Federal Employee Pay Raise Information: Updates and Historical Data

Latest updates on the 2026 federal employee pay raise, including the FAIR Act’s proposed increase of 4.3%. Also – historical pay data by year for past raises going back to 1970. 

Federal Pay Raise in 2026: FAIR Act Proposes 4.3%

Every year since 2016, Virginia Representative Gerry Connolly has introduced a new version of the FAIR act to give federal employees a significant salary increase the following year. Despite the recent disruptions across several federal agencies, the Congressman proposed the legislation for the 9th year in a row, with this year’s bill proposing a 4.3% average pay raise for federal employees in 2026. Although the actual pay raise has never been more than what has been suggested in the FAIR Act, it has traditionally served as an early indicator. This year might be different, though, based off the president’s early focus on reducing the federal workforce. What the federal pay raise ends up being is typically closer to what is recommended in the White House’s federal budget, which gets published every year in March. 

How Pay Raises are Determined by the White House or Congress

Congress has the authority to set the annual federal pay raise for government employees through legislation, where that be through budgetary measures or standalone bills like the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act that was introduced on Capitol Hill this year on January 16th, a few days before the second Trump Presidency had officially begun. No iteration of the FAIR Act has never passed, but after the shutdown in 2018-2019, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act made the pay increase for 2019 3.1%. Typically, however, at least over the past few decades, the basic pay increase for feds is decided by an executive order. For the 2025 annual pay raise, Biden signed an executive order towards the end of the December, giving federal workers an across-the-board increase of 1.7 percent, and average raise of 2.0% with locality pay factored in. While the basic pay increase is usually mentioned in the fiscal year budget recommendations, the Senate can choose to ignore this when actually funding the federal government. But, if they ignore including a federal civilian employee pay raise altogether, then the executive branch will usually go ahead with their budgetary recommendation, as the Biden Administration did after first suggesting a 2.0% federal employee salary increase in March 2024.

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Comparing Recent Pay Raise Decisions with Proposed Pay Raise in White House Budget and FAIR Acts

The following chart shows how the actual annual salary increase for federal government workers has compared to what was suggested in both the FAIR Act of that year and the White House’s budget suggestions. 

The biggest gap between the actual base pay increase and the federal pay increases suggested in respective FAIR Acts was actually for this year’s raise, which took effect starting in January, with a 5.4 point difference. So even if the upcoming White House budget suggests a pay freeze (0.0% raise), it would only be 4.3 percent less than the recently proposed average increase in Connolly’s bill. What the next annual raise for FERS and CSRS employees is now unknown, but a big raise, like the 5.2 percent raise in 2024, is probably unlikely. 

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Federal Employee Benefits: General Schedule Pay Adjustments for Federal Pay, Annual Pay Raise Historical Chart

Data for federal pay raise history, pay rates increases. The following chart illustrates the historical trends in federal pay raises for fed employees spanning from 1970 to 2018, showing changes in compensation across different administrations and economic climates. By analyzing these data points, one can observe the impact of legislative decisions, inflation, and other economic factors on federal salaries over the years. This chart not only serves as a historical record but also provides insight into patterns that may influence future adjustments in federal employee compensation.

This pay table shows the pay schedules average year-to-year percentage point increase for federal workers. The increase of 5.2 percent in 2024 was the biggest raise since 1980, which saw a large raise of 9.1 based off the increase in cost of living at the time. The President may decide to decrease the pay gap between feds and the private sector, but a 2026 pay plan that includes a pay freeze seems more likely at the moment.