Methods and Sources

OPM General Schedule pay tables

For each calendar year, OPM publishes salary tables: a base table for each grade and step, and a locality table for each locality pay area. YepGS reads OPM's machine-readable file for each table and shows the annual and hourly rates as OPM publishes them. It doesn't work out its own rates in their place.

Each table names its version, such as Salary Table 2026-GS, and the month it takes effect, such as January 2026. The executive order that sets the year's pay makes the tables effective on the first day of the first pay period that begins on or after January 1. Pay periods can differ by agency, so YepGS shows the month from the table.

The 2026 GS pay tables page lists every locality pay area with its table.

Hourly and biweekly pay

Hourly rates are the ones in OPM's tables. By law (5 U.S.C. 5504(b) and 5 CFR 531.607), an hourly rate is the annual rate divided by 2,087 hours and rounded to the nearest cent, and YepGS checks each published hourly rate against that rule before it publishes a table.

OPM doesn't publish biweekly amounts. YepGS shows the published hourly rate times 80 hours, the biweekly rate that 5 CFR 531.607 describes. It isn't what you're paid in a year, because the number of paydays in a year varies.

The pay cap

The law limits GS locality rates to the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule (5 U.S.C. 5304(g)(1) and 5 CFR 531.606), which is $197,200 in 2026. Where a locality rate would go above it, OPM's table shows the capped amount. YepGS marks those amounts Capped and doesn't show what the amount would be without the cap.

Special rates and law enforcement officers

Law enforcement officers at GS-3 through GS-10, and employees covered by a special rate table, may be entitled to a higher rate than the locality table shows. For GS-1 through GS-4 in the United States, special rate table 001M applies in place of any lower locality rate. YepGS doesn't cover these tables. Check OPM's special rate tables or ask your human resources office.

Locality pay areas

OPM lists the counties, cities, and other places in each locality pay area in its yearly locality pay area definitions, which follow 5 CFR 531.603. YepGS shows that list on each area's page. Rest of U.S. has no list: it covers the places that aren't in another locality pay area, including the other nonforeign areas listed in 5 CFR 591.205, such as Puerto Rico and Guam. Alaska and Hawaii are separate locality pay areas with their own tables.

Your locality pay area depends on your official worksite. YepGS doesn't work it out from an address or ZIP code.

Steps and waiting periods

The difference between steps is the difference between two amounts in the same table. It can change from step to step, and two capped amounts have a difference of $0.

The standard waiting period before the next step is 52 calendar weeks for steps 1 to 3, 104 weeks for steps 4 to 6, and 156 weeks for steps 7 to 9, for an employee with a scheduled tour of duty (5 CFR 531.405 and 5 U.S.C. 5335). Employees without one count days in a pay status instead, and a step increase also requires an acceptable level of competence. YepGS doesn't work out the date of your next step.

Comparisons

The comparison takes the same grade and step in each area. The difference is an area's amount minus the base amount, and the percent is that difference divided by the base amount, rounded to one decimal place, with a half rounded away from zero. A difference that isn't zero but rounds to 0.0% keeps its sign, such as −0.0%. A change in locality pay from one year to the next is the difference between the two published percentages, in points.

GSA per diem rates

For each federal fiscal year, GSA sets per diem rates for destinations in the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia: a maximum lodging rate for each night, which can change by season, and a meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate. For FY2027, 295 destinations have their own rates, and the standard CONUS rate of $113 for lodging and $68 for M&IE applies everywhere else. The FY2027 per diem rates page lists them by state.

The lodging rate is a ceiling, and the M&IE rate is a fixed daily amount, one of $68 to $92 in GSA's M&IE breakdown table. Your agency's travel policy and your travel authorization decide what you're allowed, so YepGS shows the federal maximums, not what you'll be paid.

The per diem calculator applies these rules from the Federal Travel Regulation (41 CFR part 301-11). GSA's pages still cite some sections by their numbers before the regulation was renumbered, so the former numbers are in parentheses.

• Per diem applies when you're in a travel status for more than 12 hours (41 CFR 301-11.1, formerly 301-11.1 and 301-11.2). For a trip of one or two days, the calculator asks you to confirm that.
• The temporary duty location generally determines the rate (41 CFR 301-11.4, formerly 301-11.7 and 301-11.102). Each night uses the lodging rate for that night's date, so a stay that crosses into a new season changes rate on the first night of the new season.
• On the first and last days of a trip, M&IE is 75% of the daily rate, and a trip of more than 12 but less than 24 hours gets 75% for each day (41 CFR 301-11.20, formerly 301-11.101). YepGS uses the first and last day amounts from GSA's M&IE breakdown table.
• A meal provided by the government or included in a registration fee is deducted at the amount in GSA's M&IE breakdown table, on the first and last days from the 75% amount, and the deductions can't take M&IE below the incidental expenses amount, $5 (41 CFR 301-11.21, formerly 301-11.18). A meal from an airline or another common carrier, or a free hotel meal, isn't deducted (41 CFR 301-11.21(c), formerly 301-11.17).
• A place GSA doesn't list gets the standard CONUS rate, which GSA applies to all counties not specifically listed. A city that isn't listed may be in a listed county, so check the county first, for example with the Census Geocoder. In the calculator, choose Not listed (standard CONUS rate).
• The current regulation doesn't say which destination's rates apply on the day you move from one destination to the next. YepGS uses the destination where you spend that night, and the last destination on the day you return. Check your agency's policy.
• Each day uses the rates for the fiscal year that day falls in, so a trip that crosses October 1 uses two fiscal years' rates.

What YepGS leaves out

• Special rate tables, law enforcement officer rates, and other pay systems, such as the Federal Wage System, the Senior Executive Service, and military pay.
• Monthly pay, taxes, deductions, take-home pay, retirement, and the Thrift Savings Plan.
• Promotion rules and the dates of within-grade step increases.
• Per diem rates outside the lower 48 states, such as Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, and foreign countries.
• Mileage rates and actual lodging costs.
• Years, fiscal years, locality pay areas, and destinations without a published rate.

How the data is updated

OPM publishes new GS tables for each calendar year, and GSA publishes new per diem rates for each federal fiscal year, which begins on October 1. GSA can also revise rates during the year. YepGS checks both sources every month and publishes a new version only after it passes checks against the previous one. While a new version is being checked, results keep the previous version and say so.

For per diem, YepGS reads GSA's rate spreadsheet for each fiscal year, the ZIP code file GSA publishes for developers, and GSA's M&IE breakdown table. It checks them against each other and against the previous fiscal year, and a destination that fails a check isn't shown until the check is resolved.

Versions of the data

Each table YepGS uses, with its version, its source, and the date YepGS retrieved it.

Disclaimer

YepGS is an independent site. It isn't affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by OPM or GSA, and it doesn't use their logos. It names them only to identify its sources. Its results aren't a recommendation or a guarantee from either agency, and they aren't pay, tax, or travel advice. GSA.gov and the federal government cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from GSA.gov.

Rates can change, and mistakes are possible. Check with your human resources office or your agency's travel office before you rely on a number.