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- Denver-Aurora, CO
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Denver-Aurora, CO GS pay scale, 2026
Every General Schedule rate for this locality pay area, what the 30.52% adjustment is actually worth once local prices are counted, and which cells stop growing because they hit the statutory ceiling.
How the number is assembled
- Base rate before locality
- $86,659
- Locality pay, 30.52%
- + $26,448
- Annual rate
- $113,107
Biweekly is the hourly rate times 80, the way OPM derives it — not the annual rate divided by 26.
Paid #12, 32nd in what it buys
−20Places lost once local prices are counted, out of 57 areas with published price data.What it actually buys
$106,925at average U.S. prices, from a salary of $113,107. Local price level 105.8 against a national average of 100.Ceiling watch
4 of 150cells are pinned to the $197,200 statutory ceiling. Inside that band a step increase adds nothing.Every 2026 rate in Denver-Aurora, CO
All 150 cells, read from the published OPM table. Click any cell and the bar at the top of the page moves onto it — or use the arrow keys once a cell is selected.
Annual rates in U.S. dollars, read cell by cell from the published OPM table rather than calculated. The cell marked ◀ is GS-12 step 5, the one quoted at the top of this page. Cells marked ▲ have been cut down to the statutory ceiling of $197,200 — the printed number is lower than the formula would give.
| Grade | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1 | 29,477 | 30,465 | 31,445 | 32,421 | 33,399 | 33,972 | 34,942 | 35,918 | 35,958 | 36,869 |
| GS-2 | 33,143 | 33,931 | 35,030 | 35,958 | 36,360 | 37,429 | 38,498 | 39,567 | 40,636 | 41,705 |
| GS-3 | 36,164 | 37,370 | 38,576 | 39,782 | 40,989 | 42,195 | 43,401 | 44,607 | 45,813 | 47,019 |
| GS-4 | 40,596 | 41,949 | 43,303 | 44,656 | 46,010 | 47,363 | 48,717 | 50,070 | 51,424 | 52,777 |
| GS-5 | 45,420 | 46,934 | 48,448 | 49,962 | 51,476 | 52,990 | 54,504 | 56,018 | 57,532 | 59,046 |
| GS-6 | 50,630 | 52,318 | 54,005 | 55,693 | 57,381 | 59,068 | 60,756 | 62,443 | 64,131 | 65,819 |
| GS-7 | 56,262 | 58,138 | 60,013 | 61,889 | 63,764 | 65,640 | 67,515 | 69,391 | 71,267 | 73,142 |
| GS-8 | 62,308 | 64,384 | 66,461 | 68,537 | 70,614 | 72,691 | 74,767 | 76,844 | 78,920 | 80,997 |
| GS-9 | 68,819 | 71,114 | 73,408 | 75,703 | 77,997 | 80,292 | 82,587 | 84,881 | 87,176 | 89,470 |
| GS-10 | 75,785 | 78,311 | 80,836 | 83,362 | 85,887 | 88,413 | 90,939 | 93,464 | 95,990 | 98,515 |
| GS-11 | 83,265 | 86,041 | 88,818 | 91,594 | 94,370 | 97,146 | 99,922 | 102,698 | 105,475 | 108,251 |
| GS-12 | 99,800 | 103,126 | 106,453 | 109,780 | 113,107 | 116,434 | 119,761 | 123,088 | 126,415 | 129,742 |
| GS-13 | 118,675 | 122,631 | 126,587 | 130,543 | 134,500 | 138,456 | 142,412 | 146,368 | 150,324 | 154,280 |
| GS-14 | 140,239 | 144,914 | 149,589 | 154,264 | 158,939 | 163,615 | 168,290 | 172,965 | 177,640 | 182,316 |
| GS-15 | 164,956 | 170,455 | 175,954 | 181,453 | 186,952 | 192,450 | 197,200 | 197,200 | 197,200 | 197,200 |
Is that a lot? Not until you count local prices
Read this before the number. Locality pay is calculated from what private employers in the same region pay for comparable work. It is not a cost-of-living adjustment, and OPM says so in as many words. Here the distinction matters a great deal. The area ranks #12 by the number on the paycheck and only #32 once local prices are counted — a 30.52% adjustment that a high cost base takes back.
Each bar is the 2026 salary divided by that area's price level, so the bars are comparable in what they actually buy. Longer is better. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities for 2024, where the U.S. average is 100.
Where raises stop being raises
In this locality 4 of the 150 cells are pinned to the $197,200 ceiling. Inside that band a step increase is worth nothing at all: the formula produces a bigger number, the law cuts it back, and the payslip does not move.
This matters most when comparing job offers. Two identical grades in two localities can look like a clear win on paper while the higher-paid one has already run out of room to grow.
What is next to it
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK pays $2,825 less on paper than this locality and still leaves you better off once prices are counted. There are 26 such areas above this one.
These are the localities immediately around this one once local prices are taken into account. The middle column is the price level, where 100 is the national average — lower is cheaper. Prices are shown to one decimal place; the adjusted figures are computed from the published index, which carries three.
| # | Locality | On paper | Prices | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM | $102,544 | 95.5 | $107,324 |
| 30 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN | $102,388 | 95.7 | $106,993 |
| 31 | Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK | $110,282 | 103.1 | $106,976 |
| 32 | Denver-Aurora, CO | $113,107 | 105.8 | $106,925 |
| 33 | Tucson-Nogales, AZ | $103,367 | 96.9 | $106,678 |
| 34 | Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA | $116,071 | 108.9 | $106,601 |
| 35 | Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC | $103,705 | 97.3 | $106,530 |
Which cities does this cover?
OPM names this area after Denver and Aurora. Both are paid at the same percentage from the same table — there is no premium for working in the larger of the two.
Those cities are the label, not the boundary. The area is defined as 14 named counties, and a duty station anywhere inside them is paid at this rate whether or not it is near any of the cities above. The list is below.
- Denver
- Aurora
Am I actually in this locality?
Locality is decided by your duty station — the place you physically report to — not by where you live and not by where your agency is headquartered. If you report to a building in one county and live in the next one over, the building decides your pay. Telework arrangements have their own rules and can change which locality applies, so confirm with your HR office rather than assuming.
This locality covers 14 counties in CO. A duty station anywhere inside this list is paid at exactly the same rate.
- Adams County, CO
- Arapahoe County, CO
- Boulder County, CO
- Broomfield County, CO
- Clear Creek County, CO
- Denver County, CO
- Douglas County, CO
- Elbert County, CO
- Gilpin County, CO
- Jefferson County, CO
- Larimer County, CO
- Lincoln County, CO
- Park County, CO
- Weld County, CO
How the number is built
Every General Schedule grade has ten steps. The base rate comes from the nationwide table, and the locality percentage is applied on top of it. For Denver-Aurora, CO in 2026 that percentage is 30.52%, which turns a base rate of $86,659 into $113,107 at GS-12 step 5.
No General Schedule rate may exceed Level IV of the Executive Schedule, $197,200 in 2026. Because this locality pays 30.52% over base, that ceiling is reached inside the published table: 4 of the 150 cells here are printed at the cap rather than at what the formula produces.
The percentage is applied to the base rate, the result is rounded, and only then is it checked against the ceiling — in that order. Doing it the other way round produces different numbers at the top of the schedule, which is one reason published figures sometimes disagree. Every cell here was recomputed independently and matched the OPM table to the dollar.
Work out a different grade and step
GS-12, step 5 in Denver-Aurora, CO
$113,107
Of the 57 areas with a published price level: #12 on the payslip, #32 once local prices are counted.
Starting your first federal job? A first appointment is set at step 1 of the grade unless the agency uses the superior qualifications authority (5 U.S.C. 5333; 5 CFR 531.212). The step above defaults to 5, the middle of the grade, because that is the cell this site ranks every area by.
Rates are recomputed from the published base table and this area's percentage, in the order the law sets: percentage first, rounding second, statutory ceiling last.