What is an OPM special salary rate?

It is a higher minimum rate of basic pay that OPM sets for a category of employees to deal with real recruitment or retention difficulty, under 5 U.S.C. 5305 and 5 CFR part 530 subpart C. The coverage conditions are set per table and can turn on occupational series, grade, employing agency, geographic location of the official worksite, or other factors OPM picks. A special rate schedule is not a nationwide raise for a series.

Can the special rate win at one step and lose at another?

Yes, and this trips people up. The two schedules rise at different increments, so a special rate can beat the locality rate at step 1 and fall behind it by step 10, or the reverse. Several OPM tables carry a note saying exactly that: the table includes locations where the applicable General Schedule locality rates exceed the special rates at certain grades and steps. The step table in this tool shows all ten rows so you can see where the crossover is.

How do I know whether my duty station is covered?

Each table lists its own covered locations and agencies, and this tool shows both so you can search them. An agency determination about coverage has to be based on your position of record and your official worksite (5 CFR 530.303(b)). If your duty station is not on the table, the table does not cover you and you are paid your ordinary locality rate.

Which IT special rate table applies to a 2210?

OPM runs a governmentwide ladder of five tables for series 2210, 0854, and 1550: 999B, 999C, 999D, 999E, and 999F. They cover different locality pay areas, which is why the one that applies depends on where your duty station is rather than on your agency. All five are in this lookup with their covered locality pay areas listed.

Is there a cap on a special rate?

Yes. A special rate may not exceed the rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule, which is $197,200 in 2026 (5 CFR 530.304(a)). Locality rates carry the same ceiling under 5 U.S.C. 5304(g)(1). For any given grade, a minimum special rate also may not exceed the maximum rate of basic pay for the rate range by more than 30 percent.

Does a special rate count as basic pay for retirement and TSP?

For most purposes, yes. 5 CFR 530.308 makes a special rate a rate of basic pay for the purposes listed in 5 CFR 531.610, which is the same list that applies to locality rates and includes retirement deductions and TSP contributions. It is not basic pay for every purpose, so check 531.610 before relying on it for an unusual computation.

Why does losing a special rate not show up as a pay cut I can appeal?

Because 5 CFR 530.309(d) says the reduction or termination of an employee special rate supplement, done according to subpart C, is not an adverse action under 5 CFR part 752 subpart D. A pay increase from a new or higher special rate supplement is also not an "equivalent increase" for within-grade increase purposes under 5 U.S.C. 5335, so it does not restart your waiting period.

Calculator

Special Rate Tables Lookup

A special salary rate only helps you if it beats your locality rate, because you are paid the higher of the two. Pick your series, table, grade, step, and locality pay area to see both annual figures side by side and which one applies.

Reviewed by Jonathan D., 20-year federal employee · Formulas verified against OPM special rates tables · Updated October 2026

Rule snapshot

Reviewed October 3, 2026 · Sources: 5 CFR 530.303(d) (no special rate for any period you are entitled to a higher rate under another authority, a higher locality rate included), 5 CFR 530.304 (how OPM sets a special rate and the Executive Schedule level IV ceiling), 5 CFR 531.604(b)(4) (locality rate rounded to the nearest whole dollar), and the OPM 2026 special rate tables (every special rate, cross-checked against OPM's own payroll feed, linked per table with the result). Inputs stay in your browser.

Your position

Occupational series

Box 16 of your SF-50. Only series covered by a loaded table appear here.

Special rate table

More than one table covers this series. Which one applies depends on your location and agency; check the coverage list below.

Grade

Only grades this table publishes. Other grades get the ordinary locality rate.

Step

Your locality pay area

The area for your official duty station. This is the rate the special rate has to beat.

Is your duty station covered by table 999B?

A special rate applies only if your position of record and official worksite meet OPM's coverage conditions for the table (5 CFR 530.303(b)). Table 999B lists 36 locations and these agencies: A* ALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

Search this table's locations

ALBANY-SCHENECTADY, NY-MA LOCALITY PAY AREA
ALBUQUERQUE-SANTA FE-LAS VEGAS, NM LOCALITY PAY AREA
ALL PORTIONS OF THE REST OF U.S. LOCALITY PAY AREA WITHIN THE CONTIGUOUS U.S.
ATLANTA--ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY--SANDY SPRINGS, GA-AL LOCALITY PAY AREA
AUSTIN-ROUND ROCK-GEORGETOWN, TX LOCALITY PAY AREA
BIRMINGHAM-HOOVER-TALLADEGA, AL LOCALITY PAY AREA
BUFFALO-CHEEKTOWAGA-OLEAN, NY LOCALITY PAY AREA
BURLINGTON-SOUTH BURLINGTON-BARRE, VT LOCALITY PAY AREA

Showing 8 of 36. Type to search the rest.

Series or table not here? OPM published 441 live special rate tables for 2026. This lookup carries 20 of them, chosen for the highest-headcount occupations. Search the rest at OPM's special rates search.

What this models / Not modeled

The honest limits of this lookup. Special rates are read from OPM's published table; only the locality rate is computed.
What this models	Not modeled
Annual special rates from 20 of OPM's 441 live 2026 tables	The other 421 tables; the tool links OPM's own search instead of guessing
Locality rate from the audited 2026 GS table, rounded per 5 CFR 531.604(b)(4)	Retained rates under 5 CFR part 536, which can also beat both figures
Which rate is payable: the higher one (5 CFR 530.303(d))	Whether you personally meet the table's coverage conditions; only your agency can determine that (5 CFR 530.303(b))
The Executive Schedule level IV ceiling on both rates ($197,200 in 2026)	The separate 30 percent rate-range limit on a minimum special rate (5 CFR 530.304(a))
OPM notes for each table, shown verbatim	Agency-specific limited-coverage carve-outs described only in a table note
Annual rates only, as OPM publishes them	Biweekly or hourly conversions, overtime, premium pay, allowances, or deductions
GS special rate tables	LEO special base rate tables used as the computation base for some LEO schedules (5 CFR 530.304(d)), and non-GS pay systems
Precision: whole dollars, as OPM publishes them	Mid-year table revisions published after 2026-10-03; always check the effective date on the linked OPM table

The rule that decides your paycheck

Being “on a special rate table” is not the same as being paid a special rate. 5 CFR 530.303(d) is blunt about it: an employee covered by a special rate schedule is not entitled to a special rate for any period during which the employee is entitled to a higher rate of basic pay under any other legal authority, and it names a higher locality rate as the example. So the practical question is never “do I have a special rate,” it is “does my special rate beat my locality rate at my grade and step.”

Because the two schedules rise at different increments, the answer can change inside a single grade. Several OPM tables carry a note saying exactly that, warning that the table includes locations where the General Schedule locality rates exceed the special rates at certain grades and steps. That is why this tool prints all ten steps rather than one number.

Coverage is narrower than people assume

A special rate schedule is not a raise for a series. Under 5 CFR 530.303(b) the coverage conditions can turn on occupational series, grade, employing agency, geographic location of the official worksite, and anything else OPM considers appropriate, and your agency has to base its determination on your position of record and your official worksite. Some tables narrow further in the notes: coverage limited to law enforcement officers as defined in 5 U.S.C. 5541(3), or to positions performing work directly involved in electric power generation, or to pilots assigned to a position description that requires piloting aircraft.

That is why the tool makes you search the table's own location list and shows the agency coverage strings verbatim. If your duty station is not there, the table does not reach you.

Where these rates come from

Every special rate here was extracted from OPM's own 2026 all-tables page, then cross-checked cell by cell against OPM's machine-readable payroll feed for the same year. Across the 441 live 2026 tables the two sources agreed on 34,900 grade-and-step cells, with exactly two tables disagreeing because they had been superseded mid-year. Neither of those two is in this lookup, and where OPM published a superseded copy and an updated copy of a table, only the later effective date ships.

The subset covers 29 occupational series across 20 tables, chosen for the occupations with the most employees on special rates: IT and computer science, engineering, nursing and physician assistants, police, criminal investigators, and natural-resources pilots. Anything outside that set gets an honest “not loaded” answer and a link to OPM's own search rather than a guess. For the hourly side of federal pay, the WG Pay Scale Lookup covers the Federal Wage System.