step clock restarts (this row on the promotion calculator).
At GS-7	Lands on GS-8	Base increase
Step 1	Step 1	+$4,632
Step 2	Step 1	+$3,195
Step 3	Step 2	+$3,349
Step 4	Step 3	+$3,503
Step 5	Step 4	+$3,657
Step 6	Step 5	+$3,811
Step 7	Step 6	+$3,965
Step 8	Step 7	+$4,119
Step 9	Step 8	+$4,273
Step 10	Step 9	+$4,427

Until 18 January 2027 a promotion to GS-8 needs 52 weeks at GS-7 in a line of work that moves one grade at a time (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). Where the work moves two grades at a time, as GS-5, 7, 9 and 11 professional ladders do, 52 weeks at GS-7 opens GS-9 directly: by the same rule a GS-7 step 5 lands on GS-9 step 1, $3,873 more in base pay.