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What is the 2025 GS pay table for DHS employees, including locality adjustments for ICE ERO officers?
Executive summary
The 2025 GS pay tables reflect a 2.0% average increase made up of a 1.7% across‑the‑board base pay raise and a 0.3% average locality increase; OPM published locality tables for each pay area and special‑rate rules still apply [1] [2]. Locality adjustments vary widely by area — for example, the “Rest of U.S.” locality adjustment is reported as 17.06% for 2025 — and law‑enforcement and special‑rate tables (including those affecting DHS law enforcement employees) can supersede or replace locality rates where higher [3] [2].
1. What the 2025 GS tables changed — headline numbers
OPM’s 2025 plan implemented an average 2.0% overall pay increase for General Schedule employees, composed of a 1.7% base increase plus a 0.3% average increase in locality pay; Federal pay commentators and aggregators present the 2025 base table updated to reflect that raise [1] [4]. Independent outlets that republish OPM tables (FederalPay, FedSmith, FedWeek) published updated locality tables and commentary summarizing the shift and noting that locality area boundaries and special‑rate tables affect who receives which percentage [5] [4] [6].
2. How locality adjustments work and the scale of variation
Locality pay is a percentage added to the uniform GS base table and is calculated from labor market comparisons; OPM publishes locality pay percentages for 34 GS pay localities each year, and these produce large differences between places — for example, the Rest of U.S. locality adjustment is listed at 17.06% for 2025 in republished tables [7] [3]. Coverage expansions and boundary changes in recent years moved roughly 33,000 employees into locality areas with specific rates, which can materially raise compensation for those affected [5].
3. Special rates and law‑enforcement pay — why ICE ERO could differ
OPM maintains special‑rate tables (sometimes labeled “001M” or other table codes) and law‑enforcement special rates that can apply in lieu of locality pay when those special rates are higher; a published OPM note says a special rate table can “apply in place of any corresponding locality rate or other applicable special rate that is lower than the table 001M special rate” [2]. Reporting on 2025 tables indicates separate law enforcement and special‑rate tables were updated alongside locality tables — meaning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers, who are federal law‑enforcement personnel, may be paid under law‑enforcement special rates or other LEO pay authorities rather than only the GS locality percentage [5].
4. What the available sources say specifically about ICE/ERO locality adjustments
Available sources describe that law‑enforcement special rates and GS locality mechanics exist and have been updated for 2025, and they note that certain LEO or special‑rate tables can supersede locality if higher [2] [5]. However, the provided results do not give a table row‑by‑row printout specific to ICE ERO officers (for example, GS grade/step mapped to a specific law‑enforcement special‑rate percentage for ICE ERO). Therefore, precise per‑grade pay numbers for ICE ERO from the supplied material are not found in current reporting [2] [5].
5. How to get the exact pay for a named ICE ERO position
To determine the exact 2025 salary for a specific ICE ERO officer you need three pieces: the GS grade and step for the position, the duty‑station locality or the applicable special‑rate table, and whether a law‑enforcement special rate (or other LEO pay authority) applies and supersedes locality. OPM’s official 2025 GS Locality Pay Tables and the published special‑rate tables are the authoritative sources to map grade/step to dollar amounts; republishers such as FederalPay, FedSmith and FederalPay’s locality pages present those tables in user‑friendly formats [2] [4] [6] [3].
6. Conflicting viewpoints, gaps, and next steps for verification
Media and aggregation sites uniformly report the 1.7% base + 0.3% locality construct for an average 2.0% increase in 2025 [1] [6]. Where disagreement or ambiguity arises is how special rates and LEO pay interact with locality for specific agencies or positions; OPM guidance states special‑rate tables can replace locality when higher, but the provided sources do not publish an ICE‑specific LEO pay table in the search results above, so a reader should consult OPM’s official 2025 GS Locality Pay Tables and the OPM special‑rate (law‑enforcement) tables for the definitive per‑grade dollar amounts [2] [6]. For payroll questions, agency HR/payroll offices and the National Finance Center guidance on processing increases are practical next contacts [8].
Summary action: use OPM’s 2025 GS Locality Pay Tables and the OPM special‑rate/Law Enforcement pay tables to map a specific ICE ERO grade/step and duty station to a final 2025 dollar salary; the republished tables on FederalPay and FedSmith summarize those figures but the official OPM tables control [2] [4] [6].