How do I find my WG pay rate for 2026?

Pick your wage area, then your schedule type (WG, WL, or WS), grade, and step. The rate you get is read straight off the DoD wage schedule for that area, not estimated. There is no national WG table: pay is set by a local wage survey in each of the 132 appropriated-fund wage areas, so the same WG-10 step 1 pays a different hourly rate in San Diego than it does in Dayton.

What is the difference between WG, WL, and WS?

WG is Wage Grade, the nonsupervisory schedule. WL is Wage Leader, for working leaders who direct other WG employees. WS is Wage Supervisor. All three run grades 1 through 15 on every schedule in this lookup, and all three have exactly five steps per grade. WS schedules often publish extra grades above 15 as well; those are on the source PDF.

How long does each WG step increase take?

With a work performance rating of satisfactory or better, you move up automatically after 26 calendar weeks of service in step 1, 78 calendar weeks in step 2, and 104 calendar weeks in each of steps 3 and 4. That is 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(2), implemented by 5 CFR 532.417. Counting from your first day in step 1, you reach step 2 at 26 weeks, step 3 at 104 weeks, step 4 at 208 weeks, and step 5 at 312 weeks, which is about six years.

Why is step 2 the number everything else is based on?

Step 2 of every grade equals the local prevailing rate the DoD wage survey found for comparable private-sector work. The other steps are fixed percentages of it: step 1 pays 96 percent, step 3 pays 104 percent, step 4 pays 108 percent, and step 5 pays 112 percent. That is 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(1). So each step raise is 4 percent of the local market rate, not a national dollar figure.

How is the annual figure calculated from an hourly WG rate?

Hourly rate times 2,087 hours. That is the statutory divisor between an annual rate and an hourly rate under 5 U.S.C. 5504(b)(1). FWS employees are paid hourly, so the annual number is a full-year estimate, not a stated salary. Overtime, night differential, environmental differential, Sunday premium, and any hours short of a full schedule all move the real number.

My wage area has two schedules. Which one applies to me?

A wage area can reach counties that sit in more than one GS locality pay area, so DoD issues a separate schedule for each. Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, for example, has schedule 027 aligned to the DCB locality and schedule 227 aligned to Rest of U.S. Your official duty station on your SF-50 decides which one applies. If you are not sure, ask your servicing HR office.

Why does the lookup warn me about a special rate schedule?

Some regular schedules carry a printed footnote saying the schedule is affected by DoD CPM 2022-02 and that you should read the corresponding special rate schedule to find the payable rate. That is the $15 minimum-wage special rate, and in those areas it can raise the payable rate at the lower grades above what the regular schedule shows. When the source schedule carries that footnote, we show it rather than hiding it.

Does the 2027 GS pay freeze also freeze WG pay?

Not automatically. FWS raises follow each wage area survey and the DoD Wage Committee approval cycle, which is why schedules in this lookup carry effective dates spread across the year rather than all landing in January. Several 2026 schedules also carry a footnote about the appropriations lapse limiting the FY26 survey. Check the footnote on your own schedule and your agency pay guidance.

Calculator

WG Pay Scale Lookup

Federal Wage System pay is set by a local wage survey, not a national table. Pick your wage area, schedule type, grade, and step to get the hourly rate off the official DoD schedule, the annual equivalent, and how long each remaining step takes.

Reviewed by Jonathan D., 20-year federal employee · Formulas verified against DCPAS wage schedules · Updated October 2026

Rule snapshot

Reviewed October 3, 2026 · Sources: 5 U.S.C. 5343(e) (five steps at 96 to 112 percent of the prevailing rate; 26, 78, 104, 104 week waiting periods), 5 CFR 532.417 (within-grade increases), 5 U.S.C. 5504(b) (the 2,087-hour conversion), and the DCPAS appropriated-fund wage schedules (every rate, one PDF per schedule, linked with the result). Inputs stay in your browser.

Your wage schedule

Wage area

Schedule (GS locality alignment)

Schedule type

Grade

Step

Area not in the list?

This lookup carries 26 schedules across 12 wage areas. There are 132 appropriated-fund regular wage areas in total. Type a city or state to check whether yours is one we have not loaded yet.

Search the other wage areas

What this models / Not modeled

The honest limits of this lookup. Rates are read from the source schedule; nothing in the left column is estimated.
What this models	Not modeled
Hourly WG, WL, and WS rates for grades 1 to 15, steps 1 to 5	WS-16 through WS-19, which some schedules publish; read them on the source PDF
Annual estimate as hourly times 2,087 hours (5 U.S.C. 5504(b)(1))	Overtime, night differential, environmental differential, Sunday premium, hazard pay
Biweekly as hourly times 80 hours	Part-time or intermittent schedules, which pay only the hours worked
Step waiting periods from 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(2) and 5 CFR 532.417	Your own creditable service, breaks in service, or time in nonpay status, which move your step date
26 regular ("R") schedules across 12 wage areas	The other 120 regular wage areas; the tool names yours and links DCPAS
The footnote printed on each source schedule, shown verbatim	The $15 minimum-wage special rate schedules under DoD CPM 2022-02, which can raise the payable rate
Appropriated-fund (AF) schedules	Non-appropriated-fund (NAF) schedules, floating-plant ("F") and lock-and-dam ("L") schedules
Precision: rates to the cent as printed; annual rounded to the dollar	Retroactive pay, pay retention, grade retention, or any locality-pay-style percentage on top

Why there is no national WG table

The General Schedule starts from one national base table and adds a locality percentage. The Federal Wage System does the opposite. DoD surveys private-sector wages in each of 132 appropriated-fund wage areas and pays the local prevailing rate directly. Step 2 of every grade is that surveyed rate. Steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 are fixed percentages of it, 96 through 112 percent, under 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(1).

Two consequences catch people out. Raises land on each area's own survey cycle, so the schedules in this lookup carry effective dates spread through the year rather than all arriving in January. And a wage area can reach counties in more than one GS locality pay area, which is why some areas here have two or three live schedules with different numbers. Your official duty station decides which one pays you. The Federal Wage System pay scale guide walks through the survey mechanics and the WG-10 versus GS-7 comparison.

Six years from step 1 to step 5

With a rating of satisfactory or better, step increases are automatic. The waiting period is counted in calendar weeks of service in the step you hold: 26 weeks in step 1, 78 weeks in step 2, and 104 weeks in each of steps 3 and 4. Counted from your first day at step 1 that puts step 2 at 26 weeks, step 3 at 104 weeks, step 4 at 208 weeks, and step 5 at 312 weeks, about six years. The authority is 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(2), carried into regulation at 5 CFR 532.417.

Time in a nonpay status eats into a waiting period past a short allowance: one workweek for step 2, three workweeks for step 3, and four workweeks for steps 4 and 5, under 5 CFR 532.417(c)(2). This lookup shows the statutory schedule, not your own service record, so treat the dates as the earliest case.

Where these rates come from

Every hourly figure was read out of the DoD/DCPAS schedule PDF that the result links. Nothing is interpolated. Each of the 26 schedules was checked after extraction: 15 grades present, five strictly increasing steps in each of WG, WL, and WS, WL above WG and WS above WL at step 1, and WG step 1 rising across every grade. All 26 passed.

Where a schedule prints a footnote, you get it word for word. Several carry the CPM 2022-02 note telling you to read the matching special rate schedule for the payable rate, and the Pensacola and Jacksonville schedules show asterisked rates adjusted to meet the Florida minimum wage. Those notes change what you are actually paid, so hiding them would make the number wrong.