Last Updated: September 16, 2026 Reading Time: 6 min

Type "4 star general salary" into Google and you get a lot of numbers. Only one of them is the law. In 2026 a four-star general or admiral is paid $18,999.90 a month in basic pay, $227,998.80 a year, and it does not matter whether they have 22 years in or 40. The statute caps general-officer basic pay at Executive Schedule Level II, and for 2026 that cap binds every single O-10 pay cell.

The Number, and Where It Comes From

The DFAS 2026 officer basic pay table lists O-10 at $18,999.90 in every published column, "over 20" through "over 40" years of service (earlier columns are blank for O-9 and O-10). The footnote explains why: "Basic pay is limited to the rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule in effect during calendar year 2026, which is $18,999.90 per month for officers at pay grades O-7 through O-10."

The Executive Schedule is the pay scale for the government's top civilian appointees. OPM's 2026 table sets Level II at $228,000 a year; DFAS publishes the monthly basic-pay ceiling it applies as $18,999.90.

The statute behind the footnote is 37 U.S.C. 203(a)(2): "the rates of basic pay payable for commissioned officers in pay grades O-7 through O-10 may not exceed the monthly equivalent of the rate of pay for level II of the Executive Schedule, and the rates of basic pay payable for all other officers and for enlisted members may not exceed the monthly equivalent of the rate of pay for level V of the Executive Schedule."

DFAS names the jobs the cap covers: the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, each service chief, the Chief of Space Operations, the Coast Guard Commandant, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and every combatant commander. Same $18,999.90.

Three Ranks, One Paycheck: The 2026 Cap Table

FedTools pulled the four general-officer grades from the DFAS 2026 table. Cells in bold are at the Level II cap.

Years of service O-7 (one-star) O-8 (two-star) O-9 (three-star) O-10 (four-star)
Over 20 $16,817.70 $18,598.20 $18,999.90 $18,999.90
Over 22 $16,817.70 $18,999.90 $18,999.90 $18,999.90
Over 26 $16,904.40 $18,999.90 $18,999.90 $18,999.90
Over 30 $17,242.20 $18,999.90 $18,999.90 $18,999.90
Over 40 $17,242.20 $18,999.90 $18,999.90 $18,999.90

Source: DFAS, Basic Pay for Officers effective January 1, 2026 (page updated February 13, 2026). Monthly basic pay, before allowances and before tax.

What the table says in plain terms:

  • A two-star in the DFAS "over 22" column or later is paid the same basic pay as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
  • A three-star and a four-star are identical in basic pay at every length of service.
  • A one-star never hits the cap. O-7 rises with service and stops at $17,242.20 at over 30 years, about $1,758 a month below the cap.
  • The gap between the cap and the O-8 "over 20" cell is $401.70 a month. For an O-8 already at the cap, promotion to three or four stars does not raise basic pay.

Annualized: O-10 and O-9 earn $227,998.80. An O-8 at over 20 years earns $223,178.40. A one-star at the top of the scale earns $206,906.40.

The Cap Below the Cap: O-6 and Level V

The same statute caps everyone else at Executive Schedule Level V, which OPM set at $184,900 for 2026. DFAS applies it as $15,408.30 a month. In 2026 that cap only bites one grade: a colonel or Navy captain (O-6) with over 30 years of service, whose table rate would otherwise keep climbing. Every O-6 cell from "over 30" onward reads $15,408.30.

How Few Four-Stars There Are

Federal law sets ceilings on four-star billets, with statutory exceptions, exclusions, and adjustments in the rest of the section. 10 U.S.C. 525(a) says no appointment may be made that would result in more than 8 officers in the grade of general in the Army, 9 in the Air Force, or 6 admirals in the Navy, with separate limits for the Marine Corps and Space Force. Add the service chiefs and combatant commanders and you are still counting a few dozen people at the cap at any one time.

What Is Not Capped

Basic pay is one piece of a general's compensation. The Level II cap does not limit:

  • Basic Allowance for Housing, for eligible members; it depends on duty station and dependency status.
  • Basic Allowance for Subsistence, paid at a uniform officer rate.

Retired pay has its own rules under a different statute, but the cap can affect the pay base it uses; service between 2006 and 2014 gets special treatment under DoD's pay regulations. Allowances vary by duty station, so this post does not give a total-compensation figure. Our military pay calculator lets you add housing and subsistence for a specific location.

Retired Pay for a Four-Star

Regular military retired pay is a multiplier times a retired-pay base: the highest 36 months of basic pay under 10 U.S.C. 1407, with general and flag officer rules in 10 U.S.C. 1407a. For officers under the legacy system, 10 U.S.C. 1409(b)(1) sets the multiplier as "the product (stated as a percentage) of (A) 2½, and (B) the member's years of creditable service." Under the Blended Retirement System the multiplier is 2% per year.

At 30 years of service the legacy multiplier is 75% (60% under BRS). If the applicable retired-pay base were $228,000, 75% would produce about $171,000 a year before cost-of-living adjustments. Actual retired pay depends on the member's own qualifying 36 months of basic pay, which the cap and the general-officer pay-base rules can affect.

Check Any Rank Against the 2026 Table

Use our free Military Pay Calculator to see 2026 basic pay for any grade and years of service, including the O-7 through O-10 cap cells above. Pick the grade and the years-of-service column and it returns monthly basic pay. Look up O-10 →

Planning a retirement? Our Military Retirement Income Calculator takes your grade, years of service, retirement system, and VA rating and estimates monthly retired pay from the pay tables it carries. Try it now →

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a 4-star general make in 2026?

Basic pay for a four-star general or admiral (pay grade O-10) is $18,999.90 a month in 2026, or $227,998.80 a year, in every years-of-service column DFAS publishes for the grade (the earlier columns are blank). That is the statutory cap: Level II of the Executive Schedule, which OPM set at $228,000 for 2026. A housing allowance that varies by duty station and a subsistence allowance at the uniform officer rate are paid on top.

Why is a general's pay capped?

37 U.S.C. 203(a)(2) says basic pay for officers in grades O-7 through O-10 may not exceed the monthly equivalent of Executive Schedule Level II, and pay for all other officers and enlisted members may not exceed Level V. The military pay table lists higher rates for senior generals, but the statute stops the paycheck at the cap.

Do 3-star and 4-star generals get paid the same?

Yes, in basic pay. Every published O-9 and O-10 column in the 2026 DFAS table is $18,999.90 because both grades sit above the Level II cap at every listed length of service. A two-star (O-8) reaches the same cap from the over-22 column on.

How many four-star officers are there?

Federal law limits the number. Under 10 U.S.C. 525, the Army may have no more than 8 officers in the grade of general, the Air Force 9, and the Navy 6 admirals, with separate limits for the Marine Corps and Space Force.

What is a four-star general's retirement pay?

Under the legacy system, regular retired pay uses a multiplier of 2.5 percent per year of creditable service under 10 U.S.C. 1409 (2 percent under the Blended Retirement System), applied to a retired-pay base built from the highest 36 months of basic pay. At 30 years that is 75 percent (60 percent under BRS). If the retired-pay base were $228,000, that would be about $171,000 a year before cost-of-living adjustments; the actual base depends on the member's own pay history.

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