The Winners in 2020 Locality Pay Are…

Which locality pay areas will receive the biggest raise in 2020 and which will get the lowest? Here are all of the locality pay rates for 2020.

The 2020 pay raise for the federal workforce is now final and, for most federal employees, the new rates will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2020.

The GS scale 2020 pay raise has an increase of 2.6% in base pay with an additional .5% distributed to locality pay areas. This results in higher or lower pay in cities throughout the United States.

The tables below show the 2020 locality pay raise in two ways: alphabetical order by city and the total 2020 pay raise with locality pay from highest to lowest to illustrate which areas fared better in 2020 in the federal pay process.

Biggest Winners in Locality Pay for 2020

The Washington, DC metropolitan area came out on top with a locality raise of 3.52%. The San Francisco-San Jose, CA and Seattle, WA areas came in second with a raise of 3.40%.

At the other end of the scale, the Rest of the US came in at 2.85%. The Cincinnati, OH area will receive the lowest raise of any of the cities in the locality pay arena with a raise of 2.89%. Indianapolis will receive 2.91% and Milwaukee and Cleveland, OH will both get 2.92%

Here are the tables reflecting the raise by city and also sorted from the highest to the lowest locality pay rates.

Total GS Scale 2020 Pay Raise by Locality

Locality Locality Raise 
Albany3.20%
Albuquerque3.02%
Atlanta3.04%
Austin3.22%
Boston3.27%
Birmingham3.03%
Buffalo3.05%
Burlington3.23%
Charlotte3.17%
Chicago3.03%
Cincinnati2.89%
Cleveland2.92%
Colorado Springs3.12%
Columbus3.07%
Dallas3.24%
Davenport3.08%
Dayton3.09%
Denver3.27%
Detroit3.01%
Harrisburg3.08%
Hartford3.09%
Houston3.00%
Huntsville3.18%
Indianapolis2.91%
Kansas City3.07%
Laredo3.17%
Las Vegas3.16%
Los Angeles3.33%
Miami2.93%
Milwaukee2.92%
Minneapolis3.15%
New York3.31%
Omaha3.01%
Palm Bay2.95%
Philadelphia3.21%
Phoenix3.05%
Pittsburgh3.07%
Portland3.11%
Raleigh3.03%
Richmond3.09%
Sacramento3.24%
San Antonio3.22%
San Diego3.37%
San Francisco3.40%
Seattle3.40%
St. Louis3.13%
Tucscon3.05%
Virginia Beach3.13%
Washington, DC3.52%
Alaska3.22%
Hawaii3.10%
Rest of US2.85%
Average3.1%

Total GS Scale 2020 Pay Raise by Amount

LocalityLocality Raise
Washington, DC3.52%
San Francisco3.40%
Seattle3.40%
San Diego3.37%
Los Angeles3.33%
New York3.31%
Boston3.27%
Denver3.27%
Dallas3.24%
Sacramento3.24%
Burlington3.23%
Austin3.22%
San Antonio3.22%
Alaska3.22%
Philadelphia3.21%
Albany3.20%
Huntsville3.18%
Charlotte3.17%
Laredo3.17%
Las Vegas3.16%
Minneapolis3.15%
St. Louis3.13%
Virginia Beach3.13%
Colorado Springs3.12%
Portland3.11%
Hawaii3.10%
Average3.1%
Dayton3.09%
Hartford3.09%
Richmond3.09%
Davenport3.08%
Harrisburg3.08%
Columbus3.07%
Pittsburgh3.07%
Kansas City3.07%
Buffalo3.05%
Phoenix3.05%
Tucscon3.05%
Atlanta3.04%
Birmingham3.03%
Chicago3.03%
Raleigh3.03%
Albuquerque3.02%
Detroit3.01%
Omaha3.01%
Houston3.00%
Palm Bay2.95%
Miami2.93%
Cleveland2.92%
Milwaukee2.92%
Indianapolis2.91%
Cincinnati2.89%
Rest of US2.85%

About the Author

Ralph Smith has several decades of experience working with federal human resources issues. He has written extensively on a full range of human resources topics in books and newsletters and is a co-founder of two companies and several newsletters on federal human resources. Follow Ralph on Twitter: @RalphSmith47