GS Pay Calculator 2027: Salary, Hourly Rate and the 2027 Raise

This GS pay calculator turns any grade, step and locality area into annual, hourly, biweekly and overtime pay. It uses OPM’s 2026 rates, which the President’s pay plan carries into 2027. GS-5 step 1 in the Rest of U.S. area pays $40,736 a year, or $19.52 an hour.

How do you use the GS pay calculator?

Choose the grade, the step and the locality area of the job, and the calculator shows what it pays. Every result updates as you change a field. Nothing is sent anywhere and there is no button to press.

The grade is in the job announcement. On USAJOBS it appears in the title line and the pay scale and grade field, such as GS 5. An announcement that reads GS-5/7 is open at both grades, so run each one.

The step is almost always step 1 for a new hire. Agencies can offer a higher step for superior qualifications, but that is uncommon for seasonal jobs. If you are a current employee, your step is on your latest SF-50 or pay statement.

The locality area is where the job is, not where you live. If the duty station is not inside one of the 57 named areas, pick Rest of U.S. That covers most national parks and national forests. OPM’s locality pay area definitions list every county.

The weeks field sets the length of a season at 40 hours a week. The raise field lets you test any 2027 raise from 0% to 20%. To see every grade and step in one view, use the GS pay scale tables.

Will GS pay go up in 2027?

Under the current plan, no. On August 26, 2026 the President told Congress that “for 2027, base pay and locality pay for civilian Federal employees will not change from the 2026 rates.” The calculator’s 2027 line therefore matches the 2026 rate.

The same letter says what the law would have done without the plan. Base pay would have risen 3.1%, and locality payments would have gone up by an average of 20.6%. The alternative plan replaces both with no change.

The raise line starts at 4.1% because that is the figure in the FAIR Act, H.R. 7480. The bill, introduced on February 10, 2026, calls for 3.1% on base pay plus an average of 1% in locality pay. As of November 9, 2026 it has not become law.

Grade, step 1	2026 rate	2027 under the pay plan	2027 with a 4.1% raise	Difference a year
GS-5	$40,736	$40,736	$42,406	$1,670
GS-7	$50,460	$50,460	$52,529	$2,069
GS-9	$61,722	$61,722	$64,253	$2,531
GS-11	$74,678	$74,678	$77,740	$3,062
GS-12	$89,508	$89,508	$93,178	$3,670

Source: 2026 rates from the OPM 2026 Rest of U.S. locality table. The 4.1% column is our estimate, accessed Nov 9, 2026.

The 4.1% column is an estimate, not a published rate. It applies one flat percentage to the 2026 rate. A real raise would add 3.1% to base pay and then set new locality percentages area by area, so true figures would differ a little.

The decision arrives in an executive order. The last three were signed on December 21, 2023, December 23, 2024 and December 18, 2025. Any change takes effect in the first pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and we will update the calculator when OPM publishes 2027 tables.

How does the calculator work out hourly, biweekly and overtime pay?

It follows OPM’s rules step by step. Annual pay is base pay times one plus the locality percentage, rounded to the nearest dollar. Hourly pay is annual pay divided by 2,087, rounded to the nearest cent. Biweekly pay is the hourly rate times 80.

Take GS-5 step 1 in the Rest of U.S. area. Base pay is $34,799 and the locality payment is 17.06%, which gives $40,736. Divided by 2,087 that is $19.52 an hour, and 80 hours comes to $1,561.60 every two weeks.

The divisor is 2,087 because federal law counts that many work hours in an average year, not 2,080. The monthly figure is simply annual pay divided by 12. Federal employees are paid every two weeks, so use the monthly line for budgeting only.

Overtime follows Title 5. An employee whose hourly rate is at or below the GS-10 step 1 rate earns one and a half times that hourly rate. Above it, overtime is the higher of the employee’s own hourly rate or one and a half times the GS-10 step 1 rate.

Grade, step 1	Annual	Hourly	Biweekly	Overtime, per hour
GS-3	$36,464	$17.47	$1,397.60	$26.21
GS-4	$37,193	$17.82	$1,425.60	$26.73
GS-5	$40,736	$19.52	$1,561.60	$29.28
GS-7	$50,460	$24.18	$1,934.40	$36.27
GS-9	$61,722	$29.57	$2,365.60	$44.36
GS-11	$74,678	$35.78	$2,862.40	$48.86
GS-12	$89,508	$42.89	$3,431.20	$48.86

Source: OPM 2026 Rest of U.S. locality table, with hourly and overtime rates computed under OPM’s 2,087-hour rule and Title 5 overtime rules, accessed Nov 9, 2026.

You can see the limit in the table. GS-11 and GS-12 share one overtime rate, $48.86, which is one and a half times the GS-10 step 1 rate of $32.57. The same ceiling holds for every grade above GS-10 until base hourly pay passes it.

The limit matters less for field staff than it looks. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes most seasonal staff at GS-3 to GS-7, earn time and a half of their regular rate. Every figure matches OPM’s own salary calculator.

Why does GS-1 to GS-4 pay more than the locality table shows?

Because a nationwide special rate sets a floor under the four lowest grades. OPM’s special rate table 001M applies to GS-1 to GS-4 employees at U.S. worksites, and the calculator shows it whenever it is higher than the locality rate.

OPM says a 001M rate “applies in place of any corresponding locality rate or other applicable special rate that is lower than the table 001M special rate.” When the calculator uses it, a note under the results shows the lower locality rate it replaced.

Grade, step 1	Rest of U.S. locality rate	Special rate 001M	Hourly rate paid	Gain a year
GS-1	$26,437	$35,048	$16.79	$8,611
GS-2	$29,725	$35,749	$17.13	$6,024
GS-3	$32,435	$36,464	$17.47	$4,029
GS-4	$36,409	$37,193	$17.82	$784

Source: OPM special rate table 001M (2026) and the OPM 2026 Rest of U.S. locality table, accessed Nov 9, 2026.

The floor fades as locality pay rises. In Alaska, GS-3 step 1 pays $36,674 with locality pay, which is more than the $36,464 special rate, so the locality rate applies there. At GS-4 in the Rest of U.S. area the special rate stops helping after step 5.

Check this one with the hiring office. Two National Park Service announcements from October 2026 list GS-4 pay starting at $17.45 an hour, the locality table figure, where the special rate would give $17.82. Ask which rate the offer uses.

What does a seasonal GS job pay for a whole season?

A 26-week season at GS-5 step 1 in the Rest of U.S. area pays about $20,301 before overtime and deductions. The calculator multiplies the hourly rate by 40 hours and by the number of weeks you enter.

Many seasonal announcements are capped at 1,039 hours. That is one hour short of 26 full weeks, which is why 26 is the default in the weeks field. Shorter seasons are common too, so the table shows 13 and 20 weeks as well.

Grade, step 1	Hourly	13 weeks	20 weeks	26 weeks
GS-3	$17.47	$9,084	$13,976	$18,169
GS-4	$17.82	$9,266	$14,256	$18,533
GS-5	$19.52	$10,150	$15,616	$20,301
GS-7	$24.18	$12,574	$19,344	$25,147

Source: computed from the OPM 2026 Rest of U.S. locality table and special rate table 001M, at 40 hours a week in the Rest of U.S. area, accessed Nov 9, 2026.

Those totals are straight time only. A busy fire or visitor season can add a good deal of overtime, and at GS-5 step 1 each overtime hour is worth $29.28. Ten overtime hours a week for 26 weeks would add about $7,613.

For which jobs sit at which grade, and when they open, see our guides to National Park Service seasonal jobs and Forest Service seasonal jobs. Many of these jobs come with a bunk or a shared house, covered in our guide to seasonal outdoor jobs with housing.

What is not included in the calculator?

The calculator shows gross basic pay only. It leaves out anything that depends on your schedule, your benefits choices or your duty station beyond the locality area, so treat the result as the starting figure on an offer, not as take-home pay.

Taxes and deductions are not taken off. Federal and state income tax, Social Security, Medicare and any retirement or health insurance contributions all come out of the gross figure. Rent for government housing, where it is charged, is deducted from pay as well.

Extra pay is not added. Overtime totals depend on hours worked, and the calculator shows only the rate. Pay for night, Sunday and holiday work, and hazard pay where it applies, are separate from the basic rate.

The cost-of-living allowance in Alaska and Hawaii is not added either. White-collar federal employees there are paid one, and OPM’s 2026 rates are 1.49% for Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau and 3.00% for the rest of Alaska. See our guide to summer jobs in Alaska for more on working there.

It also covers the General Schedule only. Wildland firefighters are paid on the GW pay scale, emergency fire hires on the AD pay plan, and most trail maintenance workers on local Wage Grade schedules. Browse open park ranger jobs and Forest Service jobs to see real pay lines.