What is the formula for calculating 2025 GS locality pay percentages?
Executive summary
The 2025 GS locality pay percentage is an annual geographic adjustment applied to the GS base pay: an employee’s locality-adjusted salary equals GS base pay × (1 + Locality Percentage). OPM publishes a locality percentage for each locality area and the final 2025 program implemented a 1.7% across‑the‑board base increase plus locality adjustments that averaged about 0.3% nationally in White House proposals; locality percentages themselves are listed per area on OPM’s 2025 tables (OPM explains the mechanism) [1] [2] [3].
1. How locality pay is applied: the simple formula
Locality pay is applied as a multiplicative adjustment to GS base pay: Pay with locality = Base GS Pay × (1 + Locality Pay Rate). That is the practical rule used to produce the locality-adjusted pay tables and calculators that agencies and third-party sites publish for 2025 (see FederalPay’s explanation and the OPM policy pages) [2] [1].
2. Where the percentage values come from: OPM and the Federal Salary Council
OPM publishes the finalized locality percentages for each locality area in its annual GS locality pay tables and related pages; those percentages are based on recommendations from the Federal Salary Council and survey comparability work and then set in the pay tables that accompany each year’s GS schedule [3] [1].
3. The 2025 context: base raise, locality average and implementation
For 2025 the overall pay adjustment process combined an across‑the‑board base increase (reported as 1.7%) with locality adjustments that the White House’s alternative pay plan said would average roughly 0.3%—yielding an average combined increase near 2% for many employees. Third‑party summaries and GS pay table publishers framed the final effect this way and published locality‑adjusted tables for each locality area [4] [5] [6].
4. Practical steps to compute your 2025 locality‑adjusted pay
Step 1: Find your GS grade and step on the 2025 GS base pay table. Step 2: Find the locality percentage for your official duty‑station locality area in the OPM or official 2025 locality pay tables. Step 3: Multiply base pay by (1 + locality percentage). Many independent sites (FederalPay, FedSmith, FedWeek) offer calculators that perform these steps automatically using OPM’s published tables [2] [7] [8].
5. Edge cases and special‑rate rules that override locality
OPM notes that when a special rate table established under 5 U.S.C. 5305 (special rates) is higher than the applicable locality‑adjusted GS rate for the same grade/step, the higher special rate applies instead of the locality-adjusted rate. In practice this means some occupations and grades use special rates rather than the locality multiplication described above [9].
6. Variability across localities and years: why percentages differ
Locality percentages vary widely: high‑cost metro areas (San Francisco, New York, DC, Seattle) have much larger locality percentages than the “Rest of U.S.” area. OPM updates percentages yearly based on pay comparability surveys and boundary changes; 2024–2025 boundary adjustments expanded some localities, moving counties into higher or different locality areas, which affects which percentage applies to affected employees [1] [8].
7. Sources, transparency and limitations of reporting
OPM is the authoritative source for the percentages and the rule to apply them; independent sites republish and build calculators from OPM’s tables [3] [2]. Available sources do not mention a single closed‑form algebraic “complex” formula beyond the multiplicative application described above; the detailed methodology for deriving the numerical percentages comes from survey comparisons and Federal Salary Council procedures, which OPM summarizes [1] [4].
8. What to check if your computed pay seems wrong
If your computed pay differs from payroll: verify the GS base table row and step you used; confirm the duty‑station locality area (county‑based boundary changes occurred for 2025); check for an applicable special rate table that may supersede locality; and consult your HR/pay office or the OPM locality tables for final percentages [9] [8] [3].
Sources cited: OPM General Schedule guidance and locality policy [3] [1]; FederalPay and other GS pay table outlets explaining the locality multiplication and publishing 2025 tables [2] [7]; reporting on 2025 adjustments and Federal Salary Council activity [4] [8].