Federal Pay and FERS Retirement Calculators
Know Your Pension is an independent reference for U.S. federal civilian employees. Every calculator here reads from tables we copied from the primary document — OPM salary tables, the 2026 pay Executive Order, OPM retirement guidance and Title 5 of the U.S. Code — and every figure shows the document and effective date it came from.
What can I calculate here?
You can look up a General Schedule salary for any grade, step and locality area, read the full 2026 GS table, estimate a FERS basic annuity, estimate the FERS supplement paid before 62, and work out your High-3 average salary. Each tool runs in your browser and keeps nothing you type.
- GS Pay Calculator 2026: Grade, Step and LocalityFind 2026 GS pay for any grade, step and all 58 locality areas: annual, hourly and per pay period.
- GS Pay Scale 2026The full 2026 GS pay scale: all 15 grades and 10 steps, with any of 58 locality areas and the change from 2025.
- GS Locality Pay Areas and Rates for 2026All 58 GS locality pay areas for 2026 with their percentages, what GS-11 and GS-13 pay in each, and a county lookup to find the area for your duty station.
- FERS Retirement CalculatorEstimate your FERS basic annuity from High-3, service and sick leave, with the 1.1% rule, MRA+10 reduction and survivor cost.
- FERS Supplement CalculatorEstimate the FERS annuity supplement paid before 62: Social Security at 62 × FERS years ÷ 40, plus the earnings test using the 2026 and 2027 SSA limits.
- High-3 CalculatorWork out your federal High-3 average salary from each pay rate and the date it started, weighted by days.
- Sources and Change LogEvery document behind our GS pay and FERS retirement figures, with effective dates and the date we last checked each one, and a public log of changes.
How current is the data on this site?
Each dataset below carries the date its rules took effect and the date we last checked it against the source. When OPM, the President or the Social Security Administration publishes a change, the table, the page date and the change log move together — never one without the others.
| Dataset | Effective | Last checked | Source document |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 GS base rates | Jan 11, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | OPM Salary Table 2026-GS (Executive Order 14368, Schedule 1) |
| 2026 locality pay percentages | Jan 11, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | Executive Order 14368, Schedule 9 (90 FR 60521, Dec 23 2025) |
| 2026 locality pay area counties | Jan 11, 2026 | Oct 29, 2026 | OPM, 2026 Locality Pay Area Definitions |
| 2026 GS pay cap (Executive Schedule level IV) | Jan 11, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | Executive Order 14368, Schedule 5 |
| Hourly and biweekly pay rules | Jan 11, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | 5 U.S.C. 5504(b); OPM fact sheet How to Compute Rates of Pay; 5 U.S.C. 5504(b); and 1 more |
| Within-grade increase waiting periods | Jan 1, 1992 | Oct 25, 2026 | 5 CFR 531.405(a) |
| 2025 GS base rates (change view) | Jan 12, 2025 | Oct 25, 2026 | OPM Salary Table 2025-GS |
| 2027 GS pay adjustment (proposed) | Jan 10, 2027 (proposed) | Oct 25, 2026 | House Document 119-189, Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments (letter of Aug 26, 2026) |
| FERS annuity rules | Jan 1, 2014 | Oct 25, 2026 | OPM FERS Computation; 5 U.S.C. 8415(i); OPM BAL 18-103; and 3 more |
| FERS minimum retirement age | Jan 1, 1987 | Oct 25, 2026 | OPM, FERS Information: Eligibility (MRA chart) |
| Sick leave conversion chart | Jan 1, 2014 | Oct 25, 2026 | OPM RI 83-8, Table for Converting Unused Sick Leave (2087-hour chart) |
| FERS supplement rules | Oct 14, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | 5 CFR 842.505; OPM / CRS 94-834 (Oct 14, 2026) |
| Social Security earnings test limits | Jan 1, 2027 | Oct 25, 2026 | SSA Office of the Chief Actuary, Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test |
| 2027 retiree cost-of-living adjustments | Dec 1, 2026 | Oct 25, 2026 | CRS Report 94-834, Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Federal Civil Service Annuities (Oct 14, 2026) |
What is the status of the 2027 federal pay raise?
The 2027 raise is not final. On August 26, 2026 the President's alternative pay plan (House Document 119-189) proposed no change to General Schedule base pay or locality pay for 2027, with a separate 3.8% increase for certain law enforcement personnel. Final rates come only with the December Executive Order.
Until then, the 2027 option in our GS tools is labeled "proposed" and shows 2026 rates. The letter notes that the statutory formula would otherwise have produced a 3.1% base increase plus an average 20.6% locality increase. We will update the tables and the change log on the day the Executive Order and OPM's 2027 tables appear.
What changed for retirees in 2027?
Retiree cost-of-living adjustments for 2027 are set: 3.6% for CSRS annuities and 2.6% for eligible FERS annuities, effective December 1, 2026 and first paid in January 2027. Most FERS retirees under age 62 receive no annuity COLA, and the FERS supplement never receives one.
The FERS figure is lower because of the FERS rule: when the inflation measure rises more than 3%, FERS annuities get one percentage point less. The source for these figures is the Congressional Research Service report on civil service COLAs dated October 14, 2026.
Who runs this site?
The site is edited by Martin Rowe, an independent editor who collects and checks OPM tables and FERS formulas. He is not a federal employee and not a financial adviser. The site has no connection to OPM or any agency, and nothing here replaces the figures on your SF-50 or OPM's own estimate.
Read how we verify data or see every source and change.
Sources
- Salary Table 2026-GS — U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Effective Jan 11, 2026; checked Oct 25, 2026.
- Executive Order 14368, Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay (Schedules 1, 5, 9) — Federal Register / The White House. Effective Jan 11, 2026; checked Oct 25, 2026.
- Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments, H. Doc. 119-189 (Aug 26, 2026) — U.S. House of Representatives (govinfo). Effective Jan 10, 2027; checked Oct 25, 2026.
- FERS Information: Computation — U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Effective Jan 1, 1987; checked Oct 25, 2026.
- Exempt Amounts Under the Earnings Test — Social Security Administration. Effective Jan 1, 2027; checked Oct 25, 2026.
- CRS 94-834, Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Federal Civil Service Annuities — Congressional Research Service. Effective Dec 1, 2026; checked Oct 25, 2026.
Every document and change: sources and change log.
Printed from https://knowyourpension.org/ · Last updated October 29, 2026 · Independent reference. Not affiliated with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or any federal agency. Estimates only — your official figures come from your agency, your SF-50 and OPM.