Last Updated: August 29, 2026 Reading Time: 7 min

The 2027 law enforcement pay raise is the one exception in an otherwise frozen federal pay year. The alternative pay plan letter sent to Congress on August 26, 2026 holds GS base and locality pay at 2026 rates, then directs OPM to raise law enforcement compensation by 3.8%. The coverage so far has treated that carve-out as a footnote. If you carry a badge, it is the whole story, and the details decide whether you are in it.

What the August 26 Letter Actually Orders

The letter, transmitted to Congress as House Document 119-189, does two things.

First, it zeroes out the 2027 raise for civilian federal employees: "base pay and locality pay for civilian Federal employees will not change from the 2026 rates." Without the letter, the FEPCA formula would have delivered about a 3.1% base raise, and the letter itself notes locality pay "would automatically increase by an average of 20.6 percent" under the statute.

Second, it carves out one group: "the Office of Personnel Management shall use its statutory authority to increase 2027 compensation for law enforcement personnel by 3.8 percent."

That sentence is the entire carve-out. The letter describes the covered group only as "critical law enforcement roles" and leaves the position list to OPM. So the practical questions, who qualifies and what it is worth in dollars, come down to how OPM implemented the identical raise a year ago.

The 2027 GL Pay Table: Dollar Impact by Grade

The GL scale is the special base pay table for federal law enforcement officers at grades 3 through 10, created by Section 403 of FEPCA. GL rates already run above GS at the same grade. With GS frozen and GL rising 3.8%, that premium widens at every grade.

FedTools 2026-2027 LEO pay analysis, computed from the OPM Salary Table 2026-GL with the letter's 3.8% applied (projection pending OPM's implementing order):

Grade 2026 GL Step 1 3.8% Gain Est. 2027 GL Step 1 Frozen GS Step 1 GL Premium Over GS in 2027
GL-3 $33,252 +$1,264 $34,516 $27,708 +24.6%
GL-4 $37,325 +$1,418 $38,743 $31,103 +24.6%
GL-5 $42,919 +$1,631 $44,550 $34,799 +28.0%
GL-6 $45,256 +$1,720 $46,976 $38,791 +21.1%
GL-7 $48,854 +$1,857 $50,711 $43,106 +17.6%
GL-8 $50,920 +$1,935 $52,855 $47,738 +10.7%
GL-9 $54,485 +$2,070 $56,555 $52,727 +7.3%
GL-10 $59,999 +$2,280 $62,279 $58,064 +7.3%

Every 2026 rate above was verified against the official OPM GL and GS tables. The 2027 column is the letter's 3.8% applied to those verified rates and stays an estimate until OPM publishes the official 2027 GL table.

Step increases stack on top. A GL-5 who also picks up a within-grade increase in 2027 gets the WGI ($1,160 at that grade) plus the 3.8%, while a frozen GS colleague still gets the WGI alone. If you want the full 2026 step arrays and the GL-versus-GS mechanics, our GL and GG pay scales guide is the reference page.

Who Qualifies for the 2027 Law Enforcement Raise (and the GS-11 Catch)

The letter does not define who the 2027 law enforcement pay raise covers. The 2026 implementation does. When OPM executed the identical 3.8% raise for 2026, its special rate tables stated they apply "only to law enforcement officers as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541(3) and 5 C.F.R. 550.103," with covered officers at grades 3-10 carrying the GL pay plan code.

Under that precedent, the 2027 raise covers GL-graded officers including:

  • FBI, DEA, ATF, and ICE special agents (1811 series) at GL grades
  • CBP Officers (1895) and Border Patrol Agents (1896)
  • Deputy U.S. Marshals
  • Bureau of Prisons correctional officers (0007)
  • Secret Service officers and agents at GL grades
  • Forest Service and Interior law enforcement officers added in OPM's 2026 expansion

Now the catch. The GL scale ends at grade 10. A GS-12 case agent, a GS-13 supervisory investigator, a GS-14 program manager with a 6(c) retirement code: none of them are on the GL table. They sit on the standard GS schedule, and the letter freezes the GS schedule. Unless OPM's implementing order extends the 3.8% to GS-graded law enforcement positions through new special rate tables, the raise stops at grade 10 and the most experienced agents get 0%.

The 2026 implementation was GL-focused, and the letter's own text gives OPM discretion, not instructions, above the GL boundary. The definitive answer arrives with OPM's covered-position memo, expected around the December 2026 executive order. Until then, treat grade 11 and above as frozen.

Also outside the fence: TSA officers (they are on TSA's separate Core Compensation system, not the GL scale), Capitol Police (separate appropriation), and protective or security positions that do not meet the 5541(3) definition. Timing-wise, the effective date in the letter is January 1, 2027, which in payroll terms means the first full pay period of January, around mid-month paychecks.

How Locality and LEAP Ride the Law Enforcement Raise

Locality percentages are frozen for everyone in 2027, law enforcement included. That sounds like a limit on the raise. Mechanically, it is not much of one.

Locality pay is computed as a percentage of your base rate. When the base rises 3.8% and the percentage holds still, the locality dollars rise 3.8% too. A GL-7 Step 1 in the Washington-Baltimore locality (33.94% in the 2026 tables) gains $1,857 in base and roughly $630 more in locality dollars, about $2,487 in total adjusted basic pay.

LEAP does the same thing. Availability pay for 1811-series agents is 25% of adjusted basic pay, so the same GL-7 sees LEAP rise by roughly $622 a year on top. Higher adjusted basic pay also feeds your high-3 average and TSP contribution base, which is where a raise like this compounds for 6(c) covered officers planning retirement.

Your GS colleagues get none of this movement in 2027. The grade-by-grade cost of the freeze is its own story, and the 2027 tracker follows every step from the letter to the December executive order, including any congressional override attempt in the FSGG appropriations bill.

Calculate Your 2026 Baseline

The 2027 GL table is not official yet, but your comparison point is. Use the free GS Pay Calculator to pull your exact 2026 base and locality breakdown for your grade, step, and area, then apply the table above to see what the 2027 law enforcement pay raise should add to the first January paycheck. LEO-specific grade pages live at our law enforcement pay hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who gets the 3.8% federal pay raise in 2027?

Federal law enforcement personnel in what the August 26, 2026 alternative pay plan letter calls critical law enforcement roles. Based on how OPM implemented the identical 2026 raise, that means GL-graded officers at grades 3 through 10 who meet the law enforcement officer definition in 5 U.S.C. 5541(3): FBI, DEA, ATF and ICE agents, CBP officers, Border Patrol agents, deputy U.S. marshals, and Bureau of Prisons correctional officers. OPM will publish the exact covered-position list, expected around December 2026.

Do senior agents at GS-11 and above get the 3.8% raise?

Not under the letter's current language. The GL scale ends at grade 10. Agents and investigators at grade 11 and above sit on the standard GS table, which the letter freezes at 2026 rates. Unless OPM's implementing order extends the increase to GS-graded law enforcement positions through special rate tables, a GS-12 special agent is frozen alongside every other GS employee.

Does the 3.8% apply to base pay only, or base and locality?

The 3.8% raises GL base rates. Locality percentages are frozen at 2026 levels for everyone, including law enforcement. But because locality pay is a percentage of base pay, the dollar value of locality rises with the higher base. A GL-7 Step 1 in the Washington-Baltimore area (33.94% locality) gains about $2,487 in total adjusted basic pay, roughly 3.8% end to end.

When does the 2027 law enforcement raise take effect?

The letter states January 1, 2027. In practice, new rates appear in the first full biweekly pay period on or after that date, typically mid-January paychecks. Before then, OPM must issue its implementing order and updated GL tables, expected alongside the December 2026 executive order that sets all 2027 pay rates. The letter sets the plan; the December order makes it official.

Can Congress change the 2027 pay freeze or the LEO raise?

Yes, through the FY2027 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill. Congress overrode a proposed freeze in 2019 and delivered 1.9%. This time the House has already advanced an FSGG bill with no civilian raise, matching the White House position, and the FAIR Act's 4.1% proposal has no path in the current Congress. An override is possible on paper and unlikely in practice.

Sources: Alternative pay plan letter, House Doc. 119-189 (GovInfo), OPM Salary Table 2026-GL, 5 U.S.C. 5541(3), OPM 2026 Special Rates for Certain Law Enforcement Personnel. All 2026 GL and GS rates verified against official OPM tables on August 29, 2026; 2027 figures are projections until OPM's implementing order.