It is the question that hits every federal inbox like clockwork around the holidays. People want to know if their paycheck is actually going to grow or if inflation is just going to keep eating away at what they already have. For a long time, the rumors were pretty grim.
White House officials had been floating the idea of a total pay freeze for a while. Honestly, things looked like they were headed for a $0 increase. But then, things shifted.
Will Federal Employees Get a Raise in 2026?
The short answer is yes, but it probably isn't as much as you were hoping for. President Trump signed an executive order on December 18, 2025, that officially finalized a 1% across-the-board pay raise for most federal civilian employees.
This 1% increase is specifically applied to your basic pay. If you were looking for a bump in locality pay to help with the rent in DC or San Francisco, I've got some bad news: locality pay rates are frozen at 2025 levels. Basically, your paycheck will go up by one percent of your base salary, and that's it for the general workforce.
It's a noticeable drop from the 2% raise feds saw in 2025, and it’s nowhere near the 5.2% boost from a few years ago. If you're a GS-11, step 5, living in a "Rest of U.S." area, your base pay is moving from $71,583 to about $72,303. That's roughly $720 extra a year before the tax man takes his cut.
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The Big Exception: Law Enforcement and the 3.8% Raise
While most of the workforce is looking at that 1% figure, some folks are getting a much better deal. The administration made a specific push to align certain law enforcement raises with the 3.8% military pay increase for 2026.
OPM Director Scott Kupor approved new special salary rate tables (tables L001 through L133) that give covered law enforcement personnel an additional 2.8% on top of the base 1% increase. This is all about "mission-critical" roles—think border security and federal agents.
Who actually qualifies for this?
- FBI and DEA Agents
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers
- Secret Service
- Federal Bureau of Prisons Correctional Officers
These special rates kicked in on January 11, 2026. If you're in one of these roles, your pay adjustment should already be reflected in your first full pay period of the year.
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The Math for the Rest of the Force
For everyone else—the scientists, the administrators, the VA nurses—the math is simpler. You take your 2025 base salary and multiply it by 1.01. Since the locality percentages didn't move, you don't have to worry about complex geographic adjustments this time around.
The Senior Executive Service (SES) and those in Senior-Level (SL) or Scientific and Professional (ST) positions also saw their minimum pay adjusted to $151,661 to stay consistent with the 1% bump. The absolute ceiling for pay, known as the aggregate limitation, is now $253,100 for 2026.
Why 1%? Understanding the Alternative Pay Plan
You might be wondering why the raise is so low when the Social Security COLA for 2026 is 2.8%. It feels like a slap in the face to get 1% when retirees are getting nearly triple that.
The reason comes down to the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA). Under that law, feds are technically supposed to get raises tied to the Employment Cost Index (ECI). If we followed the law to the letter, the 2026 raise would have been around 3.3%.
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But there’s a loophole. The President can issue an "Alternative Pay Plan" citing a "national emergency or serious economic conditions." By doing this, the White House effectively overrode the FEPCA formula to keep spending down. They argued that a 1% raise balances the need to keep the government running with the need to be fiscally responsible.
Retirement and the "Diet COLA"
If you're a federal retiree, the story is totally different. Retirees don't get "raises"—they get Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs).
For 2026, the COLA is 2.8%. But there is a catch if you are under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). It’s often called the "Diet COLA."
- If the CPI inflation index is 2% or less, FERS retirees get the full amount.
- If it’s between 2% and 3%, FERS retirees just get 2.0%.
- Since the 2026 COLA is 2.8%, FERS retirees are capped at that 2.0% mark.
CSRS retirees, on the other hand, get the full 2.8%. It’s one of those old-school perks that makes the newer generation of feds a little jealous.
Moving Forward in 2026
The pay scales are set. The executive order is signed. Unless Congress passes a specific law to override the President—which is incredibly unlikely at this stage of the fiscal year—that 1% is what you're living with for the next 12 months.
Actionable Steps for Federal Employees
- Check Your LES: Look at your first Leave and Earnings Statement for 2026. Ensure the 1% base increase was applied correctly. If you're law enforcement, ensure you're on the new "L" tables.
- Adjust Your TSP: A 1% raise is small, but if you were already at the edge of a tax bracket or looking to max out your 2026 TSP contributions (the limit is $23,500), now is the time to tweak those percentages.
- Update Your Budget: Since locality pay didn't move, your "take-home" might feel even tighter if your local cost of living jumped.
- Watch for 2027: The budget cycle for 2027 starts sooner than you think. Keep an eye on the President’s Budget Proposal usually released in the spring to see if the "pay freeze" talk returns for next year.
While a 1% raise isn't going to buy anyone a new boat, it’s better than the 0% that was originally on the table. For now, the focus shifts to how the agencies handle the new special rates and whether the gap between federal and private-sector pay continues to widen.