Civilian federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems are set to receive no pay raise in January 2027, because the president's alternative pay plan, sent to Congress in a letter dated August 26, 2026, says base pay and locality pay will not change from the 2026 rates. The raise in effect now is the 1.0 percent across-the-board increase for 2026, which the Office of Personnel Management described in its memorandum on January 2026 pay adjustments.
The raise by year
| Year | Base pay raise | Locality pay |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (in effect) | 1.0 percent | Held at 2025 levels |
| 2027 (president's plan) | None | Held at 2026 rates |
The 2026 row comes from the personnel office's memorandum of December 18, 2025, and the 2027 row comes from the president's letter of August 26, 2026.
What the plan for 2027 says
The president's letter to Congress set the alternative pay adjustments for 2027 under two sections of federal pay law, 5 U.S.C. 5303(b) and 5 U.S.C. 5304a. It was referred to two House committees on August 27, 2026, and printed as House Document 119-189.
The letter said that without the alternative plan, locality pay would have increased by an average of 20.6 percent in January 2027, at a cost of $26 billion in the first year, and base General Schedule pay would have risen by a further 3.1 percent across the board. Under the plan, both stay where they are in 2026.
The 3.8 percent increase for law enforcement
Law enforcement personnel are treated separately. The Office of Personnel Management said on its page about 2027 special rates that the president decided to freeze 2027 base and locality rates and to provide a pay increase of 3.8 percent for law enforcement personnel.
The office said it intends to apply a 3.8 percent total increase to the special rate tables it established for 2026, with a tentative effective date of January 10, 2027. It said employees near the pay cap may receive less than 3.8 percent, that employees covered by the special rate tables set for 2026 will stay covered in 2027, and that it expects to release the new special rate tables by the end of the calendar year.
What the 2026 raise was
The memorandum on January 2026 pay adjustments said an executive order authorized a 1.0 percent across-the-board increase for the statutory pay systems and kept locality percentages at 2025 levels. Those systems are the General Schedule, the Foreign Service schedule and certain schedules for the Veterans Health Administration. The 2026 pay schedules took effect on January 11, 2026, which was the first day of the first pay period beginning on or after January 1.
The office's base General Schedule table for 2026, which carries the 1 percent increase, shows these annual rates.
| Grade and step | 2026 base rate |
|---|---|
| GS-1, step 1 | $22,584 |
| GS-7, step 1 | $43,106 |
| GS-15, step 10 | $164,301 |
The office posts the base table and a separate table for each locality pay area through its salaries and wages page.
Related pages
- Will the government shut down on December 11?
- What is the Social Security COLA for 2027?
- What is the federal minimum wage?
This page will be updated at this address when the 2027 pay tables are published.