Guides
Plain-English explainers on how US state government pay is structured, published, and updated.
- How State Pay Scales Work: Grades, Steps, and Ranges
How US state governments structure civil-service pay: pay grades, step increases, salary ranges, and why every figure carries an effective date.
- Step Increases vs. COLAs: Two Different State Raises
State workers get raises two ways — step increases within a grade and across-the-board COLAs that lift the whole schedule. How each works and how they stack.
- How to Read a State Salary Schedule
How to read a state salary schedule: find the grade for a job, read the step columns, check the effective date and pay basis, and handle missing tables.
- What Is a Civil-Service Pay Grade? A Plain-English Guide
A pay grade is the salary band a state assigns to a group of jobs. Learn what a grade is, why grade codes vary between states, and how grades tie to steps.
- How Often Do State Employees Get Raises?
State raises move on two clocks: annual step increases up to the top step, and across-the-board adjustments set by legislatures or by union bargaining.
- State Pay vs. Federal Pay: Key Differences
How state civil-service pay differs from the federal General Schedule: one nationwide GS grid with locality pay versus fifty separate, state-run systems.
- What Is a Broadband Pay System?
Broadband pay merges many narrow civil-service grades into a few wide salary bands. See how the ranges work and how they differ from grade-and-step grids.
- Are State Employee Salaries Public Record?
State pay schedules and job-classification salary ranges are public records under transparency laws — what’s accessible, and how ranges differ from named pay.
- Pay Basis Explained: Annual, Monthly, Hourly
States quote civil-service pay on different bases — annual, monthly, hourly, biweekly. Learn the standard conversions and why comparing rates needs one basis.
- What Is a Job Classification? Codes, Titles & Pay
Learn how a state job classification works — the class code, the class specification, and how a classification maps to a pay grade or salary range.
- How to Find Your State Job’s Pay Grade
A step-by-step walkthrough for tracing a state job title or class code to its assigned pay grade, then reading that grade and step on the schedule.
- What Is a Longevity Increment in State Pay?
A longevity increment is extra pay some states add for years of service, separate from step increases and COLAs. Learn how it works and how to spot it.
- How Collective Bargaining Shapes State Pay
How union contracts and bargaining units set or modify pay for represented state classifications — and why one state can run several schedules.
- Exempt vs. Classified State Jobs: How Pay Differs
Classified civil-service roles get schedule-governed pay; exempt and unclassified jobs are often set individually or by statute. Terms vary by state.
- Why State Employee Pay Varies by State
Why does the same state job pay differently across states? Separate budgets, cost of living, bargaining, and revenue all shape the numbers you see.
- What Is Shift and Hazard Differential Pay?
Shift and hazard differentials add extra pay on top of a state job’s base grade and step for night hours, weekends, or dangerous duty. Here is how they work.
- What Is a Merit Increase in State Pay?
A merit increase ties a state worker’s raise to performance, not time served. See how it differs from an automatic step increase and why practice varies.
- Why State Job Postings Show a Salary Range
A state job posting shows a salary range because pay is set by the classification’s grade, from the minimum to the top step. Learn how to map it back.