Locality Pay Area Definitions - U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Welcome to opm.gov. 2025 Locality Pay Area Definitions. The President's Pay Agent geographically defines locality pay areas after considering recommendations from the Federal Salary Council.The geographic definitions of locality pay areas for calendar year 2025 are listed below and will be the same as in calendar year 2024.
Administering Locality Rates - U.S. Office of Personnel Management
For an employee in a category of positions described in 5 U.S.C. 5304(h)(1) for which the President (or designee) has authorized locality payments under 5 U.S.C. 5304(h)(2), the annual rate of pay fixed by law or administrative action, exclusive of any locality-based adjustments (including adjustments equivalent to local special rate ...
How does locality pay actually work, and where did it come from?
The difference in wages, or the pay gap, between the two comparable positions helps determine what the locality pay adjustment should be for a given area. Some economists and think tanks, however, argue that the pay gap is misrepresentative, because it doesn’t account for the value of benefits, and only relies on wages to make the calculation ...
Better understand locality pay: how it works and what it means for your ...
Your locality pay adjustment, however, differs depending on where you work. The parameters that define locality pay areas aren’t set under law, but the Federal Salary Council, a group comprised of pay and labor experts and representatives from federal employee unions, in 1994 decided that existing metropolitan statistical areas were best to ...
How Locality Pay Adjustments Work - FederalPay.org
The locality adjustments keep the salaries of federal employees competitive with their private sector equivalent. Federal jobs still typically pay less than the private sector but it would be much worse without the locality adjustments. However, when taking into account the federal government’s benefits including great healthcare insurance ...
What is Locality Pay, How Does it Work, and What is its ... - FedSmith
What is a Locality Pay Area? A locality pay area is a geographic region designated by the federal government where federal employees receive a locality-based pay adjustment in addition to their base pay. The adjustment makes federal salaries competitive with non-federal (private sector, state, and local government) salaries in the same area, accounting for regional differences in labor market ...
Understanding Locality Pay - febabenefits.org
For example, if you work in a locality area with a 20% adjustment rate, your salary will increase by 20% of your base pay: Base Pay + Locality Adjustment = Annual Salary. For example, a GS-7 Step 1 employee with a base salary of $40,000 in an area with a 20% locality pay adjustment would earn the following: $40,000 + ($40,000 x 0.20) = $48,000
Locality Pay Areas in 2025 - FedSmith
“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.
Seeking Higher Salary of GS Locality Pay? Here is Status of ... - FedSmith
A locality pay adjustment is different and is an additional amount added to a federal employee’s paycheck. It depends on where you work. The parameters that define GS locality pay areas aren’t set by law. The Federal Salary Council, which is comprised of pay and labor experts and representatives from federal employee unions, decided in 1994 ...
Locality Pay Area Definitions - U.S. Office of Personnel Management
2021 Locality Pay Area Definitions. On October 15, 2020, final regulations to define General Schedule (GS) locality pay areas were published on behalf of the President's Pay Agent in the Federal Register. The final regulations, which are applicable the first day of the first pay period in January 2021, establish a new Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA, locality pay area and include Imperial ...
2024 Locality Pay Tables Part 1 - Federal Jobs
Note: Section 1911 of P.L. 111-84, the Non-Foreign Area Retirement Equity Assurance Act, phased in locality pay for employees in the non-foreign areas as identified in 5 C.F.R. 591.205. Alaska and Hawaii are separate locality pay areas with separate pay tables. Other non-foreign areas are included as part of the Rest of U.S. locality pay area.
How Are 2024 GS Pay Scales with Locality Calculated?
How Is the Locality Adjustment Calculated? Of the three determining factors, locality adjustments can be the most complicated to predict. The amount of the adjustment is calculated as a percentage rate based on data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Annual National Compensation Survey.
ADMINISTRATION OF LOCALITY PAY INTRODUCTION - DCPAS
President (or designee) has authorized locality payments under 5 U.S.C. 5304(h)(2), the annual rate of pay fixed by law or administrative action, exclusive of any locality-based adjustments (including adjustments equivalent to local special rate supplements under 5 CFR 530, subpart C) or other additional pay of any kind. DETERMINING A LOCALITY RATE
How to Calculate Geographic Pay Differentials for Employees - Salary.com
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provides geographic pay adjustments, known as locality pay, for federal employees depending on their location. This pay adjustment is meant to compensate for higher living costs in certain areas, such as Washington D.C., San Francisco, or New York City, where locality pay rates can increase salaries ...
Special Rates - Changes in Documentation - U.S. Office of Personnel ...
The value of the special rate supplement is the difference between the special rate and the base rate (i.e., the difference between Adjusted Basic Pay and Basic Pay). The amount of the special rate supplement should be reported in the "Locality Adj." block on the SF 50 (blocks 12B and 20B) in the same manner as locality pay.
Defense Finance and Accounting Service > CivilianEmployees ...
Visit the Office of Personnel Management’s Law Enforcement General Schedule Locality Pay tables for details. Special Pay Adjustment for Law Enforcement Officers in Select Geographic Areas GS, Senior Executive Service and senior-level LEOs in eight geographic areas receive special pay adjustments of 4, 8 and 16%.
Pay Raise, a COLA and Locality Pay - FedSmith
Will it be more or less than the COLA adjustment or is there even a difference? Many, perhaps most, federal employees are also wondering about locality pay. We just learned of two changes to the locality pay areas for 2020 (adding Des Moines, Iowa as a new pay area and Imperial County, California to the Los Angeles pay locality area).
What Is Locality Pay for Federal Employees? | FEDLAW
A Review of Locality Pay. Under the United States Code Title 5, Section 5304, federal employers must reduce pay disparities between federal and private employees by giving locality payments to federal employees who make at least 5% less than their private sector counterparts.. The locality pay rate is paid in addition to a federal employee’s base pay on the general schedule.
How Are Locality Pay Rates Computed? | FedSmith.com
Instead, in most years there is an adjustment to the GS pay scale, and then an additional amount of money is set aside to adjust the locality rates. For 2018 the President authorized an across the board increase of 1.4% and locality pay adjustments that will cost about .5% of payroll.