Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay
The order sets new pay rates for federal civilian employees, Foreign Service officers, military personnel, judges, members of Congress, and senior executives, effective at the start of the first pay period on or after January 1, 2025, superseding the prior year's pay order.
What this order does
What it orders
The order establishes updated basic pay rates and salary schedules across the major federal compensation systems, including the General Schedule for most civilian workers, the Foreign Service Schedule, Veterans Health Administration pay scales, the Senior Executive Service pay band, the Executive Schedule for Cabinet-level officials, congressional salaries, and pay for federal judges and justices. It also sets monthly basic pay for uniformed service members and cadet or midshipman pay, and it sets locality-based comparability payments that supplement base pay for employees in higher-cost areas.
The pay schedules are attached to the order as ten separate numbered schedules. Military pay (Schedule 8) takes effect January 1, 2025; all other schedules take effect on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2025. The order supersedes the prior annual pay order from December 21, 2023.
Who it affects
Federal civilian employees on the General Schedule, Foreign Service officers, Veterans Health Administration clinical staff, Senior Executive Service members, Cabinet and subcabinet officials, members of Congress, federal judges and Supreme Court justices, administrative law judges, and members of the uniformed military services.
Why it matters
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees, military service members, judges, and elected officials receive their updated pay rates under this order. Locality-based comparability payments, which vary by metro area, are also set here, directly affecting take-home pay for workers in high-cost regions.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Office of Personnel Management is directed to implement locality-based comparability payments and publish notice of those payments in the Federal Register. The ten pay schedules are incorporated by reference as attachments. Military pay activates on a fixed date (January 1, 2025), while civilian and other schedules activate on the first pay-period start date on or after that date. The prior year's pay order is superseded automatically on those same effective dates.
Actions and deadlines
- Implement locality-based comparability payments and publish notice in the Federal Register
- Activate military pay rates under Schedule 8
- Activate all other pay schedules on the first day of the first applicable pay period