I Look up your rate
What Does This GS-13 Actually Pay?
II The full table
Base rates for 2026, and what they become in three representative areas.
| Step | Base | Rest of U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $90,925 | $106,437 |
| 2 | $93,956 | $109,985 |
| 3 | $96,987 | $113,533 |
| 4 | $100,018 | $117,081 |
| 5 | $103,049 | $120,629 |
| 6 | $106,080 | $124,177 |
| 7 | $109,111 | $127,725 |
| 8 | $112,142 | $131,273 |
| 9 | $115,173 | $134,822 |
| 10 | $118,204 | $138,370 |
In Washington–Baltimore the same range runs $121,785 to $158,322. In San Jose–San Francisco, $133,060 to $172,980. Use the calculator above for any area.
Total locality-adjusted basic pay is capped at Executive Schedule Level IV, $197,200 in 2026. A GS-13 step 10 in the highest-paying area lands around $172,980 — comfortably below it. That changes at GS-14 and GS-15, where the cap starts to bite and the published percentage overstates what you are actually paid.
III What the steps cost in time
Every step is worth the same $3,031 in base pay. What changes is how long you wait for it.
| Steps | Waiting period |
|---|---|
| 1 → 2, 2 → 3, 3 → 4 | 52 weeks each |
| 4 → 5, 5 → 6, 6 → 7 | 104 weeks each |
| 7 → 8, 8 → 9, 9 → 10 | 156 weeks each |
That totals 936 weeks — eighteen years from step 1 to step 10, assuming no promotion and no quality step increase. Most GS-13s are promoted or gone long before, which is why the top of the published range describes a small population.
Step increases are not automatic either: they require an acceptable level of competence determination, and that can be denied. Full mechanics in step increases and WIGIs.
IV What it builds
Locality pay is basic pay. It counts toward your high-3 average salary and toward agency TSP contributions — unlike non-foreign COLA or overseas allowances, which raise take-home and build no pension.
Same job, different pension
Two GS-13 step 10s retiring after 30 years, one in the Rest of U.S. area and one in Washington–Baltimore.
Nearly $6,000 a year, for life — for identical work at an identical grade and step. Model it in the FERS pension estimator.
V Moving and promoting
Two events change a GS-13 salary more than any step increase will.
A move. Your grade and step do not change on a lateral, but your locality does, because it attaches to the official duty station on your SF-50 rather than to where you live. A step 5 moving from Rest of U.S. to Washington–Baltimore gains about $17,000 a year for identical duties. The reverse loses it. Model both in the transfer pay impact calculator.
A promotion. The two-step rule entitles you to at least the equivalent of two within-grade increases at your current grade. Applied at GS-13, your GS-14 rate is set from two steps above where you sit, then matched to the lowest GS-14 step that equals or exceeds it — so where you are in the range when the promotion lands changes what it is worth.
Getting your own number right
- Check the locality area on your SF-50, not the city you live in.
- Confirm your step and your next within-grade increase date.
- Work out which waiting period you are currently in — 52, 104 or 156 weeks.
- Check whether a special rate table applies to your occupation.
- If considering a move, model the locality change before agreeing.
- If a promotion is near, check where you sit in the range first.
- Remember locality counts toward your high-3; allowances do not.
- If within three years of retiring, treat any locality change as a pension decision.
Questions
The base rate runs from $90,925 at step 1 to $118,204 at step 10, and nobody is actually paid that. Locality pay is added on top, which takes the real figure from about $106,437 at step 1 in the Rest of U.S. area to about $172,980 at step 10 in San Jose-San Francisco. The spread between the lowest and highest paid GS-13 in the country is therefore larger than an entire GS-9 salary.
Eighteen years, if you never get promoted and never receive a quality step increase. The waiting periods lengthen as you go: 52 weeks for each of the first three step increases, 104 weeks for each of the next three, and 156 weeks for each of the last three. That is 936 weeks in total. Most GS-13s are promoted or leave long before reaching step 10, which is why the top of the range describes a fairly small population.
At GS-13 it generally is not, and that is worth knowing because it stops being true one grade up. The Executive Schedule Level IV cap of $197,200 limits total locality-adjusted basic pay, but a GS-13 at step 10 in the highest-paying locality area comes in below that ceiling. At GS-14 and GS-15 in high-locality areas the cap starts to bite, and the published percentage overstates what is actually payable.
Barely. Executive Order 14368 provided a 1.0 percent increase to the base General Schedule and 0.0 percent to locality, effective with the first pay period in January 2026. Because locality percentages were frozen at their 2025 levels, the increase in take-home terms was smaller than the headline figure suggests for anyone outside the Rest of U.S. area, where locality makes up a larger share of total pay.
Roughly $3,031 of base pay at GS-13, which is the same at every step because the General Schedule uses even increments within a grade. Locality multiplies it, so the same step increase is worth about $3,548 in the Rest of U.S. and about $4,435 in San Jose-San Francisco. It also compounds: a step increase early in your time at grade is worth more than the same increase later, because it raises every subsequent year of pay.
Yes, and this is where the locality figure matters most. Locality pay is part of basic pay, so it counts toward the high-3 average salary that drives a FERS annuity, and toward agency contributions to your Thrift Savings Plan. Allowances such as non-foreign COLA and overseas post allowances do not. A GS-13 in a high-locality area therefore builds a materially larger pension than one in the Rest of U.S. area, for identical work.
You are entitled to at least the equivalent of two within-grade increases at your current grade, which is the two-step rule. Applied at GS-13, that means your GS-14 rate is set from a figure two steps above where you currently sit, then matched to the lowest GS-14 step that equals or exceeds it. Where you are in the GS-13 range when the promotion lands therefore changes what the promotion is worth, sometimes considerably.
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. A GS-13 step 5 moving from the Rest of U.S. area to Washington-Baltimore gains roughly $17,000 a year without any change in grade, step or duties. Moving the other way loses the same amount.