- GS pay scale 2026
- Where the federal jobs are
58 locality pay areasPage last changed 2026-10-22
Where the federal jobs are, locality pay area by area
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 2,809,967 federal civilian jobs across the 58 locality pay areas in 2025, 85,420 fewer than in 2024, down 2.95%: the count fell in 55 areas and grew in 3.
Where most of them work
The five largest areas hold 55.15% of the jobs; Rest of U.S., every county of the 50 states and D.C. outside a named area, holds 29.11% on its own.
| Area | Jobs, 2025 | Share of all jobs here | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rest of U.S. | 817,879 | 1.82% | −23,355 |
| Washington, DC | 438,353 | 8.43% | −21,591 |
| New York, NY | 120,712 | 1.05% | −4,202 |
| Los Angeles, CA | 103,156 | 1.15% | −3,917 |
| Boston, MA | 69,558 | 1.48% | −1,875 |
| Atlanta, GA | 64,351 | 1.81% | −1,060 |
| Philadelphia, PA | 60,698 | 1.69% | −1,390 |
| Virginia Beach, VA | 60,658 | 7.24% | −432 |
| Seattle, WA | 58,208 | 2.26% | −1,404 |
| Chicago, IL | 57,438 | 1.18% | −1,838 |
What the count covers
BLS counts 2,913,515 federal civilian jobs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2025; 2,809,967 of them can be placed in a locality pay area: those reported by county, and in Alaska and Hawaii, where the area is the whole state, also the 884 reported there without a county.
Another 103,573 are reported by state without a county and cannot be placed in an area; the two parts add up to 2,913,540, 25 more than the national figure, because each county’s annual average is rounded on its own. The 21,701 federal jobs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which OPM pays at the Rest of U.S. rate, are outside the national figure and outside these counts. QCEW counts the jobs of every federal pay system, the Postal Service included, and leaves out the uniformed military and some national security agencies; it is not a count of General Schedule employees (what the counts include).
A year of falling counts
From 2024 to 2025 the count grew only in Burlington, VT, Charlotte, NC and Laredo, TX.
The 2025 figure is an annual average, and it still counts staff on paid administrative leave until 30 September. Each area’s own page has its three years, from 2023 (what the counts include).
More from this site’s data
Where GS pay goes furthest; Ten years of locality pay; How far pay is from the 1990 law’s formula; and how every figure is made, on the methodology page.