Law Enforcement (LEO) Payscale in Tennessee for 2025
The Law Enforcement (LEO) payscale is the federal government payscale used to determine the salaries of over 70% of federal civilian employees.
Like the General Schedule (GS) Payscale, under the LEO payscale an employee's base pay depends on two factors - the LEO Paygrade of their job, and the Paygrade Step they have achieved (depending on seniority or performance). This base pay is then modified based on a "Locality Pay Adjustment", which adjusts the LEO payscale based on cost-of-living in different areas within the United States.
Tennessee has one or more Locality Pay Adjustment areas with special locality pay adjustment rates. This page lists the locality-adjusted yearly LEO pay scales for each area, with starting pay for a LEO-1 broken down by county in the interactive map.
The HUNTSVILLE-DECATUR, AL-TN General Schedule locality region applies to government employees who work in Huntsville and surrounding areas. General Schedule employees who work within this region are paid 21.91% more than the GS base pay rates to account for local cost of living.
| LEO Grade | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Step 9 | Step 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LEO-3 | $40,130 | $41,245 | $42,359 | $43,473 | $44,587 | $45,702 | $46,816 | $47,930 | $49,044 | $50,159 |
| LEO-4 | $45,054 | $46,306 | $47,558 | $48,810 | $50,062 | $51,314 | $52,566 | $53,818 | $55,070 | $56,322 |
| LEO-5 | $51,800 | $53,199 | $54,599 | $55,998 | $57,398 | $58,797 | $60,197 | $61,596 | $62,996 | $64,395 |
| LEO-6 | $54,624 | $56,185 | $57,745 | $59,306 | $60,866 | $62,426 | $63,987 | $65,547 | $67,108 | $68,668 |
| LEO-7 | $58,969 | $60,704 | $62,439 | $64,173 | $65,908 | $67,643 | $69,378 | $71,113 | $72,847 | $74,582 |
| LEO-8 | $61,463 | $63,385 | $65,306 | $67,227 | $69,149 | $71,070 | $72,991 | $74,912 | $76,834 | $78,755 |
| LEO-9 | $65,764 | $67,886 | $70,007 | $72,128 | $74,249 | $76,371 | $78,492 | $80,613 | $82,734 | $84,855 |
| LEO-10 | $72,421 | $74,756 | $77,092 | $79,428 | $81,764 | $84,100 | $86,435 | $88,771 | $91,107 | $93,443 |
The Huntsville locality pay rates also apply to federal workers in the following major cities: and other areas within the region.
Any federal employees in Tennessee who do not live in an area for which a specific Locality Pay Adjustment has been set will receive the generic "Rest of the United States" locality pay adjustment of 17.06% (shown in the table below).
| LEO Grade | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 | Step 6 | Step 7 | Step 8 | Step 9 | Step 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LEO-3 | $38,534 | $39,604 | $40,674 | $41,744 | $42,814 | $43,883 | $44,953 | $46,023 | $47,093 | $48,163 |
| LEO-4 | $43,262 | $44,464 | $45,666 | $46,868 | $48,071 | $49,273 | $50,475 | $51,677 | $52,880 | $54,082 |
| LEO-5 | $49,739 | $51,083 | $52,426 | $53,770 | $55,114 | $56,458 | $57,802 | $59,146 | $60,490 | $61,833 |
| LEO-6 | $52,451 | $53,949 | $55,448 | $56,946 | $58,445 | $59,943 | $61,441 | $62,940 | $64,438 | $65,936 |
| LEO-7 | $56,623 | $58,289 | $59,955 | $61,620 | $63,286 | $64,952 | $66,618 | $68,283 | $69,949 | $71,615 |
| LEO-8 | $59,018 | $60,863 | $62,708 | $64,553 | $66,398 | $68,242 | $70,087 | $71,932 | $73,777 | $75,622 |
| LEO-9 | $63,148 | $65,185 | $67,222 | $69,259 | $71,295 | $73,332 | $75,369 | $77,406 | $79,443 | $81,480 |
| LEO-10 | $69,539 | $71,782 | $74,025 | $76,268 | $78,511 | $80,754 | $82,997 | $85,240 | $87,482 | $89,725 |
The Rest of U.S. locality pay rates also apply to federal workers in the following major cities: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Kingsport, Knoxville, Memphis, Milan, Millington, Murfreesboro, Tullahoma, and other areas within the region.
* For some high-paygrade workers, pay under the GS scale may be capped at $195,200 the SES (Senior Executive Scale)'s Level 4 pay for the current year (5 U.S.C. 5304 (g)(1)).
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