Federal Employee Salaries

How much are federal employees who work for the United States federal government paid, and how do their pay systems work?

FedSmith has compiled an overview of the major pay systems in the federal government and federal employee pay raises.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is the federal agency tasked with providing leadership on pay administration for civilian federal employees.

Contents

• Average Annual Salary for Federal Employees
• Pay Raises for Federal Employees
• GS Pay Scale
  • Within-Grade Increases (WGI)
  • 2021 GS Pay Scale
  • Additional GS Pay Resources
• Federal Wage System (FWS)
  • Additional FWS Resources

Average Annual Salary for Federal Employees

As of March 2021, the average federal employee annual salary (excluding benefits) is $91,570.

Pay Raises for Federal Employees

By law, Congress and the president determine how much, if any, pay raise federal employees get in a given year. Because it is determined by a political process, it is more complex and confusing than one might assume.

Federal employees received a 1% across-the-board pay increase for 2021.

To see how federal employees have fared with their raises under both political parties, see our article: 50 Years of Federal Pay: Democrats v. Republicans.

Although they are often confused as being the same thing, the annual pay raise for federal employees is different from the annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) calculation for federal retirees.

For complete details on the pay raise process, see How is the Annual Federal Employee Pay Raise Determined?.

GS Pay Scale

As noted above, the General Schedule (GS) pay system covers the majority of civilian white-collar federal workers employed in professional, technical, administrative, and clerical positions.

There are 15 GS grades establishing base annual salaries that run from 1 (lowest) to 15 (highest). The grade of each job is established by the employing agency based on the level of difficulty, responsibility and required qualifications. Typically, individuals would qualify within the GS grades along these general lines:

• GS-2: Individuals with no additional experience and a high school diploma
• GS-5: Individuals with a bachelor’s degree
• GS-9: Individuals with a master’s degree

Within-Grade Increases (WGI)

Each GS grade has 10 step rates (steps 1-10) and employees can move to higher steps throughout their federal careers. Within-grade increases (WGI) as they are called are based on an acceptable level of performance and longevity (waiting periods of 1 year at steps 1-3, 2 years at steps 4-6, and 3 years at steps 7-9). 

Each WGI amounts to a salary increase of about 3% of an employee’s salary. In effect, a WGI is a pay raise based on the length of time in government service at a particular step and grade in the General Schedule’s pay system.

GS Pay Scale 2021

The GS pay tables are published annually by OPM at the start of each year. The latest one of the annual GS base pay rates is included below.

Grade	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 4	Step 5	Step 6	Step 7	Step 8	Step 9	Step 10	WGI
1	19738	20400	21056	21709	22365	22749	23398	24052	24078	24690	VARIES
2	22194	22722	23457	24078	24349	25065	25781	26497	27213	27929	VARIES
3	24216	25023	25830	26637	27444	28251	29058	29865	30672	31479	807
4	27184	28090	28996	29902	30808	31714	32620	33526	34432	35338	906
5	30414	31428	32442	33456	34470	35484	36498	37512	38526	39540	1014
6	33903	35033	36163	37293	38423	39553	40683	41813	42943	44073	1130
7	37674	38930	40186	41442	42698	43954	45210	46466	47722	48978	1256
8	41723	43114	44505	45896	47287	48678	50069	51460	52851	54242	1391
9	46083	47619	49155	50691	52227	53763	55299	56835	58371	59907	1536
10	50748	52440	54132	55824	57516	59208	60900	62592	64284	65976	1692
11	55756	57615	59474	61333	63192	65051	66910	68769	70628	72487	1859
12	66829	69057	71285	73513	75741	77969	80197	82425	84653	86881	2228
13	79468	82117	84766	87415	90064	92713	95362	98011	100660	103309	2649
14	93907	97037	100167	103297	106427	109557	112687	115817	118947	122077	3130
15	110460	114142	117824	121506	125188	128870	132552	136234	139916	143598	3682

Locality Pay

Most GS employees are also entitled to locality pay, which is a geographic-based percentage rate that reflects pay levels for non-federal workers in certain geographic areas as determined by surveys conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are currently 47 locality pay areas.

Additional GS Pay Resources

• OPM – Overview of the GS Pay System
• Current GS Pay Scales for All Pay Localities
• 2021 Locality Pay Area Definitions
• GS Pay Calculator

Wage Grade Pay Scale (FWS)

The Federal Wage System (FWS) (a.k.a. wage grade) was developed to make the pay of Federal blue-collar workers comparable to prevailing private sector rates in each local wage area. It is a partnership between OPM, other federal agencies and labor organizations. The goal of the FWS is to pay employees according to local prevailing rates and covers most trade, craft, and laboring employees in the executive branch.

Additional Wage Grade Pay Resources

• OPM Fact Sheet on Federal Wage System
• Federal Wage System (FWS) Wage Schedules