GS step increase calculator 2026: when is my next step?

How the date is worked out

Three conditions, a waiting period set by the step you are on, and one rule for the day the money changes.

The law is 5 U.S.C. 5335(a): an employee is advanced to the next step “at the beginning of the next pay period following the completion of” the waiting period, provided there was no “equivalent increase in pay” during it and the work “is of an acceptable level of competence”. Under 5 CFR 531.404 that means a rating of record of at least Level 3, Fully Successful or its equivalent. The rule covers General Schedule employees in permanent positions who are paid below the top of their grade (531.402).

The waiting period depends on the step (5 CFR 531.405): 52 calendar weeks below step 4, 104 weeks at steps 4 to 6 and 156 weeks at steps 7 to 9. It is counted from your last equivalent increase, which is your last within-grade increase, a permanent promotion or your first appointment, and not from the day you reached the step you are on.

The step takes effect on the first day of the first pay period after the waiting period is complete (5 CFR 531.412(a)). Fifty-two calendar weeks are 364 days, so a waiting period that began on 11 January 2026 is complete at the end of 9 January 2027, and the step increase takes effect on 10 January 2027, the first day of the next pay period. A waiting period that begins in the middle of a pay period also ends in the middle of one, and the step waits for the next: one that began on Wednesday 14 January 2026 is complete on 12 January 2027 and takes effect on 24 January 2027.

An employee on an intermittent schedule counts 260, 520 or 780 days in a pay status instead, and that count is not made here. A temporary appointment of a year or less earns no within-grade increase.

Quality step increases

A quality step increase is an extra step for outstanding performance. It does not restart the clock, but it can lengthen it.

It requires a rating of record at the highest level, Level 5 (5 CFR 531.504), and cannot come within 52 weeks of another one (531.505). It is not an equivalent increase (5 CFR 531.407(a)(1)), so the waiting period keeps running. In OPM’s words (fact sheet), it does not affect the timing of the next within-grade increase “unless the QSI places the employee in step 4 or step 7”; then the longer waiting period of the new step applies, but the time already waited counts.

A GS-9 who reached step 3 on 11 January 2026 and received a quality step increase to step 4 in June 2026 reaches step 5 on 9 January 2028, 104 weeks after the step 3 date. Without it, step 4 would have come on 10 January 2027 and step 5 on 7 January 2029. A quality step increase inside a band changes no date: a GS-7 at step 1 since 11 January 2026 who receives one to step 2 still reaches step 3 on 10 January 2027.

In the calculator, enter the step you hold now, after any quality step increase, and the date of your last within-grade increase, promotion or appointment.

What does not move the date

The January pay adjustment is not an equivalent increase (5 U.S.C. 5303(d)), and neither is a change in the locality payment or a special rate (5 CFR 531.407(c); OPM CPM 2025-25 for the 2026 law enforcement special rates). A freeze of the pay tables therefore does not stop step increases: they come on their dates, at the frozen rates. Whether the tables change in January is tracked on the next pay raise page.

Questions about step increases

How long does it take to go from step 1 to step 10?

18 years without a promotion, a quality step increase or extra non-pay time: 52 weeks for each of steps 2 to 4, 104 for each of steps 5 to 7 and 156 for each of steps 8 to 10.

Are step increases automatic?

No. They are earned by completing the waiting period at an acceptable level of competence, a rating of record of at least Level 3. When a step is withheld, the agency must decide again at least every 52 weeks (5 CFR 531.411).

Will federal employees get step increases in 2027?

Yes: the annual adjustment, or a freeze of it, does not stop them. Amounts are at 2026 rates. A step increase that takes effect on or after 10 January 2027 is paid at 2027 rates, which equal these only if the December executive order keeps the freeze the President proposed on 26 August 2026.

Does a promotion reset the step increase clock?

A permanent promotion does, from the day it takes effect. A temporary promotion that ends with a return to the old grade does not.

Does leave without pay delay a step increase?

Only beyond the allowance: 80, 160 or 240 hours on a full-time schedule, by step. Every hour over it moves the waiting period, and the step then waits for the next pay period.

Does a government shutdown delay a step increase?

No, once the furlough is paid retroactively: those hours count as time in a pay status.

What is a quality step increase?

An extra step for a Level 5 rating, at most one in 52 weeks. It keeps the date of the next step unless it moves you into step 4 or step 7 (see above).

Do Wage Grade employees wait as long?

No. The Federal Wage System has five steps and waits of 26, 78 and 104 weeks (5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(2)); this calculator covers the General Schedule only.