Locality pay is the mechanism that turns a single national GS pay table into something that roughly tracks the cost of federal labor in different parts of the country. Without it, a GS-13 in rural Kansas would earn the same as a GS-13 in Manhattan — which neither the government nor its employees could sustain. With it, federal salaries stretch from a floor defined by Rest of U.S. to a peak defined by the highest-cost metros on the coasts. It is added on top of your base pay, before the Executive Schedule IV cap is applied.
This article walks through how the 58 locality pay areas are defined, why rates were frozen for 2026, what the actual 2026 numbers are for every area, and what all of that means when you take a job, change duty stations, or plan a career move. The goal is to give you the full picture in one place — not just the number on your LES.
- What locality pay is and where it came from
- How OPM defines a locality area
- Why rates were frozen in 2026
- The complete 2026 rate table — all 58 areas
- The dollar impact on real salaries
- What happens when you change duty stations
- Locality and telework
- Locality and retirement
- Frequently asked questions
Locality pay is added on top of your base GS pay, as a percentage. If your base pay is $100,000 and your locality rate is 20 percent, your locality-adjusted salary is $120,000 — subject to the Executive Schedule IV cap of $197,200 in 2026. Locality pay is not a separate line item in most pay systems; it is bundled into the single salary figure your LES shows.
Section I What locality pay is and where it came from
Locality pay was established by the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA). The law acknowledged something obvious but long ignored: federal pay had fallen far behind private-sector pay in most major metros, and a single national pay scale could not fix the problem. The solution was to layer locality-based comparability payments on top of the GS base, with the stated goal of closing the federal-private pay gap in each area.
FEPCA set up the Federal Salary Council and the President's Pay Agent to study and recommend locality rates annually. Rates are supposed to be calibrated to close the pay gap to within 5 percent of private-sector comparability. In practice, that target has almost never been fully funded — but the structure still produces the layered system that GS employees navigate today.
Every federal employee covered by the General Schedule working inside the United States receives some locality adjustment. The minimum is Rest of U.S., which applies to all domestic duty stations not covered by one of the named metropolitan areas. The highest-paid areas are on the west coast and in select high-cost metros.
Section II How OPM defines a locality area
Locality pay areas are built on top of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the Office of Management and Budget. OPM starts with an MSA, then decides whether that metro has enough federal employees and sufficient private-sector pay disparity to warrant its own locality rate. Metros that qualify become named locality areas. Metros that don't qualify — and everything else — fall into Rest of U.S.
Most named locality areas also include surrounding counties that are economically integrated with the core metro. For example:
- Washington-Baltimore-Arlington includes D.C., all of Maryland and Virginia counties in the MSA, plus portions of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that commute into the core.
- San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland covers the Bay Area including extensions into surrounding counties that serve the federal workforce.
- New York-Newark stretches across multiple New York counties, northern New Jersey, and portions of Pennsylvania.
When OPM revises locality area definitions — adding counties or consolidating areas — it does so through the Federal Register rulemaking process. Major expansions happen every few years. New locality areas are rare; the most recent additions were Fresno, Reno, Rochester, and Spokane, added in 2023.
Section III Why rates were frozen in 2026
The 2026 federal pay adjustment was delivered entirely as a 1.0 percent across-the-board increase to the base GS pay table. Locality rates were not adjusted on top of that base raise. Every locality percentage published for 2026 is the same value that applied in 2025. This is a policy choice within the overall pay adjustment process — Congress and the President determine both the base rate and whether locality adjustments receive separate funding.
Mechanically, this means an employee's total salary increase in 2026 depends entirely on the 1.0 percent base raise. Someone in San Jose-San Francisco at the 46.34 percent locality rate receives a 1.0 percent increase to their base pay, then the locality adjustment applies on top of that new base — producing a salary increase of roughly 1.0 percent. Rest of U.S. employees at 17.06 percent receive the same 1.0 percent base increase with the same mechanic.
If you were expecting a raise in 2026 that reflected both an across-the-board adjustment and a locality rate increase, that did not happen. Your total compensation rose approximately 1.0 percent. Whether this is adequate relative to inflation is a policy question — but the math on your LES will reflect this single adjustment and no more.
Section IV The complete 2026 rate table — all 58 areas
Every 2026 locality rate is listed below. Rates are applied as a percentage on top of your GS base pay, before the statutory cap at Executive Schedule Level IV ($197,200 in 2026). The table is sorted from highest to lowest rate.
| Rank | Locality Pay Area | 2026 Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA | 46.34% |
| 2 | New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA | 37.12% |
| 3 | Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA | 36.92% |
| 4 | Seattle-Tacoma, WA | 34.29% |
| 5 | Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA | 33.94% |
| 6 | Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME | 33.66% |
| 7 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 33.05% |
| 8 | Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV | 30.11% |
| 9 | Denver-Aurora, CO | 30.04% |
| 10 | Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA | 30.01% |
| 11 | Houston-The Woodlands, TX | 34.53% |
| 12 | Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI | 30.41% |
| 13 | Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 29.12% |
| 14 | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI | 28.68% |
| 15 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL | 27.98% |
| 16 | Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK | 27.20% |
| 17 | Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA | 27.66% |
| 18 | Phoenix-Mesa, AZ | 25.07% |
| 19 | Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI | 28.01% |
| 20 | Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ | 23.94% |
| 21 | Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI | 26.32% |
| 22 | Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County, GA-AL | 24.14% |
| 23 | Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV | 22.97% |
| 24 | Kansas City-Overland Park, MO-KS | 22.68% |
| 25 | Austin-Round Rock, TX | 22.89% |
| 26 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN | 22.39% |
| 27 | Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH | 22.28% |
| 28 | Richmond, VA | 22.19% |
| 29 | Huntsville-Decatur, AL-TN | 22.15% |
| 30 | Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA | 21.89% |
| 31 | Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC | 22.07% |
| 32 | Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC | 21.37% |
| 33 | Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN | 22.00% |
| 34 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | 21.47% |
| 35 | Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH | 22.04% |
| 36 | Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC | 20.79% |
| 37 | St. Louis-St. Charles, MO-IL | 20.97% |
| 38 | Davenport-Moline, IA-IL | 20.95% |
| 39 | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL | 20.87% |
| 40 | Colorado Springs, CO | 20.24% |
| 41 | Tucson-Nogales, AZ | 20.05% |
| 42 | Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA | 20.17% |
| 43 | Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA | 20.49% |
| 44 | Burlington-South Burlington, VT | 19.95% |
| 45 | Laredo, TX | 19.68% |
| 46 | Tulsa-Muskogee-Bartlesville, OK | 19.36% |
| 47 | Jacksonville-St. Marys-Palatka, FL-GA | 19.66% |
| 48 | Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL | 19.60% |
| 49 | Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX | 19.54% |
| 50 | Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA | 22.25% |
| 51 | Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV | 22.25% |
| 52 | Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY | 19.57% |
| 53 | Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d'Alene, WA-ID | 19.92% |
| 54 | Alaska | 29.67% |
| 55 | Hawaii | 22.04% |
| 56 | Puerto Rico | 18.25% |
| 57 | U.S. Virgin Islands | 19.63% |
| 58 | Rest of U.S. (all other domestic locations) | 17.06% |
Rest of U.S. is both the floor and the catch-all. Any domestic federal duty station not covered by one of the named metropolitan areas above defaults to the RUS rate of 17.06 percent. This includes most rural areas, small cities, and smaller metros that have not yet qualified as their own locality areas.
Section V The dollar impact on real salaries
Percentages obscure what the actual dollar differences look like. Here is a GS-13 Step 5 — a common senior federal grade and step — across the same set of localities, with the actual 2026 salary shown:
| Locality Area | 2026 Rate | GS-13 Step 5 Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Rest of U.S. | 17.06% | $120,630 |
| Atlanta, GA | 24.14% | $127,926 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | 27.20% | $131,078 |
| Chicago, IL | 30.41% | $134,388 |
| Washington-Baltimore | 33.94% | $138,024 |
| Boston, MA | 33.66% | $137,735 |
| Seattle, WA | 34.29% | $138,385 |
| New York-Newark | 37.12% | $141,300 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 36.92% | $141,094 |
| San Jose-San Francisco | 46.34% | $150,800 |
The spread from Rest of U.S. to San Jose-San Francisco for the same grade and step is $30,170 per year — over a 30-year career, that is more than $900,000 in earnings, before compounding step increases and promotions. The High-3 retirement impact of those higher years is additional.
To compare any two locality areas side by side at your exact grade and step, use the Locality Comparison Tool — it applies the 2026 rates and shows the annual, biweekly, and lifetime-earnings difference.
Section VI What happens when you change duty stations
Your locality pay is determined by your official duty station, not your home address, not the office you physically sit in, and not where your supervisor works. Your SF-50 lists the official duty station, and the locality area that covers that duty station determines your rate. If your duty station changes, your locality pay changes with it, effective the first pay period after the personnel action is processed.
This produces some important implications:
- Moving to a higher-locality area is a raise. A GS-13 in Rest of U.S. moving to Washington-Baltimore sees a base-pay-equivalent raise of roughly 14 percent, with no promotion required.
- Moving to a lower-locality area is a pay cut. That same GS-13 moving the other direction loses the same 14 percent, and it is not offset by the move itself.
- The effective date matters. Locality changes take effect at the start of the pay period on or after the duty station change effective date. There is no partial pay period pro-ration under normal circumstances.
If you move to a lower-locality duty station under certain qualifying personnel actions (reduction in force, reassignment involving involuntary moves, some reorganizations), you may be entitled to pay retention under 5 CFR Part 536. Pay retention preserves your existing salary — frozen at your prior locality-adjusted rate — while future adjustments apply to a lower baseline. This is not automatic; HR must process the retention action. Voluntary moves to lower localities generally do not qualify.
Section VII Locality and telework
This is the area where rules have shifted the most in recent years and where federal employees get confused. The core principle is simple: locality pay follows your official duty station, not your physical work location. If you are officially assigned to the Washington-Baltimore duty station but telework 100 percent of the time from Richmond, Virginia (a separate locality area), you still receive the Washington-Baltimore rate.
That said, agencies have different policies on when they will permanently change your official duty station to match a persistent telework location. Some agencies require you to update your duty station if you move permanently. Others allow you to retain a higher-locality duty station as long as certain in-person reporting requirements are met. Agency-specific policies vary and are worth reviewing before making permanent moves based on locality pay assumptions.
Telework arrangements that are approved but not permanent typically do not affect locality pay. Short-term remote work, emergency telework, or teleworking from a temporary location generally leaves your duty station — and therefore your locality — unchanged.
Section VIII Locality and retirement
Locality pay is treated as basic pay for nearly all federal purposes including FERS and CSRS retirement contributions and annuity calculations. Your High-3 average salary — the figure used to compute your annuity — is based on your total locality-adjusted salary, not your base pay alone. This has real consequences for long-term career decisions.
An employee who spends the last three years of their career in San Jose-San Francisco rather than Rest of U.S. will have a High-3 that is 25 to 30 percent higher, which translates directly to an annuity that is 25 to 30 percent higher for the rest of their life. For a GS-14 Step 10, this is the difference between a $42,000 annuity and a $55,000 annuity — compounded across potentially 30 years of retirement. This is why senior federal employees sometimes deliberately time duty station assignments to maximize their final three years of pay.
The full mechanic of FERS High-3 and how to optimize it is covered on the Warrior Retirement site.
Section IX Frequently asked questions
The 2026 federal pay adjustment was delivered entirely as a 1.0 percent across-the-board base pay increase. Locality comparability adjustments were not increased on top of that base raise. Locality rates remained at their 2025 values.
This was a policy choice within the federal pay adjustment process. Congress and the administration determine both the base rate and whether locality adjustments receive separate funding. For 2026, only the base rate received funding.
Your locality pay is based on your official duty station, not where you physically work. If you telework full-time from a low-locality state but your official duty station is in a high-locality area, you still receive that higher locality rate.
Agencies may update your official duty station if you telework permanently from a different area, which would change your locality pay accordingly. Agency-specific telework and duty station policies vary, so verify your situation before making permanent moves.
Your locality pay adjusts on the effective date of your official duty station change. If you move from Washington-Baltimore to Rest of U.S., your pay drops by the difference in locality rates. If you move to a higher locality, your pay rises.
The change is automatic based on your SF-50 and takes effect the first pay period after the action is processed. Certain involuntary moves may qualify for pay retention under 5 CFR Part 536.
Yes. Locality pay is considered basic pay for nearly all federal purposes including FERS and CSRS retirement, TSP contributions, FEGLI coverage, and overtime calculations. Your FERS High-3 is based on your total locality-adjusted salary, not your base pay alone.
This is why moving between localities late in a career can materially affect your annuity. The difference between finishing your career in San Jose-San Francisco versus Rest of U.S. at the same grade and step can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars over a retirement lifetime.
No. Locality areas are defined by OPM through the formal Federal Register rulemaking process, based on metropolitan statistical areas published by the Office of Management and Budget. Individual agencies cannot set or adjust locality rates.
Your agency determines your duty station, but once that duty station is set, the applicable locality area follows the OPM definitions automatically. If you believe your duty station has been assigned incorrectly, that is an HR matter — but the locality rate itself is not within agency discretion.
Compare any two localities.
The Locality Comparison Tool shows side-by-side salary, biweekly pay, and lifetime earnings difference at 2026 rates for any grade and step across every U.S. locality area.