FederalPay.org
FederalPay.org
Law Enforcement (LEO) Payscale in Tennessee for 2026
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 | $40,538 | $41,664 | $42,790 | $43,917 | $45,043 | $46,170 | $47,296 | $48,423 | $49,549 | $50,676 |
| LEO-4 | $45,503 | $46,767 | $48,031 | $49,296 | $50,560 | $51,824 | $53,088 | $54,352 | $55,617 | $56,881 |
| LEO-5 | $52,323 | $53,737 | $55,151 | $56,565 | $57,979 | $59,393 | $60,807 | $62,222 | $63,636 | $65,050 |
| LEO-6 | $55,172 | $56,748 | $58,324 | $59,900 | $61,477 | $63,053 | $64,629 | $66,206 | $67,782 | $69,358 |
| LEO-7 | $59,558 | $61,310 | $63,062 | $64,813 | $66,565 | $68,317 | $70,069 | $71,821 | $73,573 | $75,325 |
| LEO-8 | $62,077 | $64,016 | $65,956 | $67,895 | $69,835 | $71,775 | $73,714 | $75,654 | $77,593 | $79,533 |
| LEO-9 | $66,423 | $68,566 | $70,709 | $72,852 | $74,995 | $77,139 | $79,282 | $81,425 | $83,568 | $85,711 |
| LEO-10 | $73,145 | $75,504 | $77,863 | $80,222 | $82,581 | $84,940 | $87,299 | $89,657 | $92,016 | $94,375 |
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 | $38,925 | $40,006 | $41,088 | $42,170 | $43,251 | $44,333 | $45,415 | $46,496 | $47,578 | $48,660 |
| LEO-4 | $43,693 | $44,907 | $46,120 | $47,334 | $48,548 | $49,762 | $50,976 | $52,190 | $53,404 | $54,618 |
| LEO-5 | $50,241 | $51,599 | $52,957 | $54,315 | $55,673 | $57,030 | $58,388 | $59,746 | $61,104 | $62,462 |
| LEO-6 | $52,977 | $54,490 | $56,004 | $57,517 | $59,031 | $60,545 | $62,058 | $63,572 | $65,085 | $66,599 |
| LEO-7 | $57,188 | $58,871 | $60,553 | $62,235 | $63,917 | $65,599 | $67,281 | $68,964 | $70,646 | $72,328 |
| LEO-8 | $59,607 | $61,469 | $63,332 | $65,194 | $67,057 | $68,919 | $70,781 | $72,644 | $74,506 | $76,369 |
| LEO-9 | $63,780 | $65,838 | $67,896 | $69,954 | $72,012 | $74,070 | $76,128 | $78,186 | $80,243 | $82,301 |
| LEO-10 | $70,235 | $72,500 | $74,765 | $77,030 | $79,295 | $81,560 | $83,825 | $86,091 | $88,356 | $90,621 |
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 $197,200 the SES (Senior Executive Scale)'s Level 4 pay for the current year (5 U.S.C. 5304 (g)(1)).
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