GS-3 pay scale 2026 by step and locality

Two pay systems inside one grade

Every GS-3 cell has two possible rates: the locality rate, which is the base rate plus your area's percentage, and the nationwide 001M rate. Payroll pays the higher one. In Rest of U.S., where the locality percentage is 17.06 %, the locality rate at step 1 would be $32,435, well under the 001M figure of $36,464. In areas with a high percentage the order flips.

At step 1, the areas that pay their own locality rate are: Alaska, Boston, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington DC. In every other area, GS-3 step 1 is $36,464. Because a base step, once your locality percentage is added, is worth more than the fixed 001M step, the list gets longer as you climb: 19 areas pay locality at step 10. Chicago shows the switch inside a single grade. Its step 1 is the 001M rate of $36,464, but step 5 pays $41,095 and step 10 $47,141, both from the Chicago locality table.

Why moving does not always raise GS-3 pay

A transfer from a small town to a city changes your locality area, and at most grades that is a raise. At GS-3 it depends on the destination. Moving from Rest of U.S. to Atlanta, Phoenix or Kansas City leaves step 1 at $36,464, because 001M applies in all of them. Moving to Washington adds $648 a year at step 1, and moving to San Francisco adds $4,084. The official worksite on your SF-50 decides it, not your home address.

Education, experience and the next grade

The general rule for many clerical and assistant series, per the OPM qualification standards, is that education above high school can replace experience at GS-3 and GS-4. Specific series may also test skills. Once in the job, you can be advanced to GS-4 or GS-5 without a 52-week wait: the time-in-grade rules only cap the new grade at two above the lowest grade you held in the past 52 weeks. A GS-3 can therefore move to GS-5 in one action when the position and the qualifications allow it.

The gap between grades widens here. In Rest of U.S., GS-3 step 10 is $44,780, while GS-5 step 1 is $40,736, so a move to GS-5 can pay more than ten years of GS-3 step increases. The GS-4 page covers the grade in between, the last one touched by table 001M.

Hourly rate and overtime at GS-3

GS-3 step 1 earns $17.47 an hour in Rest of U.S. and $17.78 in Washington. Overtime is a straight time and a half at every GS-3 step and in every area: $26.21 at step 1 in Rest of U.S., $32.19 at step 10. The cap tied to GS-10 step 1 never reaches this grade.