What are the projected 2026 locality pay percentages for each metropolitan statistical area?
Executive summary
OPM and the Federal Salary Council laid out proposed comparability payments for 2026, but the White House’s 2026 alternative pay plan would freeze locality pay at 2025 levels—meaning projected locality percentages by metropolitan area would remain at their 2025 values unless Congress or later agency action changes that [1] [2]. The Federal Salary Council’s working-group materials show proposed locality comparability payments for each locality (see attachments referenced in the FSC report), but available reporting says the President’s pay plan sets locality increases to zero for 2026 [3] [4].
1. What the Federal Salary Council recommended — the detailed proposal journalists cite
The Federal Salary Council and its working group produced a formal recommendation that includes proposed comparability payments (the locality percentage rates) for each locality pay area for 2026; those per‑area percentages are shown in Attachment 1 of the Council’s report (the recommendation document describes proposed locality rates and methodology) [1] [3]. The FSC materials also explain methodological details — e.g., the NCS/OEWS model and use of CSAs/MSAs as the geographic basis for localities — that underlie the per‑area numbers [1] [5].
2. What the President’s 2026 pay plan does to those projections
The White House transmitted an alternative pay plan for 2026 that sets the across‑the‑board GS base increase at 1.0 percent and freezes locality pay increases at zero for 2026, effectively holding locality percentages at 2025 levels rather than adopting the FSC’s proposed increases [2] [4]. Multiple reporting outlets and OPM materials repeat that locality pay increases will be set to zero under that plan [6] [7].
3. So what are the “projected 2026 locality pay percentages” by MSA?
If you mean the Federal Salary Council’s projections, the FSC report includes a table of proposed comparability payments for each locality pay area (Attachment 1) — those are the per‑area projected percentages referenced in FSC materials [1] [3]. If you mean final, implemented 2026 locality percentages, available reporting says the President’s plan freezes locality rates at their 2025 values, so the implemented percentages would be the 2025 locality percentages unless later changed by Congress or the Pay Agent [2] [4]. The FSC recommendation file and its attachment are the source for the per‑area proposal [1] [3].
4. Where to find the per‑area numbers (and why I’m not listing every MSA percent here)
The explicit per‑MSA percentage table appears as Attachment 1 in the Federal Salary Council’s recommendation documents and working‑group report; those attachments contain the granular per‑locality comparability percentages the Council calculated for 2026 [1] [3]. Because OPM/FSC published those per‑area numbers as an attachment to their recommendation, the authoritative list is there [1] [3]. Available sources do not include a standalone, fully enumerated list reproduced in news summaries that I can quote verbatim here; the primary FSC report attachments are the cited source for the per‑area figures [1] [3].
5. Conflicting viewpoints and political context
The FSC’s technical recommendation aims to measure and close pay disparities using BLS-based models; the Pay Agent historically considers those recommendations when setting locality pay [5] [1]. The White House’s alternative pay plan frames a freeze of locality increases as a fiscal decision to avoid a large, formula-driven jump (the administration’s letter and supporting analyses say the statutory formula would have produced much larger average locality increases) [8] [9]. Advocates for larger locality adjustments argue the freeze preserves a widening pay gap between federal and private wages; supporters of the freeze argue the formulaic increases would be fiscally disruptive [8] [9].
6. Practical implication for federal employees and next steps
Practically, federal employees should expect — per current White House action reflected in OPM reporting — that locality percentages will remain at 2025 levels for January 2026 unless Congress overrides the alternative pay plan or the Pay Agent acts otherwise [2] [4]. For the precise per‑MSA percentage you’re seeking, consult the Federal Salary Council’s Attachment 1 in the recommendation documents for the FSC’s proposed comparability payments and OPM’s December pay tables (the FSC attachments give the projected per‑area percentages; OPM will publish final pay tables) [1] [3] [10].
Limitations: I rely on the FSC recommendation documents and reporting about the President’s submitted alternative pay plan; available sources do not reproduce a single consolidated list of every MSA’s 2026 percentage in plain text in these news digests — the authoritative per‑area numbers are in the FSC attachment and in OPM’s official tables [1] [3] [10].