Rest of U.S. locality pay 2026: GS pay table

A definition by exclusion

OPM's 2026 locality definitions describe Rest of U.S. in one line: those portions of the United States and its territories and possessions (nonforeign areas) not located within another locality pay area. There is no list of counties to check. If your duty station's county or independent city does not appear in any named area, and the worksite is not in Alaska or Hawaii, the Rest of U.S. table applies.

In 8 states that test is easy, because no county there belongs to a named area: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Every federal office, clinic, park and base in those states uses this table. In the 40 other states that have at least one named county, the answer depends on the exact county. Texas is a good example: 81 Texas counties are spread across 6 named areas, and every other county of the state is Rest of U.S.

Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not separate areas. They fall under Rest of U.S. like a county in Montana does. OPM's definitions page explains the history: the Non-Foreign Area Retirement Equity Assurance Act of 2009 phased in locality pay for the nonforeign areas of 5 CFR 591.205, and the old nonforeign cost-of-living allowance was phased out. Alaska and Hawaii ended up with their own percentages; the other nonforeign areas ended up here, at 17.06 %. A GS-11 step 1 in San Juan is paid $74,678, exactly what the same grade and step pays in rural Arkansas.

How far below the other areas

The distance is small at the bottom of the ranking and large at the top. Reno, the closest area at 17.52 %, adds only $351 a year at GS-12 step 1. Washington-Baltimore at 33.94 % adds $12,907, and San Francisco at 46.34 % adds $22,388. These percentages come from comparisons of federal and non-federal salaries in each labor market, not from living costs, so the ranking does not follow any cost-of-living index.

Where the special rate table takes over

Because the Rest of U.S. percentage is the lowest, the nationwide special rate table 001M replaces the locality rate in more cells here than anywhere else: 35 of the 40 cells of GS-1 to GS-4. Those employees are paid the 001M figure, which is higher than 17.06 % on top of the base. From GS-5 up, every rate is the base plus the locality percentage, rounded to the dollar.

Remote work and Rest of U.S.

Many fully remote federal employees land in this table. Under 5 CFR 531.605 the worksite is the agency office only if you are scheduled to report there at least twice each biweekly pay period. Below that, your approved home address is the worksite, so a remote employee living in a county outside every named area is paid 17.06 %, whatever the location of the supervisor or the team. A move from a Denver office to remote work from a Rest of U.S. county costs a GS-13 step 5 $13,871 a year. The locality pay page ranks every area, and the base table shows the rates before any locality.