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- Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA
2026 editionEffective January 202658 locality pay areasData last changed 2026-08-25
Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA GS pay scale, 2026
Every General Schedule rate for this locality pay area, what the 18.01% 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, 18.01%
- + $15,607
- Annual rate
- $102,266
Biweekly is the hourly rate times 80, the way OPM derives it — not the annual rate divided by 26.
Paid #51, 14th in what it buys
+37Places gained once local prices are counted, out of 57 areas with published price data.What it actually buys
$111,521at average U.S. prices, from a salary of $102,266. Local price level 91.7 against a national average of 100.Ceiling watch
ClearNo cell in this area reaches the $197,200 ceiling, so every step increase is worth its full face value.Every 2026 rate in Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA
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 | 26,651 | 27,545 | 28,431 | 29,314 | 30,198 | 30,716 | 31,592 | 32,475 | 32,512 | 33,335 |
| GS-2 | 29,966 | 30,679 | 31,673 | 32,512 | 32,875 | 33,842 | 34,808 | 35,775 | 36,741 | 37,708 |
| GS-3 | 32,698 | 33,789 | 34,879 | 35,969 | 37,060 | 38,150 | 39,241 | 40,331 | 41,422 | 42,512 |
| GS-4 | 36,705 | 37,928 | 39,152 | 40,376 | 41,600 | 42,823 | 44,047 | 45,271 | 46,495 | 47,719 |
| GS-5 | 41,066 | 42,435 | 43,804 | 45,173 | 46,542 | 47,911 | 49,280 | 50,649 | 52,018 | 53,387 |
| GS-6 | 45,777 | 47,303 | 48,829 | 50,355 | 51,881 | 53,407 | 54,932 | 56,458 | 57,984 | 59,510 |
| GS-7 | 50,869 | 52,565 | 54,261 | 55,957 | 57,653 | 59,348 | 61,044 | 62,740 | 64,436 | 66,132 |
| GS-8 | 56,336 | 58,213 | 60,091 | 61,968 | 63,846 | 65,723 | 67,601 | 69,478 | 71,356 | 73,233 |
| GS-9 | 62,223 | 64,298 | 66,372 | 68,447 | 70,522 | 72,596 | 74,671 | 76,745 | 78,820 | 80,895 |
| GS-10 | 68,521 | 70,805 | 73,088 | 75,372 | 77,655 | 79,939 | 82,222 | 84,506 | 86,789 | 89,073 |
| GS-11 | 75,284 | 77,795 | 80,305 | 82,815 | 85,325 | 87,835 | 90,345 | 92,855 | 95,365 | 97,875 |
| GS-12 | 90,234 | 93,242 | 96,250 | 99,258 | 102,266 | 105,274 | 108,282 | 111,291 | 114,299 | 117,307 |
| GS-13 | 107,301 | 110,877 | 114,454 | 118,031 | 121,608 | 125,185 | 128,762 | 132,339 | 135,916 | 139,493 |
| GS-14 | 126,797 | 131,024 | 135,251 | 139,478 | 143,705 | 147,933 | 152,160 | 156,387 | 160,614 | 164,841 |
| GS-15 | 149,146 | 154,118 | 159,089 | 164,061 | 169,033 | 174,005 | 178,976 | 183,948 | 188,920 | 193,892 |
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 works in your favor: the area ranks #51 on the size of the paycheck but #14 once local prices are counted. The salary looks unremarkable and buys more than it appears to.
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.
Do raises ever stop counting here?
No. Every one of the 150 cells in this area stays below the $197,200 statutory ceiling.
No General Schedule rate may exceed Level IV of the Executive Schedule, $197,200 in 2026. In the highest-paying localities that ceiling is reached inside the published table, and step increases in that band add nothing at all to the payslip. At 18.01% this area stays clear of it, so every step increase is worth its full face value all the way to GS-15 step 10.
What is next to it
Rochester-Batavia-Seneca Falls, NY pays $112 less on paper than this locality and still leaves you better off once prices are counted. There are 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | State of Alaska | $114,702 | 102.4 | $112,059 |
| 12 | Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL | $102,466 | 91.6 | $111,809 |
| 13 | Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI | $111,894 | 100.3 | $111,562 |
| 14 | Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA | $102,266 | 91.7 | $111,521 |
| 15 | Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA | $102,457 | 91.9 | $111,474 |
| 16 | Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS | $103,098 | 92.5 | $111,406 |
| 17 | Hartford-East Hartford, CT-MA | $114,459 | 102.7 | $111,400 |
Which cities does this cover?
OPM names this area after three principal cities: Des Moines, Ames and West Des Moines. All three are paid from the same table at the same percentage, which surprises people who assume the largest of the three commands more than the others. Size of city has nothing to do with it; the area is one unit.
Those cities are the label, not the boundary. The area is defined as 17 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.
- Des Moines
- Ames
- West Des Moines
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 17 counties in IA. A duty station anywhere inside this list is paid at exactly the same rate.
- Adair County, IA
- Boone County, IA
- Clarke County, IA
- Dallas County, IA
- Greene County, IA
- Guthrie County, IA
- Hamilton County, IA
- Jasper County, IA
- Lucas County, IA
- Madison County, IA
- Mahaska County, IA
- Marion County, IA
- Monroe County, IA
- Polk County, IA
- Poweshiek County, IA
- Story County, IA
- Warren County, IA
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 Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA in 2026 that percentage is 18.01%, which turns a base rate of $86,659 into $102,266 at GS-12 step 5.
No General Schedule rate may exceed Level IV of the Executive Schedule, $197,200 in 2026. At 18.01% this locality stays below that ceiling everywhere, so every step increase in the table below is worth its full face value — which is not the case in the highest-paying areas.
Steps are not evenly spaced, which catches out anyone trying to extrapolate from the first one. In the 2026 base table the gap between step 8 and step 9 of GS-1 is $46, while the gap between step 1 and step 2 is over $1,100. Every figure on this page is therefore read from the published table rather than derived from a formula.
Work out a different grade and step
GS-12, step 5 in Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA
$102,266
Of the 57 areas with a published price level: #51 on the payslip, #14 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.