Federal employees on the General Schedule got a smaller raise in 2026 than in recent years: a 1% across-the-board increase to base pay, set by Executive Order 14368. * That 1% is base pay only — the increase does not extend to locality pay, the additional percentage added on top of base salary to account for cost of living in specific metro areas. Locality rates were held flat at their 2025 levels, meaning many federal employees' actual take-home raise landed well below what a simple "1% raise" headline suggests, since locality pay makes up a substantial share of total compensation in high-cost areas like D.C., San Francisco, and New York. * One group got noticeably more: federal law enforcement employees received an additional 2.8% on top of the standard 1%, for a combined 3.8% raise for 2026 — treating law enforcement pay as a distinct priority separate from the rest of the federal workforce. * The 2026 General Schedule base pay scale runs from $22,584 at GS-1, Step 1 to $164,301 at GS-15, Step 10, spanning 15 grades and 10 steps within each grade. Once locality pay is added on top, total salaries for the highest-paid GS employees in expensive metro areas can approach the Executive Level IV pay cap of $197,200, which the government uses as an overall ceiling on GS compensation regardless of grade and step.