GS-7 Pay Scale & Salary 2026: $43,106 Base, Up to $82,007

GS-7 base pay, step by step

Base rates before locality pay, from the OPM 2026 General Schedule table, a year and an hour: the hourly rate is the annual rate divided by 2,087 hours, rounded to the cent (5 U.S.C. 5504(b)). The waits between steps are set by 5 CFR 531.405; the step increase calculator works out the date of your next one.
Step	Base rate	Hourly	Increase	Wait (weeks)	Total (years)
Step 1	$43,106	$20.65	—	—	0
Step 2	$44,543	$21.34	+$1,437	52	1
Step 3	$45,980	$22.03	+$1,437	52	2
Step 4	$47,417	$22.72	+$1,437	52	3
Step 5	$48,854	$23.41	+$1,437	104	5
Step 6	$50,291	$24.10	+$1,437	104	7
Step 7	$51,728	$24.79	+$1,437	104	9
Step 8	$53,165	$25.47	+$1,437	156	12
Step 9	$54,602	$26.16	+$1,437	156	15
Step 10	$56,039	$26.85	+$1,437	156	18

These base rates stay the same under the 2027 proposal, $43,106 to $56,039 (2027 pay raise).

Who is on GS-7

GS pay plan only: law enforcement officers on the GL plan are counted separately. Source: OPM Federal Workforce Data, employment snapshot for May 2026, the latest complete one (OPM notes that some Department of Defense (Department of War) components did not submit June and July 2026 data); OPM withholds the pay of 550,140 of the 1,279,389 GS records, every Department of Defense one among them, so pay figures cover only the rest; the national median wage, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, all occupations; what it can and cannot show.
Employees on GS-7	82,974 employees, 6.5% of the 1,279,389 on the General Schedule (95 GS records carry no grade)
At GS-7 or higher	87.8% of them
Median full-time pay, locality included	$61,586, the median of the 45,217 full-time GS-7 employees whose pay OPM publishes, 56.7% of the grade’s 79,787 full-time employees
Median wage, all U.S. occupations	$50,980 a year, $24.51 an hour
Supervisors or managers	2%
At step 10	13%
Exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act	7%
Law enforcement officers	GL-7 step 1 is $48,854, 13.3% more than GS-7 step 1, with the same locality percentage on top (the GL pay scale)

GS-7 is the seventh-most common of the fifteen grades, with 82,974 employees in May 2026; the largest occupations are Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant (0303), Tax Examining (0592) and Contact Representative (0962), and the Department of Defense employs the most of them, 28,204.

Every step of GS-7 is paid less an hour than GS-10 step 1, so an overtime hour is paid at time and a half at every step of the grade, in all 58 areas.

Is GS-7 a high grade?

Lower than most, with 87.8% of the 1,279,389 General Schedule employees in May 2026 at GS-7 or higher, but the median full-time pay OPM publishes for it, $61,586, is 1.2 times the national median wage of $50,980 for all occupations.

What does a GS-7 make an hour?

$20.65 to $26.85 an hour in base pay, from step 1 to step 10, and in Rest of U.S. it passes the national median of $24.51 an hour at step 2, $24.98.

What military rank is GS-7 equivalent to?

Military grade O-1 — a Second Lieutenant in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, an Ensign in the Navy and Coast Guard — and warrant officer grades W-1 and W-2 are the ranks DoD treats as equivalent to GS-7 on Geneva Conventions identification cards.

Source: DoD Instruction 1000.01 (Change 2, June 4, 2018), Tables 1 and 2; that the equivalence gives civilians no rank or authority over military personnel is from its Enclosure 2, paragraph 4.b (what the instruction is for). This is not a pay equivalence: the grades in one row are not paid the same.
Military grade	O-1
Warrant officer grades	W-1 and W-2
Geneva Conventions category	III, company grade officer
Army, Air Force, Marine Corps	Second Lieutenant
Navy, Coast Guard	Ensign
Other GS grades in the same row	none

Who qualifies at GS-7

Under OPM’s qualification standard for administrative and management positions, GS-7 takes 1 full year of graduate-level education, or superior academic achievement; or, instead of education, 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-5. Equivalent combinations of education and experience also qualify.

Each occupation has its own standard, and the qualifications section of a vacancy announcement is what decides. Source: OPM, General Schedule Qualification Standards, administrative and management positions.

GS-7 step 5 in every locality pay area

GS-7 step 5 in all 58 areas: $57,188 in Rest of U.S. to $71,493 in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA, **$14,305** apart for identical work. Sorted by the number on the paycheck; the last column divides it by the local price level, so it is comparable in what it buys. ▲ marks a cell cut to the $197,200 statutory ceiling. Best off in practice: Laredo, TX, where $59,402 buys what $68,313 buys at national average prices. Rest of U.S. has no price index of its own, so its last two columns are empty rather than guessed. Sources: OPM 2026 General Schedule tables; BEA Regional Price Parities 2024.
#	Locality	Salary	Price level	What it buys
1	San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA	$71,493	115.6	$61,838
2	New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA	$67,394	112.6	$59,872
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA	$66,671	113.6	$58,707
4	Houston-The Woodlands, TX	$65,953	98.6	$66,870
5	Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA	$65,435	108.9	$60,096
6	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$65,328	111.9	$58,387
7	Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT-ME-VT	$64,771	108.3	$59,826
8	State of Alaska	$64,663	102.4	$63,173
9	Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA	$64,526	102.7	$62,801
10	Seattle-Tacoma, WA	$64,277	111.1	$57,838
11	Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI	$63,930	103.6	$61,711
12	Denver-Aurora, CO	$63,764	105.8	$60,279
13	Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV	$63,393	106.7	$59,429
14	Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI	$63,080	100.3	$62,893
15	Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$63,017	102.6	$61,448
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	$62,347	104.8	$59,479
17	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK	$62,172	103.1	$60,308
18	Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA	$61,620	105.4	$58,451
19	Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$60,906	114.2	$53,354
20	Atlanta--Athens-Clarke County--Sandy Springs, GA-AL	$60,476	100.1	$60,441
21	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	$59,822	103.3	$57,902
22	Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI	$59,807	96.9	$61,697
23	Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Olean, NY	$59,802	95.8	$62,395
24	Richmond, VA	$59,739	97.9	$61,047
25	Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC	$59,719	98.2	$60,840
26	Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH-PA	$59,714	93.9	$63,578
27	State of Hawaii	$59,704	110.0	$54,301
28	Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH	$59,675	95.5	$62,507
29	Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN	$59,568	95.4	$62,460
30	Huntsville-Decatur, AL-TN	$59,558	93.1	$63,991
31	Laredo, TX	$59,402	87.0	$68,313
32	Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH	$59,319	92.7	$63,994
33	Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV	$59,128	94.7	$62,456
34	Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA	$59,001	99.6	$59,258
35	Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX	$58,796	98.1	$59,956
36	Colorado Springs, CO	$58,698	100.7	$58,286
37	St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL	$58,639	95.1	$61,668
38	Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC	$58,464	97.3	$60,057
39	Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ	$58,415	100.2	$58,290
40	Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, VT	$58,356	100.9	$57,807
41	Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA	$58,346	98.7	$59,144
42	Tucson-Nogales, AZ	$58,273	96.9	$60,140
43	Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS	$58,122	92.5	$62,805
44	Davenport-Moline, IA-IL	$58,102	89.1	$65,225
45	Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC	$58,039	97.9	$59,259
46	San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX	$58,029	94.7	$61,266
47	Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM	$57,809	95.5	$60,504
48	Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL	$57,765	91.6	$63,032
49	Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA	$57,760	91.9	$62,843
50	Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN	$57,721	95.7	$60,317
51	Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA	$57,653	91.7	$62,871
52	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$57,614	100.0	$57,611
53	Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY	$57,589	97.0	$59,349
54	Spokane-Spokane Valley-Coeur d'Alene, WA-ID	$57,487	100.3	$57,289
55	Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA	$57,477	102.2	$56,263
56	Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX	$57,467	92.7	$62,012
57	Reno-Fernley, NV	$57,413	101.0	$56,837
58	Rest of U.S.	$57,188	—	—

What a GS-7 earns where you are

GS-7, step 5 in Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PAWashington, DC

$65,435

Locality pay area

Grade

Step

Promotion from GS-7 to GS-8

The step a GS-7 lands on at GS-8 by the two-step rule, and the base increase; a promotion also restarts the wait for the next step, counted at the new step. The same row on the promotion calculator works for any area.
At GS-7	Lands on GS-8	Base increase
Step 1	Step 1	+$4,632
Step 2	Step 1	+$3,195
Step 3	Step 2	+$3,349
Step 4	Step 3	+$3,503
Step 5	Step 4	+$3,657
Step 6	Step 5	+$3,811
Step 7	Step 6	+$3,965
Step 8	Step 7	+$4,119
Step 9	Step 8	+$4,273
Step 10	Step 9	+$4,427

A promotion to GS-8 needs 52 weeks at GS-7 in a line of work that moves one grade at a time (5 CFR 300.604). Where the work moves two grades at a time, as GS-5, 7, 9 and 11 professional ladders do, 52 weeks at GS-7 opens GS-9 directly: by the same rule a GS-7 step 5 lands on GS-9 step 1, $3,873 more in base pay.