GS Pay Calculator 2026: Grade, Step and Locality

Pick a grade, a step and your locality pay area to see your 2026 General Schedule salary as an annual rate, an hourly rate and a biweekly amount. The calculator uses OPM's 2026 base table, the 58 locality percentages in Executive Order 14368 and the pay cap at Executive Schedule level IV ($197,200).

How is my GS locality salary calculated?

Your locality rate equals the base rate for your grade and step multiplied by one plus your area's locality percentage, rounded to the nearest dollar. If the result is above $197,200, the Executive Schedule level IV rate, you are paid $197,200 instead. Hourly pay is the annual rate divided by 2,087 hours.

The 2,087-hour divisor and the rounding rule come from 5 U.S.C. 5504: the hourly rate is rounded to the nearest cent, counting half a cent and over as a whole cent, and the biweekly rate is the hourly rate times 80. Because a year has 26 or 27 pay dates, the biweekly amount times 26 does not exactly equal the annual rate.

Worked example: GS-11, step 5 in Washington, DC

A GS-11, step 5 employee in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington area earns $96,843 a year in 2026. The base rate is $72,303 and the area's locality payment is 33.94%. That works out to $46.40 an hour and $3,712.00 before deductions for each biweekly pay period.

The same grade and step pays $84,638 in the Rest of U.S. area (17.06%) and $105,808 in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland (46.34%), the highest-paid area. Moving to step 6 in Washington raises the annual rate to $99,692.

How much more will my next step pay, and when?

Each step within a grade adds a fixed dollar amount to base pay, from $924 a year at GS-3 to $4,213 at GS-15 in 2026, before locality. Steps 2 through 4 each need 52 weeks of service at the prior step, steps 5 through 7 need 104 weeks, and steps 8 through 10 need 156 weeks.

These waiting periods come from 5 CFR 531.405 and assume acceptable performance. A promotion, a quality step increase or time in a nonpay status can move the date. GS-1 and GS-2 use irregular step amounts, which is why OPM's table shows "varies" for those grades.

What does the 2027 option show?

The 2027 option shows 2026 rates, because the President's August 26, 2026 alternative pay plan proposes no change to base or locality pay for 2027. That plan is not final. You can type your own percentage into the what-if field to see an estimate under a different raise.

A what-if figure is an estimate, not an OPM table: the calculator applies your percentage to the 2026 locality rate and rounds to the dollar, while OPM's real 2027 tables may round cell by cell. Once the December Executive Order is signed, we replace the proposed rates with OPM's published 2027 tables and record the change on the sources page.

Can I find the grade and step that reaches a salary?

Yes. Enter a target annual salary under the result and the calculator lists the lowest grade and step in your locality area that meets or exceeds it. This helps when a job posting lists a salary range and you want to know which grade and step it implies in your area.

The reverse lookup only searches 2026 General Schedule locality rates. Some occupations are paid from special rate tables that sit above locality rates — common examples are some engineering, medical and IT positions — and the lookup does not include those.

Who is not covered by this calculator?

The calculator covers General Schedule employees on standard locality tables. It does not cover law enforcement officers with special base rates, employees on OPM special rate tables, Postal Service employees, Federal Wage System employees or the Senior Executive Service. Each of those groups is paid from a different schedule.

U.S. Postal Service employees are covered by FERS, so our retirement calculators apply to them, but their pay comes from Postal Service schedules rather than the GS table. For the locality area that applies to your duty station, use OPM's 2026 locality pay area definitions linked below.

Printed from https://knowyourpension.org/gs-pay-calculator/ · Last updated October 29, 2026 · Independent reference. Not affiliated with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or any federal agency. Estimates only — your official figures come from your agency, your SF-50 and OPM.