What is the 2025 GS pay raise percentage including locality adjustments?
Executive summary
The 2025 GS (General Schedule) pay adjustment consists of a 1.7% across‑the‑board base pay increase plus an average 0.3% increase in locality comparability payments, yielding an overall average pay bump of about 2% for civilian federal employees; OPM tables apply locality percentages by locality to the new base [1] [2]. Locality rates themselves vary widely by area (e.g., Rest of U.S. locality ~17.06% cited for some tables) and are added on top of the new base pay to produce final pay [3] [4].
1. What the announced raise actually is — base vs. locality
The formal 2025 adjustment was implemented as a 1.7% across‑the‑board increase to GS base pay, with locality comparability payments increased on average by 0.3%, producing an average combined increase near 2.0% (the administration’s alternative plan and subsequent executive order reflect this split) [2] [1]. OPM’s pay rules and payroll guidance confirm agencies apply the across‑the‑board base raise and then multiply by the locality percentage that applies to the employee’s official duty station to calculate pay with locality [5] [1].
2. Why “average” matters — locality is not uniform
Saying “2%” is shorthand: locality is a geographic percentage applied after the base increase and differs by locality area. OPM publishes 34 locality pay areas and individual locality percentages; the 0.3% figure is an average across those areas, not a uniform add‑on for every worker [4] [5]. For example, many areas carry substantial locality percentages (one site cited “Rest of U.S.” locality applied as 17.06% in state‑level tables), so the effective dollar increase for an employee depends on both their GS increase and their locality rate [3].
3. Source of the numbers and legal authority
The 1.7% base and average 0.3% locality increase were part of the White House alternative pay plan and were finalized via Executive Order (EO 14132) effective January 2025; payroll offices (GSA, NFC) and OPM published guidance implementing the change [2] [1] [6]. OPM remains the authoritative publisher of locality pay tables and the technical rules for applying locality and special rates [7] [5].
4. How agencies and payroll offices handled pay implementation
Agency payroll guidance and newsletters note the mechanics: the base adjustment takes effect in the January pay period and payroll systems automatically compute locality payments based on the employee’s official worksite (GSA payroll newsletter and NFC bulletin reference the 1.7% plus 0.3% locality framework and effective dates) [6] [1]. OPM’s January 2025 pay examples show step‑by‑step calculations demonstrating how locality rate ranges affect the final payable rate [8].
5. Areas of dispute and alternative presentations
Most coverage and agency notices present the change as a 2.0% average raise (1.7% base + 0.3% locality) [2] [9]. Some outlets emphasize the “average 2.06%” when mapping locality‑weighted effects across localities, producing slightly different overall averages depending on methodology; those small differences come from how each analyst aggregates locality‑weighted dollar changes across the workforce [9]. The Federal Salary Council and Pay Agent reports show ongoing debate about adequacy of both base and locality funding and recommend higher adjustments for compression issues—so 2% is not universally viewed as sufficient [10].
6. What this means for an individual GS employee
Your personal raise equals: (old GS base × 1.017) then plus (that new base × locality percentage for your locality). Because locality percentages vary (and some positions are subject to special rates that replace locality if higher), the practical dollar increase differs substantially from the simple “2%” headline [5] [7]. OPM’s 2025 locality tables and agency pay calculators are the definitive tools to compute exact pay by grade/step and locality [4] [7].
7. Limitations and what I did not find in the reporting
Available sources consistently report the 1.7% base and average 0.3% locality split and point to OPM tables for locality specifics; however, the provided materials do not contain a single consolidated list of every locality’s final 2025 percentage inside these snippets, so I did not reproduce each locality rate here — OPM’s full 2025 locality tables are the place to look for that granular data [7] [4]. Claims that depart from the 1.7%/0.3% split (for example, a uniform 2.06% or other averages) reflect different aggregation methods cited by some analysts [9].
Bottom line: the 2025 GS raise was an across‑the‑board 1.7% base increase plus an average 0.3% locality increase (about 2% combined on average), but your actual percent change depends on the specific locality percentage that applies to your duty station and any special rates that affect your position [2] [1] [5].