GS Pay Scale 2026: Washington, DC Locality Area

Federal employees whose official worksite is in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington locality pay area receive 33.94% on top of General Schedule base pay in 2026. That puts GS-1 step 1 at $30,249 and stops GS-15 at the $197,200 pay cap from step 6 up. The area covers the District of Columbia and 54 counties and independent cities in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Which counties count as Washington, DC for federal pay?

The area takes in 55 jurisdictions: the District itself, 19 in Maryland, 25 in Virginia, 6 in West Virginia and 4 in Pennsylvania. What counts is your official worksite on your SF-50, not where you live. A Baltimore office, a Fort Detrick lab and a Winchester field office all pay the same 33.94%.

Note the two Frederick Counties: Frederick, Maryland and Frederick, Virginia are separate counties, and both are in this area. Several nearby counties are not. Cecil, Wicomico and Worcester in Maryland belong to Philadelphia (28.99%); Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster in Pennsylvania belong to Harrisburg (19.43%); Hanover, Louisa and Essex in Virginia belong to Richmond (22.28%). Garrett County, Maryland, and Albemarle, Rockingham and Page in Virginia fall in Rest of U.S. (17.06%). Check any address with the county lookup.

If you telework, the twice-per-pay-period rule in 5 CFR 531.605 decides whether your official worksite stays at your agency office or moves to your home, which can move you in or out of this area.

Where does the $197,200 cap stop raises in DC?

In this area the cap only touches GS-15. Steps 1 through 5 rise normally, from $169,279 to $191,850, but steps 6 through 10 are all held at $197,200. Moving from step 5 to step 6 adds $5,350 instead of the full within-grade amount, and steps 7 through 10 add nothing.

GS-14 stays below the cap at every step: step 10 pays $187,093. The cap is the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule, set by Executive Order 14368. Because retirement uses your capped rate, a capped GS-15 also sees no High-3 gain from later step increases; the High-3 calculator shows the effect.

Hourly and biweekly rates for common DC grades

Hourly pay is the annual rate divided by 2,087 hours and rounded to the cent; a biweekly paycheck before deductions is the hourly rate times 80. For a GS-12 step 1 in this area that is $49.07 an hour and $3,925.60 every two weeks. The table covers step 1 and step 10 of grades 7 through 15.

Overtime, night differential and other premium pay are figured from these hourly rates under separate rules that this page does not cover. For any other grade or step, use the GS pay calculator.

How does DC compare with Richmond, Philadelphia and Harrisburg?

Washington pays more than every neighboring area. A GS-12 step 1 earns $102,415 here, against $98,630 in Philadelphia, $93,499 in Richmond, $91,320 in Harrisburg and $90,838 in Virginia Beach. The gap to Rest of U.S., $89,508, is $12,907 a year for the same grade and step.

These differences follow the worksite, so a transfer from Richmond to a Northern Virginia office raises pay on the day the new worksite takes effect, with no change in grade or step.

What happens to DC salaries in 2027?

Under the President's alternative pay plan of August 26, 2026, Washington-area rates in 2027 would stay exactly where they are in 2026: no base increase and no change to the 33.94% locality payment. The plan is not final until the pay Executive Order is signed, usually in late December.

The 2027 option above the table shows these proposed rates. When OPM publishes its official 2027 table for this area, we replace the proposed figures, update this page's date and record the change in the change log.

Worked example: GS-9 step 1 in Washington

A GS-9 step 1 in this area earns $70,623 a year in 2026. The base rate of $52,727 times 1.3394 comes to $70,622.54, which rounds to $70,623. Divided by 2,087 hours that is $33.84 an hour, and 80 hours of that is $2,707.20 per biweekly pay period.

Printed from https://knowyourpension.org/gs-pay-scale/washington-dc/ · Last updated November 9, 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.