GS-2 pay scale 2026 by step and locality

What GS-2 work looks like

GS-2 positions handle routine tasks with clear instructions: sorting and filing, data entry, answering basic questions, supporting an office, a clinic or a mailroom. Supervisors check the work closely. The grade appears across many clerical and assistant series, and in a number of them the next rungs, GS-3 and GS-4, are reached by promotion once you have learned the job. For entry, the OPM qualification standards for these series generally treat a high school diploma or its equivalent as enough at GS-2, or a few months of general work experience in place of it. The announcement for each position states exactly what it accepts.

Where locality pay beats table 001M

For most GS-2 employees the locality table is irrelevant. OPM's table 001M sets one rate per step for the whole country, and payroll uses it whenever it is higher than base pay plus your locality percentage. At GS-2 step 1 that happens in 57 areas. San Francisco, with the highest locality percentage at 46.34 %, is the one place where the locality rate already wins at step 1.

Higher in the grade the picture shifts a little, because the base steps grow while table 001M rises by a fixed amount. At step 10, 4 areas pay their own locality rate: Houston ($43,137), Los Angeles ($43,606), New York ($44,079), San Francisco ($46,760). Everywhere else step 10 is $43,120. The table under this article lists every area, so you can see which line uses which rate.

Step increases from step 1

The base table at GS-2 is irregular: the gap between step 4 and step 5 is only $308, while most other steps are about $819 apart. Since table 001M uses an even step of $819, your within-grade increases are regular in practice. Steps 2 to 4 come after 52 weeks each, so a GS-2 hired at step 1 reaches step 4 in about 3 years if the work is at an acceptable level of competence. Steps 5 to 7 need 104 weeks each and steps 8 to 10 need 156 weeks.

Hourly pay follows the annual rate: $17.13 at step 1 and $20.66 at step 10 in Rest of U.S. Every hour of overtime is paid at time and a half, since GS-2 is well under the GS-10 step 1 hourly rate where the overtime limit for exempt employees begins. The hourly pay guide shows the full method.

Leaving GS-2

Advancement to GS-3, GS-4 or GS-5 has no waiting period under the time-in-grade regulation: the limit is that the new grade must be no more than two grades above the lowest one you held in the past 52 weeks. GS-3 step 1 pays $36,464 in Rest of U.S., $715 above GS-2 step 1, so the first promotions at these grades are small. The GS-3 page explains where the gap starts to widen.