I Look up your rate
What Does This GS-11 Actually Pay?
II The full table
| Step | Base | Rest of U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $69,107 | $80,897 |
| 2 | $71,411 | $83,594 |
| 3 | $73,715 | $86,291 |
| 4 | $76,019 | $88,988 |
| 5 | $78,323 | $91,685 |
| 6 | $80,627 | $94,382 |
| 7 | $82,931 | $97,079 |
| 8 | $85,235 | $99,776 |
| 9 | $87,539 | $102,473 |
| 10 | $89,843 | $105,170 |
In Washington–Baltimore the range runs $92,562 to $120,336. In San Jose–San Francisco, $101,131 to $131,476.
III Why your step reset
GS-7, GS-9 and GS-11 form a two-grade-interval ladder, and that changes how promotions land.
The two-step rule guarantees at least the equivalent of two within-grade increases at your old grade. On a two-grade jump, that target frequently falls below step 1 of the new grade anyway — so you get step 1, and the rule never bites.
The arithmetic nobody shows you
Promoted from GS-9 step 5 to GS-11.
GS-11 step 1 is $69,107 — already higher.
You land on step 1. Someone promoted from GS-9 step 3 lands on step 1 as well. The two years that separated them produced pay at the time, but no lasting advantage at all once the promotion arrived.
IV What that means for timing
It reverses the usual advice. On a single-grade jump like GS-12 to GS-13, waiting to promote from a higher step lands you higher in the new range — so timing pays.
On a two-grade jump it mostly does not. If you land at step 1 either way, the years spent accumulating steps bought current pay and nothing beyond it.
On a 7–9–11 ladder, take the promotion as soon as it is available. Every month spent waiting to build steps you are about to lose is a month of lower pay for no return. Check whether your position carries GS-12 promotion potential in career ladders.
V What it builds
Locality is basic pay. It counts toward your high-3 and toward agency TSP contributions, unlike non-foreign COLA or overseas allowances.
At GS-11 most people are early enough in a career that the grade matters far more than the locality — the path to GS-12 and GS-13 moves the number more than any geographic choice will. Model the endpoint in the FERS pension estimator.
Getting your own number right
- Check the locality area on your SF-50, not where you live.
- Find the full performance level of your position.
- If GS-12 potential exists, the promotion beats any number of steps.
- On a two-grade ladder, take the promotion as soon as it is offered.
- Confirm your next within-grade increase date.
- Check whether a special rate table applies to your occupation.
- Compare a GS-12 promotion against 18 years of step increases.
- Remember locality counts toward the high-3; allowances do not.
Questions
The base rate runs from $69,107 at step 1 to $89,843 at step 10, with locality added on top. In the Rest of U.S. area that is about $80,897 to $105,170. In Washington-Baltimore it is about $92,562 to $120,336, and in San Jose-San Francisco about $101,131 to $131,476. The lowest-paid GS-11 in the country and the highest-paid one are separated by more than $50,000 for identical work.
Because a two-grade-interval promotion jumps further than the two-step rule guarantees. The rule entitles you to at least the equivalent of two within-grade increases at your old grade, and on a ladder like GS-9 to GS-11 that target frequently falls below GS-11 step 1 anyway. From GS-9 step 5, two steps up is $68,542, while GS-11 step 1 is $69,107 — so you land at step 1 and the steps you spent years earning at GS-9 bought you nothing extra.
Early, on a two-grade ladder. If you land at step 1 of the new grade whether you were at GS-9 step 3 or step 6, then the years spent reaching step 6 produced pay at the time but no lasting advantage at promotion. That is an argument for taking the promotion as soon as it is available rather than waiting to accumulate steps, and it is the opposite of the advice that applies on a single-grade jump like GS-12 to GS-13.
Eighteen years without a promotion or a quality step increase, the same as at every other grade. The waiting periods run 52 weeks for each of the first three increases, then 104 weeks for each of the next three, then 156 weeks for each of the last three, totalling 936 weeks. Very few GS-11s reach step 10, because on a normal career ladder they are promoted to GS-12 long before.
About $2,304 in base pay at GS-11, the same at every step because the General Schedule uses even increments within a grade. Locality multiplies it, so the same increase is worth roughly $2,697 in the Rest of U.S. area and $3,086 in Washington-Baltimore. Compared with a promotion to GS-12, which is worth several times that, a step increase is a modest event — which is part of why chasing steps rarely beats chasing the next grade.
It can be. For many professional and administrative series it is the entry point for candidates with a relevant doctoral or advanced degree, or with qualifying specialised experience, rather than something reached only by promotion. Whether a particular vacancy is open at GS-11 depends on the qualification standard for that series and grade, which the job announcement states, and on whether the position is advertised as a career ladder.
Yes. Locality pay is part of basic pay, so it feeds the high-3 average salary that drives a FERS annuity and the agency contributions to your Thrift Savings Plan. Allowances such as non-foreign COLA and overseas post allowances do not. Two GS-11s doing identical work in different locality areas therefore build measurably different pensions across a career, on top of the difference in take-home pay.
Your grade and step do not change on a lateral move, but your locality percentage does, because locality attaches to the official duty station recorded on your SF-50 rather than to where you live. At GS-11 step 1 the difference between the Rest of U.S. area and San Jose-San Francisco is roughly $20,000 a year for identical duties. Because locality is basic pay, that difference also follows through into your high-3 and your agency contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan.