Government Jobs & Federal Salaries
Search federal job openings from USAJobs.gov with transparent GS pay scale salary data. No guesswork — see exactly what the government pays for every grade and step.
✓ FERS pension (defined benefit)
✓ TSP 401k with 5% match
✓ 11 paid federal holidays
✓ 13–26 days vacation/year
✓ Student loan forgiveness (PSLF)
Federal Government Salaries & GS Pay Scale
Federal government jobs offer some of the most transparent compensation in the US labor market. Unlike private sector roles where salaries are often negotiated in the dark, federal positions use the General Schedule (GS) pay system — a publicly published table of salaries by grade (GS-1 through GS-15) and step (1 through 10).
A GS-13 Step 1 position pays $88,520 base salary in 2025, with locality pay adjustments adding 15–40% in high cost-of-living areas like San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York. Total compensation including benefits — health insurance, pension, TSP match, and leave — is estimated to add 30–40% above base salary.
Federal jobs are listed exclusively on USAJobs.gov, the official job board of the US government. SalaryOptics pulls live listings and pairs them with GS pay scale data so you can see exactly what each position pays before you apply.