Current Federal Employee Salary
On December 13, 2024, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a notice that added 33,000 more federal employees into the locality pay system. The locality pay system usually substantially increases federal employee salaries over time.
In 2024, there was an average pay raise of 5.2% for General Schedule federal employees. The average federal salary as of March 2024 was $106,382. The largest number of federal employees in one area is in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. As of March 2024, the average federal salary in Washington was $144,350.
At the end of March 2023, the average federal employee salary was $100,457—a gain of $5,925 in the average federal employee pay in one year.
While readers often comment that the average pay is higher than their personal experience, some agencies pay much higher salaries. For example, Commodity Futures Trading Commission employees have a median pay of $248,000, about twice as much as the average federal employee.
2025 President’s Pay Agent Report
The Pay Agent’s report compares pay rates under the General Schedule to non-Federal pay, identifies areas in which a pay disparity exists and specifies the size of the disparity, makes recommendations for locality rates, and includes the views of the Federal Salary Council. The Pay Agent consists of the Secretary of Labor, the Director of OMB, and the Director of OPM.
Since 2015, the federal government’s locality pay areas (LPA) have increased from 34 to 58, or about 71%. This increase includes the four new areas designated as LPAs in 2024. Locality pay areas have different pay rates for the federal government’s general schedule employees. The rate of any pay increase frequently varies between the pay areas.
The Federal Salary Council (FSC) proposed adding about 15,000 federal employees to existing locality pay areas for 2025 from the “Rest of the U.S.” Being added to a locality pay area usually results in higher pay for impacted employees.
The “Rest of the US” category of locality pay is shrinking. In 2023, most federal employees (1,546,343 or 68.7%) were in a locality pay area. These figures do not include approximately 33,000 federal employees added to the system for 2024.
FSC recommended the President’s Pay Agent add Wyandot County, OH, to the Columbus,
OH, locality pay area and Yuma County, AZ, to the Phoenix, AZ, locality pay area. These recommendations do not create new locality pay areas. In this case, they are adding employees to existing pay areas using various techniques to reduce employees in the “Rest of the U.S.” and add more to higher-paying locality pay areas.
In its report for 2025, the Pay Agent “tentatively agreed” with these changes proposed by FSC. For readers in these Ohio and Arizona counties, note that the change will not take place immediately. OPM has to issue a proposed rule announcing the proposed changes that is published in the Federal Register. After considering comments, usually a few months later, the final regulation is issued.
This means this change will not take place for the 2025 locality pay areas. Also, no new locality pay areas have been created for 2025.
Pay Compression Problem Cited by Pay Agent
In its report on locality pay for 2025, the Pay Agent noted:
In its annual report for locality pay in 2025, the Federal Salary Council expressed concerns regarding the worsening pay compression in the growing number of locality pay areas where locality pay rates reach the EX-IV limitation. This issue is related to the Council’s concerns discussed above regarding annual pay adjustments for the General Schedule, since by law an annual pay increase for the Executive Schedule cannot exceed the annual pay increase in the same year for the General Schedule.
This means federal employees in the higher-paying locality pay areas do not receive the full pay adjustment. For example, in the San Jose-San Francisco area, there are employees at the GS-14 level with a pay scale that exceeds the pay rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule. The pay rate for Level IV of the federal government’s Executive Schedule is $191,900 per year as of January 2024.
This means, as one example, that all GS-15 employees in this one pay area in steps 4-10 of the General Schedule receive the same amount of pay.
Receiving a promotion usually means more responsibility and a job requiring more experience. An employee under the pay cap may wonder why anyone would take on more responsibility without receiving any additional compensation.
With a national debt of about $36 trillion, there is an emphasis on reducing government spending and waste in spending. That makes adding more billions to the amount spent on federal employee compensation will be difficult.
Frequently Asked Questions About Locality Pay
What is a GS locality Pay Area?
Locality pay areas consist of a main metropolitan area defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and forming the basic locality pay area where criteria recommended by the Federal Salary Council and approved by the President’s Pay Agent are met.
What Are the Boundaries for GS Locality Pay Areas?
The boundaries of locality pay areas are based on factors which may include local labor market patterns, commuting patterns, and the practices of other employers. The President’s Pay Agent (the Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)) determine locality pay areas.
Where Are GS Locality Pay Areas Located?
For 2025, there are 58 locality pay areas. OPM publishes a list of locality pay areas and the pay tables for each locality every year. Tables for the next year are published around the end of December.
What is Pay Disparity?
Pay disparity is calculated by the Federal Salary Council and is the overall difference between (1) base General Schedule average salaries excluding any add-ons such as GS special rates and existing locality payments and (2) non-Federal average salaries surveyed by BLS in locality pay areas. These calculations measure salary but do not take into account the amount of employee benefits provided.
What Does the “Rest of the US” Mean in the GS Locality Pay System
“The “Rest of United States” GS locality is the locality pay area for federal GS employees not classified in another specified GS Locality Pay Area. The 2024 Locality Pay Adjustment for the Rest of U.S. was 16.82%. The result means that GS employees are paid at least 16.82% more than the GS Base Pay Table.
Where Can I Find the GS Locality Pay Percentage for Each Locality Pay Area?
The locality per percentage is updated in most years. The locality pay tables specify the percentage for each locality area. The locality pay percentage is posted at the top of each pay area’s pay table.
Here is an example for 2024: “Incorporating the 4.7% General Schedule Increase and a Locality Payment of 33.26% For the Locality Pay Area of Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA”
This means that 4.7% was added to the GS Base Pay Table for the Washington, DC locality pay area in 2024. The 33.26% means that this percentage has been added over time to the base pay table for this locality pay area.
