UPDATED: December 11, 2024
News for 2025 GS Pay Scale:
- NEW: Lawmakers Urge White House for 4.5% Pay Raise in 2025 – House and Senate Democrats are asking the White House for a larger 2025 pay pay raise than it planned to authorize than for civilian federal employees
- 2025 Federal Pay Raise: White House Releases Alternative Pay Plan Letter – The plan proposes an the across-the-board 2025 federal employee pay raise of 1.7 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.3 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 2.0 percent for civilian federal employees
- 2025 Federal Pay Raise of 2% Proposed in White House Budget – The 2025 White House budget released this week is proposing 2% federal pay raise for General Schedule (GS) employees. Any pay raise would be enacted in the first full pay period of January 2025. A 2% pay increase would be the smallest adjustment in the last 3 years.
- 2025 Federal Pay Raise Proposed at 7.4% – Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) reintroduced legislation in the House and Senate last week that would provide federal employees with a 2025 pay raise of 7.4 percent. The proposed pay adjustment for next year is a 4% base pay increase and a 3.4% increase for locality pay. The 2024 federal employee pay raise was an overall average of 5.2 percent.
- OPM Restricts Salary History in Setting Federal Pay – The Office of Personnel Management issued a final rule eliminating the use of non-federal salary history in establishing pay for job offers to newly-hired or returning federal employees
- 2024 Federal Pay Raise Finalized in Executive Order – The White House issued an executive order finalizing the 2024 federal employee pay raise of 5.2 percent. OPM’s official 2024 GS pay tables are also now available
2024 GS Pay Scale & Locality Pay Information
(12/22/2023): 2024 Federal Pay Raise Finalized in Executive Order The White House issued an executive order finalizing the 2024 federal employee pay raise of 5.2 percent. OPM’s official pay tables are also now available
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2024 General Schedule (GS) & Locality Pay Tables
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2024 Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) General Schedule Locality Pay Tables
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2024 Executive & Senior Level Employee Pay Tables
2024 GS Pay Scale Tables Provided by OPM
| 2024 GS Pay Scale Table | Annual Rate | |
| 2024 General Schedule (Base) | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| 2024 Locality Pay Tables for Geographic Areas | ||
| Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs, GA-AL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME-VT | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH-PA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Colorado Springs, CO | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Davenport-Moline, IA-IL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Denver-Aurora, CO | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Houston-The Woodlands, TX | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Huntsville-Decatur, AL-TN | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Laredo, TX | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Phoenix-Mesa, AZ | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Reno-Fernley, NV | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Richmond, VA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Seattle-Tacoma, WA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d’Alene, WA-ID | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Tucson-Nogales, AZ | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| Rest of United States (Consisting of those portions of the United States and its territories and possessions as listed in 5 CFR 591.205 not located within another locality pay area.) | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| State of Alaska | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
| State of Hawaii | (PDF file) | (Web file) |
How Does the GS Pay Scale Work?
The General Schedule (GS) pay system (or “GS Pay Scale“) includes about 1.5 million federal employees in civilian white-collar jobs. The jobs are widely in clerical, administrative, professional and technical positions.
How Many Pay Grades and are in the GS Pay Scale?
The General Schedule includes 15 different pay grades. Each job is classified by the federal agency based on the qualifications required as well as the level of responsibility and difficulty to preform in the position. Educational backgrounds for the grades are generally as follows:
GS-2 positions: high school diploma and no additional experience
GS-5 positions: college Bachelor’s degree
GS-9 positions: Master’s degree
How Do You Move Up Steps in the GS Pay Scale?
Each of the 15 pay grades has 10 step rates (steps 1-10). Movement up to the next step (known as “within-grade step increases”) is based on acceptable job performance and varying periods of longevity as follows:
- 1 year at steps 1-3
- 2 years at steps 4-6
- 3 years at steps 7-9
In terms of salary difference, each step is worth about 3% of the federal employee’s salary.
When Will There Be a 2024 Government Pay Raise?
The GS base pay schedule is usually adjusted annually each January with an across-the-board federal pay increase based on nationwide changes in the cost of wages and salaries of private industry workers. Most GS employees are also entitled to locality pay, which is a geographic-based percentage rate that reflects pay levels for non-federal workers in certain geographic areas as determined by surveys conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What are the Current GS Locality Pay Areas?
There are currently more than 40 locality pay areas, which cover the lower 48 States and Washington, DC, plus Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories and possessions. Most of the locality pay areas cover large metropolitan areas (e.g., Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC), two cover entire States—Alaska and Hawaii, and the remainder of the United States and its territories and possessions are included in the catch-all Rest of U.S. (RUS) locality pay area. GS employees in foreign areas are not eligible for locality pay. The President and Congress may make changes in the otherwise applicable across-the-board and locality pay adjustments.
OPM may approve special rates which are higher than the normal GS rates due to difficulties in staffing certain occupations at GS grade levels in certain geographic areas.