INDEPENDENTREFERENCEGSGS Pay TablesWhat the federal pay tables mean 2026 edition
Effective January 2026

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  1. GS pay scale 2026
  2. Ten years of locality pay

58 locality pay areasPage last changed 2026-10-22

Ten years of locality pay, 2016 to 2026

From 2016 to 2026 the number of locality pay areas with a table of their own grew from 47 to 58, and the distance between the highest and the lowest locality rate widened from 21.40 to 29.28 percentage points: of the 47 areas that had a table in 2016, San Jose, CA gained the most, 10.59 points, and Rest of U.S. the least, 2.71.

Year by year

The base table rose every year, by 23.13% compounded from 2017 to 2026; locality rates did not move at all in 2021 and 2026.

Each year: how many areas had a table of their own, the raise of the base table as OPM’s tables of that year state it, and in how many of the areas that had a table both that year and the year before the locality percentage changed.
YearAreasBase raiseAreas whose rate changed
2017471.0%47 of 47
2018471.4%47 of 47
2019531.4%47 of 47
2020532.6%53 of 53
2021541.0%none
2022542.2%54 of 54
2023544.1%54 of 54
2024584.7%54 of 54
2025581.7%58 of 58
2026581.0%none

In 2021 and 2026 the percentages stayed where they were the year before and only the base table rose. What happens in 2027 is tracked on the pay raise page.

Who gained, who stalled

Among the 47 areas with a table of their own since 2016, the median rise was 5.42 points.

Locality percentage in 2016 and 2026 for the ten areas whose rate rose most and the five whose rate rose least, of the 47 with a table of their own in both years.
Area20162026Rise, points
San Jose, CA35.75%46.34%+10.59
Seattle, WA22.26%31.57%+9.31
Washington, DC24.78%33.94%+9.16
San Diego, CA24.73%33.72%+8.99
Los Angeles, CA27.65%36.47%+8.82
New York, NY29.20%37.95%+8.75
Denver, CO22.93%30.52%+7.59
Boston, MA25.19%32.58%+7.39
Alaska25.16%32.36%+7.20
Sacramento, CA22.61%29.76%+7.15
Palm Bay, FL14.42%17.93%+3.51
Cleveland, OH18.87%22.23%+3.36
Indianapolis, IN14.92%18.15%+3.23
Cincinnati, OH18.76%21.93%+3.17
Rest of U.S.14.35%17.06%+2.71

8 of the ten areas with the highest rate in 2026 are also among the ten that rose most, which is how the spread widened: from 14.35% to 35.75% in 2016, and from 17.06% to 46.34% in 2026. Rest of U.S., the floor every county outside a named area is paid, rose 2.71 points.

The locality pages count the rise among all 58 areas instead, taking each of the 11 newer areas from the Rest of U.S. rate its counties were paid in 2016, so a rank there can differ from a rank among these 47.

New areas

11 of the 58 areas got a table of their own after 2016, and 24 counting the 13 created in 2016 itself; before that, their counties were paid the Rest of U.S. rate.

Areas created after 2016, by the first year of their own OPM table, with their 2026 percentage.
First yearAreas
2019Birmingham, AL (18.24%); Burlington, VT (19.45%); Corpus Christi, TX (17.63%); Omaha, NE (18.23%); San Antonio, TX (18.78%); Virginia Beach, VA (18.80%)
2021Des Moines, IA (18.01%)
2024Fresno, CA (17.65%); Reno, NV (17.52%); Rochester, NY (17.88%); Spokane, WA (17.67%)

Pay did not follow prices

BEA’s price levels show how each area’s prices moved against the national average from 2016 to 2024, the latest year BEA publishes. Across the 46 areas with a table of their own since 2016 and a price index, the rise in locality pay over the same years and the change in price level have a correlation of −0.30: where prices fell behind the nation’s, locality pay rose a little more, not less.

In the 24 areas whose price level rose against the national average, locality pay rose 5.05 points on average from 2016 to 2024; in the 21 where it fell, 5.71 points, and in one it did not move. That is the pay law at work: locality pay follows what non-federal employers in the area pay for similar work (the labor-market rule), not what living there costs.

The five areas whose BEA price level rose most against the national average from 2016 to 2024, and the five where it fell most, with the rise in their locality percentage over the same years (U.S. = 100 each year).
AreaPrice level, 2016Price level, 2024Change, pointsLocality pay, 2016–2024
Miami, FL107.9114.2+6.3+3.37
Sacramento, CA101.1106.7+5.6+6.55
Dallas, TX98.0103.1+5.1+5.87
Detroit, MI96.3100.3+4.0+4.42
Portland, OR101.5105.4+3.9+4.97
Houston, TX102.498.6−3.8+5.61
Austin, TX102.698.1−4.5+5.48
Kansas City, MO97.292.5−4.7+4.16
Laredo, TX93.787.0−6.7+6.74
San Jose, CA117.7110.4−7.3+9.66

Sources

OPM General Schedule tables for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026: the locality percentage and the base raise as each table states them. A grey cell on an area’s own page marks a year before its table existed. How the archive was read, and its caveats, are on the methodology page.

More from this site’s data

Where GS pay goes furthest; How far pay is from the 1990 law’s formula; Where the federal jobs are; and how every figure is made, on the methodology page.