Federal pay raise 2027: planned freeze, 3.8% law enforcement

What the President's 2027 alternative pay plan says

On August 26, 2026, President Trump issued a 2027 alternative pay plan under sections 5303(b) and 5304a of Title 5 of the US Code. It would freeze 2027 base and locality rates at 2026 levels for employees under the GS and certain other pay systems. Locality pay is the extra percentage that depends on the area where you work.[1]

An alternative pay plan replaces the raise that the federal pay formula would otherwise require. The law lets the President send one when he considers that raise inappropriate because of a national emergency or serious economic conditions. He must send it to Congress before September 1 of the year before the raise.[3]

On OPM's 2026 base table, before locality pay, GS-9 step 1 pays $52,727 a year. Under the plan, that rate would not change in 2027.[8][1]

Who gets the 3.8% law enforcement increase in 2027, and when

The President directed OPM to use other pay authorities to raise law enforcement pay by 3.8%. OPM says it will use its special salary rate authority under section 5305 of Title 5, after consulting the agencies affected. Special rates are set above regular locality rates, and they count as basic pay for retirement, overtime, and most other purposes.[1]

Federal pay raises from 2023 to 2026

Compounded, those 4 increases raised GS base rates by 12.0% from 2022 to 2026. The table shows base pay only: locality increases came on top of it in some years.[5][6][7][8]

On August 28, 2025, the President's plan set out a 1% base increase and a freeze of 2026 locality rates at 2025 levels. It also directed OPM to give certain law enforcement officials about 2.8% more, in line with the planned 3.8% military raise.[2]

For a private-sector pay discussion, see how to ask for a raise for 2027. Compare an offer using the salary negotiation steps.

The executive order for 2026 pay was signed on December 18, 2025. It took effect with the first pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2026. OPM's 2026 GS table incorporates the 1% increase that the August plan proposed.[4][8]

What can still change federal pay for 2027, and when

The final rates arrive in an executive order that sets the pay schedules. The order for 2026 came late in the year, on December 18, 2025. Under the law, the President adjusts pay in line with the alternative plan he sent Congress.[4][3]

Agencies are funded through December 11, 2026, under a continuing resolution in the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, signed on September 2, 2026. A later funding law is one place Congress could set a different raise.[9]

Congress can set a different raise by law. The notes to section 5303 list appropriations laws that did so: one for fiscal year 2009 raised rates by 3.9%. Another, for fiscal year 2010, raised rates by 1.5% plus 0.5% in locality pay.[3]

Congress has also frozen pay by law. A law passed in December 2010, and amended in March 2013, barred statutory pay adjustments from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2013. Those are the yearly raises the pay laws require, including GS base and locality raises.[3]

If you work in law enforcement, ask your agency's human resources office whether the 2027 special rate tables cover your position.[1]