How do locality pay and Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) affect FBI agent gross pay compared with ICE?
Executive summary
Locality pay and Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) are the two largest drivers that separate on‑paper base GS pay from the actual gross pay for federal criminal investigators; LEAP is a 25% premium calculated on the geographically adjusted "basic pay," and locality add‑ons can vary by dozens of percentage points depending on duty station, so two agents at the same GS grade can see very different take‑home gross pay (LEAP + locality) [1] [2] [3]. Because most FBI special agents enter at a higher GS/GL grade than many ICE positions and because many FBI roles are centered in high‑locality areas such as Washington, D.C., the typical FBI agent’s gross pay after LEAP and locality often exceeds the typical ICE agent’s gross pay — although both agencies use the same statutory tools and both can reach similar six‑figure totals in high‑locality assignments [4] [5] [6] [7].
1. How locality pay works and why it matters
Locality pay is an OPM adjustment intended to align federal wages with regional labor markets; the adjustment is a percentage added to the GS base and can be large — examples cited include Washington, D.C. locality percentages around the high‑20s and Bay Area localities exceeding 40% in public reporting — meaning two GS employees in different cities start from very different "basic pay" figures before LEAP is applied [3] [5]. Several sources emphasize locality as the single biggest source of variance in real income for ICE and FBI agents, and OPM maintains separate LEO/LEAP considerations and special rate tables that can further uplift pay when recruitment/retention issues are identified [2] [1]. One reporting source, however, flagged a 2026 pay‑table note stating there is no locality adjustment in 2026, which, if accurate and applied across the board, would materially change year‑to‑year comparisons — this represents a conflicting data point in the sources and requires checking OPM’s live 2026 tables for confirmation [8].
2. LEAP: the 25% availability premium and its arithmetic effect
Law Enforcement Availability Pay is statutorily fixed at 25% of an agent’s "basic pay," which OPM defines as GS base plus locality; because LEAP multiplies the geographically adjusted base, the premium increases in absolute dollars when locality pay is higher — a 25% premium on a DC‑adjusted salary is worth materially more than 25% on a Rest‑of‑U.S. adjusted salary [1] [2]. Practical explanations used by FBI‑focused outlets demonstrate this: a new FBI agent’s headline "real" starting pay moves from a lower GS base (~$57k in one breakdown) to roughly mid‑$80ks or more once locality and LEAP are included, illustrating how the two add‑ons stack multiplicatively rather than linearly [5] [9].
3. Why FBI agents often appear to earn more than ICE agents
FBI special agents typically onboard at the GL/GS‑10 level and frequently begin in or are paid as if assigned to higher‑locality duty stations (Quantico/Washington D.C. examples show trainee pay in the roughly $84k–$109k band once LEAP and locality are included), whereas many ICE roles are posted at GS‑5/7/9 levels and are more geographically dispersed, producing a wider spread of outcomes and a lower median starting point [4] [6] [2]. Multiple outlets nevertheless stress that ICE pay can and does reach parity with FBI pay for qualifying criminal investigator positions that receive the LEAP premium and favorable locality, and public reporting notes ICE pay ranges from roughly $50k to six figures depending on grade, LEAP eligibility, overtime, and locality [7] [6].
4. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
The arithmetic is simple: LEAP = 25% × (GS base + locality), so whoever has the higher GS grade and/or higher locality percentage will receive the larger LEAP premium in dollars, which is why FBI agents — starting at a higher GS and often stationed in higher‑locality areas — typically show higher gross pay than many ICE agents, even though the pay structure and statutory mechanisms are the same for both agencies [1] [5] [2]. Reporting conflicts remain about the 2026 application of locality adjustments (one source asserted no locality adjustment in 2026), and precise comparisons require checking the specific job series, grade/step, and duty‑station locality table from OPM or USAJOBS rather than relying on summary pages [8] [2].