Pay

Many jobs within the federal government offer pay competitive with the private sector. However, federal agencies follow government-regulated pay systems and policies to set their salaries. Most use the General Schedule (GS) pay system, but some agencies use other systems like the Federal Wage System (FWS), special pay rates or agency-specific pay systems.

How salaries are set

Typically, there is a minimum and maximum salary for every job—federal agencies determine a salary based on their pay setting rules (the pay grade or other pay schedule) and your qualifications.

The General Schedule pay scale

The General Schedule (GS) pay scale is one of many pay systems in the federal government. A GS pay grade is a rate of basic pay based on the specific level of work or range of difficulty, responsibility and qualifications.

The GS pay schedule has 15 pay grades, from GS-1 (lowest grade) to GS-15 (highest grade). There are 10 steps in each grade. A salary can vary within a pay grade depending on if you're at step 1 (the starting salary of the pay grade) or step 10 (the maximum salary of the pay grade). Pay may also vary by geographic location.

If you're new to the federal government, your pay will likely be set at step 1 of the job’s pay grade, which is the starting salary.

Hourly wage

Some federal jobs offer hourly wages. These jobs follow the Federal Wage System (FWS).

Learn more about the federal employee compensation package.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) maintains pay tables for General Schedule (GS) employees, manages the Federal Wage System (FWS) and provides government-wide regulations and policies for leave and other pay systems.