The federal government’s general schedule (GS) pay system covers most employees and is divided into 15 grades, each of which has 10 steps. Entry-level hiring into a grade normally is done at step 1, although various personnel flexibilities allow hiring at different steps. The grade level of an initial hire depends largely on the occupation, as does the career progression up through the grades.
Special Rates Tables
Law Enforcement GS Locality Pay Tables
2024 Executive & Senior Level Employee Pay Tables
2024 General Schedule Base Pay Table
2024 GS Pay Table – Albany – Schenectady, NY-MA
2024 GS Pay Table – Albuquerque – Santa Fe – Las Vegas, NM
2024 GS Pay Table – Atlanta – Athens – Clarke County – Sandy Springs, GA-AL
2024 GS Pay Table – Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
2024 GS Pay Table – Birmingham – Hoover – Talladega, AL
2024 GS Pay Table – Boston – Worcester – Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME-VT
2024 GS Pay Table – Buffalo – Cheektowaga – Olean, NY
2024 GS Pay Table – Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT
2024 GS Pay Table – Charlotte – Concord, NC-SC
2024 GS Pay Table – Chicago – Naperville, IL-IN-WI
2024 GS Pay Table – Cincinnati – Wilmington – Maysville, OH-KY-IN
2024 GS Pay Table – Cleveland – Akron – Canton, OH-PA
2024 GS Pay Table – Colorado Springs, CO
2024 GS Pay Table – Columbus – Marion – Zanesville, OH
2024 GS Pay Table – Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX
2024 GS Pay Table – Dallas – Fort Worth, TX-OK
2024 GS Pay Table – Davenport – Moline, IA-IL
2024 GS Pay Table – Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH
2024 GS Pay Table – Denver – Aurora, CO
2024 GS Pay Table – Des Moins – Ames – West Des Moins, IA
2024 GS Pay Table – Detroit – Warren – Ann Arbor, MI
2024 GS Pay Table – Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
2024 GS Pay Table – Harrisburg – Lebanon, PA
2024 GS Pay Table – Hartford – East Hartford, CT-MA
2024 GS Pay Table – Houston – The Woodlands, TX
2024 GS Pay Table – Huntsville – Decatur, AL-TN
2024 GS Pay Table – Indianapolis – Carmel – Muncie, IN
2024 GS Pay Table – Kansas City – Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS
2024 GS Pay Table – Laredo, TX
2024 GS Pay Table – Las Vegas – Henderson, NV-AZ
2024 GS Pay Table – Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
2024 GS Pay Table – Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL
2024 GS Pay Table – Milwaukee – Racine – Waukesha, WI
2024 GS Pay Table – Minneapolis – St. Paul, MN-WI
2024 GS Pay Table – New York – Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
2024 GS Pay Table – Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA
2024 GS Pay Table – Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, FL
2024 GS Pay Table – Philadelphia – Reading – Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
2024 GS Pay Table – Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
2024 GS Pay Table – Pittsburgh – New Castle – Weirton, PA-OH-WV
2024 GS Pay Table – Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA
2024 GS Pay Table – Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC
2024 GS Pay Table – Reno-Fernley, NV
2024 GS Pay Table – Richmond, VA
2024 GS Pay Table – Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY
2024 GS Pay Table – Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV
2024 GS Pay Table – San Antonio – New Braunfels – Pearsall, TX
2024 GS Pay Table – San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
2024 GS Pay Table – San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
2024 GS Pay Table – Seattle – Tacoma, WA
2024 GS Pay Table – Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d’Alene, WA-ID
2024 GS Pay Table – St. Louis – St. Charles – Farmington, MO-IL
2024 GS Pay Table – Tucson – Nogales, AZ
2024 GS Pay Table – Virginia Beach – Norfolk, VA-NC
2024 GS Pay Table – Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
2024 GS Pay Table – Rest of US
2024 GS Pay Table – Alaska
2024 GS Pay Table – Hawaii
2023 GS Pay Table – Rest of US
Locality raises are determined by comparisons of local private sector salary rates, not by cost of living. An individual’s rate is based on where he or she works, not where he or she lives.
Four new localities are effective in 2024 and the boundaries of most prior localities were expanded, providing an additional pay boost to affected employees—a total of some 33,300—by moving them into an area with a specific rate from the rest of the U.S. locality. The raises for the new localities are: Fresno, Calif., 5.28; Reno, Nev., 5.25; Rochester, N.Y., 5.46; and Spokane, Wash., 5.31.
Raises are effective with the first full pay period of the new year, which for most employees will begin January 14. Employees see the impact of the raise with the pay distribution covering that pay period, which they typically receive about a week to 10 days later—meaning early February, in this case.
The December executive order sets the exact figures by locality, based on findings of pay gaps in more than four dozen areas with their own rates. The Federal Salary Council recently reported that the gaps remain the largest in some areas where the locality pay component already is the highest, including the San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles areas.
Within grade increases:
General schedule employees in permanent positions (including those to which the employee has been promoted on a temporary or term basis for at least one year) are eligible for within grade increases, unless they are denied for poor performance, after the following waiting periods: 52 weeks for advancement to steps 2-4; 104 weeks for advancement to steps 5-7; and 156 weeks for advancement to steps 8-10.
Wage grade employees performing acceptably advance to the second step after six months, to the third after another 18 months and to the fourth and fifth after another two years each at their prior steps.
