For the purposes of this part:

Full-scale survey means a survey conducted at least every 2 years in which data are collected from a current sampling of establishments in the private sector by personal visit of data collectors. With the unanimous consent of the members of a Local Wage Survey Committee, data may also be obtained from a private sector establishment or establishments during a full-scale wage survey by telephone, mail, or electronic means.

Host activity is the local Federal activity designated by the lead agency to obtain employment statistics from other Federal activities in the wage area and to provide support facilities and clerical assistance for the wage survey.

Lead agency means the agency designated by the Office of Personnel Management to plan and conduct wage surveys, analyze wage survey data, and determine and issue required wage schedules for a wage area.

Survey area means that part of the wage area where the private enterprise establishments included in the wage survey are located.

Wage area means that geographic area within which a single set of regular wage schedules is applied uniformly by Federal installations to covered occupations.

Wage change survey means a survey in which rate change data are collected from the same establishments and for the same establishment occupations represented in the full-scale survey. These data may be collected by telephone, mail, electronic means, or personal visit.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 86 FR 11858, Mar. 1, 2021]

(a) Each nonsupervisory and leader regular wage schedule shall have 15 grades, which shall be designated as follows:

(1) WG means an appropriated fund nonsupervisory grade;

(2) WL means an appropriated fund leader grade;

(3) NA means a nonappropriated fund nonsupervisory grade; and

(4) NL means a nonappropriated fund leader grade.

(b) Each supervisory regular wage schedule shall have 19 grades, which shall be designated as follows:

(1) WS means an appropriated fund supervisory grade; and

(2) NS means a nonappropriated fund supervisory grade.

(c) The step 2 or payline rate for each grade of a leader regular wage schedule shall be equal to 110 percent of the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the area.

(d) The step 2 or payline rate for each grade of an appropriated fund supervisory regular wage schedule shall be:

(1) For grades WS-1 through WS-10, equal to the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the area, plus 30 percent of the rate for step 2 of WG-10;

(2) For grades WS-11 through WS-18, the second rate of WS-10, plus 5, 11.5, 19.6, 29.2, 40.3, 52.9, 67.1, and 82.8 percent, respectively, of the difference between the step 2 rates of WS-10 and WS-19; and

(3) For grade WS-19, the third rate in effect for General Schedule grade GS-14 at the time of the area wage schedule adjustment. The WS-19 rate shall include any cost of living allowance payable for the area under 5 U.S.C. 5941.

(e) The step 2 or payline rate for each grade of a nonappropriated fund supervisory regular wage schedule shall be:

(1) For grades NS-1 through NS-8, equal to the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the area, plus 20 percent of the rate for step 2 of NA-8;

(2) For grades NS-9 through NS-15, equal to 120 percent of the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the area;

(3) For grades NS-16 through NS-19, the rates will be 25, 30, 35 and 40 percent, respectively, above the step 2 rate of NA-15;

(f) The number of within-grade steps and the differentials between steps for each nonsupervisory grade on a regular wage schedule shall be established in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 5343(e)(1). Each grade on a leader and supervisory regular wage schedule shall have 5 within-grade steps with step 2 set according to paragraphs (c), (d), or (e) of this section, as appropriate, and—

(1) Step 1 set at 96 percent of the step 2 rate;

(2) Step 3 set at 104 percent of the step 2 rate;

(3) Step 4 set at 108 percent of the step 2 rate; and

(4) Step 5 set at 112 percent of the step 2 rate.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 48 FR 13385, Mar. 30, 1983; 49 FR 28347, July 11, 1984; 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Wage schedules, including special schedules, shall not include any rates of pay less than the higher of:

(1) The minimum rate prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, or

(2) The highest State or local minimum wage rate in the local wage area which is applicable to the private industry counterparts of the single largest Federal industry/occupation in the wage area.

(b) Wage data below the minimum wage rates prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, shall not be used in determining prevailing rates.

(c) Adjustments to regular wage schedules to comply with the minimum wage rate determined to be applicable under paragraph (a) of this section shall be computed as follows:

(1) The step 2 rate of grade 1 of the nonsupervisory wage schedule shall be set at a rate which, upon application of the 4 percent step-rate differential, provides a step 1 rate which is equal to the applicable minimum wage rate.

(2) An intergrade differential shall be determined as 5 percent of the rate established as the step 2 rate of grade 1, rounded to the nearest whole cent. This intergrade differential shall be added to the step 2 rate of each grade, beginning with grade 1, to determine the step 2 rate for the succeeding grade until the grade is reached at which the step 2 rate established through the wage survey process equals or exceeds the rate determined under this procedure. Rates of all grades above that point shall be computed in accordance with § 532.221(b) of this subpart.

(3) Steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 of each grade adjusted under paragraph (c) of this section shall be set at 96, 104, 108, and 112 percent of the step 2 rate, respectively.

(4) The leader and supervisory wage schedule grades corresponding to each nonsupervisory grade adjusted under paragraph (c) of this section shall be constructed in accordance with the procedures of § 532.203 of this subpart, on the basis of the step 2 rates established under this paragraph for the nonsupervisory wage schedule grades.

(d) All wage schedule adjustments made under this section shall be effective on the effective date of the applicable minimum wage rate.

(a) Wage surveys shall be conducted on a 2-year cycle at annual intervals.

(b) A full-scale survey shall be made in the first year of the 2-year cycle and shall include development of a current sample of establishments and the collection of wage data by visits to establishments. With the unanimous consent of the members of a Local Wage Survey Committee, data may also be obtained from a private sector establishment or establishments during a full-scale wage survey by telephone, mail, or electronic means.

(c) A wage-change survey shall be made every other year using only the same employers, occupations, survey jobs, and establishment weights used in the preceding full-scale survey. Data may be collected by telephone, mail, electronic means, or personal contact.

(d) Scheduling of surveys shall take into consideration the following criteria:

(1) The best timing in relation to wage adjustments in the principal local private enterprise establishments;

(2) Reasonable distribution of workload of the lead agency;

(3) The timing of surveys for nearby or selected wage areas; and

(4) Scheduling relationships with other pay surveys.

(e) The Office of Personnel Management may authorize adjustments in the normal cycle as requested by the lead agency and based on the criteria in paragraph (d) of this section or to accommodate special studies or adjustments consistent with determining local prevailing rates.

(f) The beginning month of appropriated and nonappropriated fund wage surveys and the fiscal year during which full-scale surveys will be conducted are set out as appendices A and B to this subpart and are incorporated in and made part of this section.

[55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 86 FR 11859, Mar. 1, 2021]

(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall select a lead agency for each appropriated and nonappropriated fund wage area based on the number of agency employees covered by the regular wage schedule for that area and the capability of the agency in providing administrative and clerical support at the local level necessary to conduct a wage survey.

(b) OPM may authorize exceptions to these criteria where this will improve the administration of the local wage survey.

(c) The listing in appendix A to this subpart shows the lead agency for each appropriated fund wage area. The Department of Defense is the lead agency for each nonappropriated fund wage area.

[55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Each wage area shall consist of one or more survey areas along with nonsurvey areas, if any.

(1) Survey area. A survey area is composed of the counties, parishes, cities, townships, or similar geographic entities in which survey data are collected. Survey areas are established and maintained where there are a minimum of 100 or more wage employees subject to a regular wage schedule and those employees are located close to concentrations of private sector employment such as found in a Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.

(2) Nonsurvey area. Nonsurvey counties, parishes, cities, townships, or similar geographic entities may be combined with the survey area(s) to form the wage area through consideration of criteria including local commuting patterns such as employment interchange measures, distance, transportation facilities, geographic features; similarities in overall population, employment, and the kinds and sizes of private industrial establishments; and other factors relevant to the process of determining and establishing rates of pay for wage employees at prevailing wage levels.

(b) Wage areas shall include wherever possible a recognized economic community such as a Combined Statistical Area, a Metropolitan Statistical Area, or a political unit such as a county. Two or more economic communities or political units, or both, may be combined to constitute a single wage area; however, except in unusual circumstances and as an exception to the criteria, an individually defined Combined Statistical Area, Metropolitan Statistical Area, county or similar geographic entity shall not be subdivided for the purpose of defining a wage area.

(c) Except as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, wage areas shall be established and maintained when:

(1) There is a minimum of 100 wage employees subject to the regular schedule and the lead agency indicates that a local installation has the capacity to do the survey; and

(2) There is, within a reasonable commuting distance of the concentration of Federal employment:

(i) A minimum of either 20 establishments within survey specifications having at least 50 employees each; or 10 establishments having at least 50 employees each, with a combined total of 1,500 employees; and

(ii) The total private enterprise employment in the industries surveyed in the survey area is at least twice the Federal wage employment in the survey area.

(d)(1) Adjacent economic communities or political units meeting the separate wage area criteria in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section may be combined through consideration of local commuting patterns such as employment interchange measures, distance, transportation facilities, geographic features; similarities in overall population, employment, and the kinds and sizes of private industrial establishments; and other factors relevant to the process of determining and establishing rates of pay for wage employees at prevailing wage levels.

(2) When two wage areas are combined, the survey area of either or both may be used, depending on the concentrations of Federal and private employment and locations of establishments, the proximity of the survey areas to each other, and the extent of economic similarities or differences as indicated by relative levels of wage rates in each of the potential survey areas.

(e) Appropriated fund wage and survey area definitions are set out as appendix C to this subpart and are incorporated in and made part of this section.

(f) A single contiguous military installation defined as a Joint Base that will otherwise overlap two separate wage areas shall be included in only a single wage area. The wage area of such a Joint Base shall be defined to be the wage area with the most favorable payline based on an analysis of the simple average of the 15 nonsupervisory second step rates on each one of the regular wage schedules applicable in the otherwise overlapped wage areas.

[90 FR 7439, Jan. 21, 2025]

(a) The lead agency must include the industries in the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes in all regular appropriated fund wage surveys:

(b) A lead agency may add other industry classes to a regular survey in an area where these industries account for significant proportions of local private employment of the kinds and levels found in local Federal employment.

(c) Specifically excluded from all wage surveys for regular wage schedules are food service and laundry establishments and industries having peculiar employment conditions that directly affect the wage rates paid and that are the basis for special wage surveys.

[55 FR 46142, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 71 FR 35373, June 20, 2006; 73 FR 45853, Aug. 7, 2008; 78 FR 58153, Sept. 23, 2013; 84 FR 36813, July 30, 2019; 89 FR 4540, Jan. 24, 2024]

(a) All establishments having a total employment of 50 or more employees in the prescribed industries within a survey area shall be included within the survey universe. On rare occasions and as an exception to the rule, OPM may authorize lower minimum size levels based on a recommendation of the lead agency for the wage area.

(b) Establishments to be covered in surveys shall be selected under standard probability sample selection procedures. In areas with relatively few establishments, surveys shall cover all establishments within the prescribed industry and size groups.

(c) A lead agency may not delete from a survey an establishment properly included in an establishment list drawn under statistical sampling procedures.

[55 FR 46142, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) A lead agency shall survey the following required jobs:

(b) A lead agency may not omit a required survey job from a regular schedule wage survey.

(c) A lead agency may survey the following jobs on an optional basis:

(d) A lead agency may add the following survey jobs to the survey when the Hospital industry is included in the survey:

(e) A lead agency must obtain prior approval of OPM to add a job not authorized under paragraph (a), (c), or (d) of this section.

[55 FR 46142, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 64 FR 69183, Dec. 10, 1999; 68 FR 460, Jan. 6, 2003; 69 FR 26475, May 13, 2004]

(a) Each wage area shall consist of one or more survey areas along with nonsurvey areas, if any, having nonappropriated fund employees.

(1) Survey area: A survey area is composed of the counties, parishes, cities, or townships in which survey data are collected.

(2) Nonsurvey area: Nonsurvey counties, parishes, or townships may be combined with the survey area to form the wage area through consideration of the criteria in paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) Wage areas shall be established when:

(1) There is a minimum of 26 NAF wage employees in the survey area and local activities have the capability to do the survey; and

(2) There is within the survey area a minimum of 1,800 private enterprise employees in establishments within survey specifications.

(c)(1) Two or more counties may be combined to constitute a single wage area through consideration of:

(i) Proximity of largest activity in each county;

(ii) Transportation facilities and commuting patterns; and

(iii) Similarities of the counties in:

(A) Overall population;

(B) Private employment in major industry categories; and

(C) Kinds and sizes of private industrial establishments.

(2) Generally, the criteria listed in paragraph (c)(1) of this section are considered in the order listed.

(d) The nonappropriated fund wage and survey area definitions are set out as appendix D to this subpart and are incorporated in and made part of this section.

[55 FR 46143, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 57 FR 29783, July 7, 1992]

(a) The lead agency must include the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes in all regular nonappropriated fund wage surveys:

(b) A lead agency may add other industry classes from within the wholesale, retail, and service industry divisions in an area where these industries account for significant proportions of local private employment of the kinds and levels found in local NAF employment.

(c) Additional industries shall be defined in terms of entire industry classes (fourth digit breakdown).

[55 FR 46143, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 71 FR 35374, June 20, 2006; 73 FR 45853, Aug. 7, 2008; 78 FR 58153, Sept. 23, 2013; 84 FR 36813, July 30, 2019; 89 FR 4540, Jan. 24, 2024]

(a) All establishments having 20 or more employees in the prescribed industries within a survey area must be included in the survey universe. Establishments in NAICS codes 4571, 71391, and 71395 must be included in the survey universe if they have eight or more employees.

(b) Establishment selection procedures are the same as those prescribed for appropriated fund surveys in paragraphs (b) and (c) of § 532.213 of this subpart.

[55 FR 46143, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 71 FR 35374, June 20, 2006; 89 FR 4540, Jan. 24, 2024]

(a) A lead agency shall survey the following required jobs:

(b) A lead agency may not omit a required survey job from a regular schedule wage survey.

(c) A lead agency may survey the following jobs on an optional basis:

(d) A lead agency must obtain prior approval of OPM to add a job not listed under paragraph (a) or (c) of this section.

[55 FR 46143, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Each lead agency shall establish an agency wage committee for the purpose of considering matters relating to the conduct of wage surveys, the establishment of wage schedules and making recommendations thereon to the lead agency.

(b) The Agency Wage Committee shall consist of five members, with the chairperson and two members designated by the head of the lead agency, and the remaining two members designated as follows:

(1) For the Department of Defense Wage Committee, one member shall be designated by each of the two labor organizations having the largest number of wage employees covered by exclusive recognition in the Department of Defense; and

(2) For other lead agencies, two members shall be designated by the labor organization having the largest number of wage employees by exclusive recognition in the agency.

(c) Recommendations of agency wage committees shall be developed by majority vote. Any member of an agency wage committee may submit a minority report to the lead agency along with the recommendations of the committee.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a)(1) A lead agency shall establish a local wage survey committee in each wage area for which it has lead agency responsibility and in which a labor organization represents, by exclusive recognition, wage employees subject to the wage schedules for which the survey is conducted.

(2) The local wage survey committee shall assist the lead agency in the conduct of wage surveys and make recommendations to the lead agency thereon.

(b)(1) Local wage survey committees shall consist of three members, with the chairperson and one member recommended by Federal agencies and designated by the lead agency, and one member recommended by the labor organization having the largest number of wage employees under the regular wage schedule who are under exclusive recognition in the wage area.

(2) All members of local wage survey committees for appropriated fund surveys shall be Federal employees appointed by their employing agencies.

(3) Members for nonappropriated fund surveys shall be nonappropriated fund employees appointed by their employing agencies.

(4) The member recommended by the labor organization must be an employee of a Federal activity for appropriated fund surveys or nonappropriated fund activity for nonappropriated fund surveys who is covered by one of the regular wage schedules in the wage area in which the activity is located.

(5) In selecting and appointing employees recommended by labor organizations and by Federal agencies to serve as committee members, consideration shall be given to the requirement in the prevailing rate law for labor and agency representatives to participate in the wage survey process, the qualifications of the recommended employees, the need of the employees' work units for their presence on the job, and the prudent management of available financial and human resources. Employing agencies and activities shall cooperate and appoint the recommended employees unless exceptional circumstances prohibit their consideration. When the recommended employees cannot be appointed to serve as local wage survey committee members, the responsible lead agency or labor organization shall provide additional recommendations expeditiously to avoid any delay in the survey process.

(6) Employers shall cooperate and release appointed employees for committee proceedings unless the employers can demonstrate that exceptional circumstances directly related to the accomplishment of the work units' missions require their presence on their regular jobs. Employees serving as committee members are considered to be on official assignment to an interagency function, rather than on leave.

(c) A local wage survey committee shall be established before each full-scale wage survey. Responsibility for providing members shall remain with the same agency and the same labor organization until the next full-scale survey.

(d) Recommendations of local wage survey committees shall be developed by majority vote. Any member of a local wage survey committee may submit a minority report to the lead agency relating to any local wage survey committee majority recommendation.

(e) The lead agency shall establish the type of local wage survey organization it considers appropriate in a wage area which does not qualify for a local wage survey committee under paragraph (a) of this section.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 15415, Mar. 23, 1993]

(a) The Office of Personnel Management:

(1) Defines the boundaries of wage and survey areas;

(2) Prescribes the required industries to be surveyed;

(3) Prescribes the required job coverage for surveys;

(4) Designates a lead agency for each wage area;

(5) Establishes, jointly with lead agencies, a nationwide schedule of wage surveys;

(6) Arranges for technical services with other Government agencies;

(7) Considers recommendations of the national headquarters of any agency or labor organization relating to the Office of Personnel Management's responsibilities for the Federal Wage System; and

(8) Establishes wage schedules and rates for prevailing rate employees who are United States citizens outside of the United States, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, the Territories and Possessions of the United States, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(b) Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee. This committee functions in accordance with the requirements set forth under section 5347 of title 5, United States Code.

(c) Employing agencies—(1) Heads of agencies. The head of an agency is responsible, within the policies and procedures of the Federal Wage System, for authorizing application of wage schedules developed by a lead agency and fixing and administering rates of pay for wage employees of his/her organization.

(2) Heads of local activities. The head of each activity in a wage area is responsible for providing employment information, wage survey committee members, the prescribed number of data collectors, and any other assistance needed to conduct local wage survey committee functions.

(d) Lead agencies are responsible for:

(1) Planning and conducting the wage survey for that area;

(2) Developing survey specifications and providing or arranging for the identification of establishments to be surveyed;

(3) Officially ordering wage surveys;

(4) Establishing wage schedules, applying wage schedules authorized by the head of the agency; and

(5) Referring pertinent matters to the agency wage committee and the Office of Personnel Management.

(e) Agency wage committees. As appropriate, agency wage committees consider and make recommendations to the lead agency on wage schedules and any matters involving survey specifications for full-scale surveys if the lead agency chooses not to accept recommendations of the local wage survey committee or those in a minority report filed by a local wage survey committee member.

(f) Local wage survey committees. The local wage survey committee plans and conducts the wage survey in the designated wage area.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 15415, Mar. 23, 1993]

(a) The local wage survey committee, prior to each full-scale survey:

(1) Shall hold a public hearing to receive recommendations from interested parties concerning the area, industries, establishments and jobs to be covered in the wage survey.

(2) Shall prepare a summary of the hearings and submit it to the lead agency together with the committees' recommendations concerning the survey specifications prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.

(3) May make any other recommendations concerning the local wage survey which it considers appropriate.

(b) The lead agency shall consider the local wage survey committee's report if:

(1) The lead agency proposes not to accept the recommendations of the local wage survey committee concerning the specifications of the local wage survey; or

(2) The local wage survey committee's report is accompanied by a minority report.

(c) The lead agency shall develop survey specifications after taking into consideration the reports and recommendations received from the local wage survey committee and, if applicable, the agency wage committee. The survey specifications shall include:

(1) The counties to be surveyed;

(2) The industries to be surveyed;

(3) The standard minimum size of establishments to be surveyed;

(4) Establishments to be surveyed with certainty; and

(5) The survey jobs.

(d) A list of establishments to be surveyed shall be prepared through use of statistical sampling techniques in accordance with the specifications developed by the lead agency. A copy of this list shall be forwarded to the local wage survey committee.

(e) Selection and appointment of data collectors. (1) The local wage survey committee, after consultation with the lead agency, shall determine the number of regular and alternate data collectors needed for the survey based upon the estimated number and location of establishments to be surveyed.

(2) Wage data for appropriated fund surveys shall be collected by teams consisting of one local Federal Wage System employee recommended by the committee member representing the qualifying labor organization and one Federal employee recommended by Federal agencies. The data collectors shall be selected and appointed by their employing agency.

(3) Wage data for nonappropriated fund surveys shall be collected by teams, each consisting of one local nonappropriated fund employee recommended by the committee member representing the qualifying labor organization and one nonappropriated fund employee recommended by nonappropriated fund activities. The data collectors shall be selected and appointed by their employing agency.

(4) The local wage survey committee shall provide employers with the names of employees recommended by labor organizations and by Federal agencies to serve as data collectors and shall indicate the number of regular and alternate data collectors to be selected and appointed by the employers.

(5) In selecting and appointing employees recommended by labor organizations and by Federal agencies to serve as data collectors, consideration shall be given to the requirement in the prevailing rate law for labor and agency representatives to participate in the wage survey process, the qualifications of the recommended employees, the need of the employees' work units for their presence on the job, and the prudent management of available financial and human resources. Employing agencies and activities shall cooperate and appoint the recommended employees unless exceptional circumstances prohibit their consideration. When the required number of employees cannot be appointed to serve as data collectors from among those recommended, the local wage survey committee shall obtain additional recommendations expeditiously to avoid any delay in the survey process.

(6) Employers shall cooperate and release appointed employees to serve as data collectors throughout the duration of the data collection period unless the employers can demonstrate that exceptional circumstances directly related to the accomplishment of the work units' missions require their presence on their regular jobs. Employees serving as data collectors are considered to be on official assignment to an interagency function, rather than on leave.

(f)(1) Each member of a local wage survey committee, each data collector, and any other person having access to data collected must retain this information in confidence, and is subject to disciplinary action by the employing agency or activity if the employee violates the confidence of data secured from private employers.

(2) Any violation of the above provision by a Federal employee must be reported to the employing agency and, in the case of a participant designated by a labor organization, to the recognized labor organization and its headquarters, and shall be cause for the lead agency immediately to remove the offending person from participation in the wage survey function.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 15415, Mar. 23, 1993]

(a) Wage survey data shall not be collected before the date the survey is ordered by the lead agency.

(b) Data collection for a full-scale wage survey shall be accomplished by personal visit to private sector establishments. With the unanimous consent of the members of a Local Wage Survey Committee, data may also be obtained from a private sector establishment or establishments during a full-scale wage survey by telephone, mail, or electronic means. The following required data shall be collected:

(1) General information about the size, location, and type of product or service of the establishment sufficient to determine whether the establishment is within the scope of the survey and properly weighted, if the survey is a sample survey;

(2) Specific information about each job within the establishment that is similar to one of the jobs covered by the survey, including a brief description of the establishment job, the number of employees in the job, and their rate(s) of pay to the nearest mill (including any cost-of-living adjustments required by contract or that are regular and customary and monetary bonuses that are regular and customary); and

(3) Any other information the lead agency believes is appropriate and useful in determining local prevailing rates.

(c) The data collectors shall submit the data they collect to the local wage survey committee together with their recommendations about the use of the data.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 86 FR 11859, Mar. 1, 2021]

(a) The local wage survey committee shall review all establishment information and survey job data collected in the wage survey for completeness and accuracy and forward all of the data collected to the lead agency together with a report of its recommendations concerning the use of the data. The local wage survey committee may make any other recommendations concerning the wage survey which it considers appropriate.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The lead agency shall review all material and wage survey data forwarded by the local wage survey committee to:

(1) Assure that the survey was conducted within the prescribed procedures and specifications;

(2) Consider matters included in the local wage survey committee report and recommendations;

(3) Exclude unusable data;

(4) Resolve questionable job matching and wage rate data; and

(5) Verify all computations reported on wage data collection forms.

(b) The lead agency shall determine whether the usable data collected in the wage survey are adequate for computing paylines, according to the following criteria:

(1) The wage survey data collected in an appropriated fund wage survey are adequate if the unweighted job matches include at least one survey job in the WG-01 through 04 range, one survey job in the WG-05 through 08 range, and two survey jobs in the WG-09 and above range, each providing at least 20 samples; and at least six other survey jobs, each providing at least 10 samples.

(2) The wage survey data collected in a nonappropriated fund wage survey are adequate if the unweighted job matches include at least two survey jobs in the NA-01 through 04 range providing 10 samples each, one survey job in the NA-01 through 04 range and three survey jobs in the NA-05 through 15 range providing five samples each; two other survey jobs, each providing at least five samples, and at least 100 unweighted samples for all survey jobs combined are used in the computation of the final payline.

(c)(1) If the wage survey data do not meet the adequacy criteria in paragraph (b) of this section, the lead agency shall analyze the data, construct lines and wage schedules, submit them to the agency wage committee for its review and recommendations and issue wage schedules, in accordance with the requirements of this subpart, as if the adequacy criteria were met.

(2) The lead agency may determine such a wage area to be adequate if the quantity of data obtained is large enough to construct paylines even though it was obtained for fewer than the prescribed number of jobs, or at different grade levels, or in different combinations than prescribed in paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) The lead agency may not determine a nonappropriated fund wage area to be adequate if fewer than 100 usable unweighted job matches were used in the final payline computation.

(d) If the lead agency determines a wage area to be inadequate under paragraph (c) of this section, it shall promptly refer the problem to OPM for resolution. OPM shall:

(1) Authorize the lead agency to continue to survey the area if the lead agency believes the survey is likely to be adequate in the next full-scale survey;

(2) Authorize the lead agency to expand the scope of the survey; or

(3) Abolish the wage area and establish it as part of one or more other wage areas.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46140, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a)(1) The lead agency shall compute a weighted average rate for each appropriated fund survey job having at least 10 unweighed matches and for each nonappropriated fund job having at least 5 unweighed matches. The weighted average rates shall be computed using the survey job data collected in accordance with §§ 532.235 and 532.247 and the establishment weight.

(2)(i) Incentive and piece-work rates shall be excluded when computing weighted average rates if, after establishment weights have been applied, 90 percent or more of the total usable wage survey data reflect rates paid on a straight-time basis only.

(ii) When sufficient incentive and piece-work rate data are obtained, the full incentive rate shall be used in computing the job weighted average rate when it is equal to or less than the average nonincentive rate. If the full incentive rate is greater than the average nonincentive rate, the incentive rate shall be discounted by 15 percent. The discounted incentive rate shall be compared with the guaranteed minimum rate and the average nonincentive rate, and the highest rate shall be used in computing the job weighted average rate.

(b) The lead agency shall compute paylines using the weighted average rates computed under paragraph (a) of this section.

(1) The lead agency shall compute unit and frequency paylines using the straight-line, least squares regression formula: Y = a + bx, where Y is the hourly rate, x is grade, a is the intercept of the payline with the Y-axis, and b is the slope of the payline.

(i) The unit payline shall be computed using a weight of one for each of the usable survey jobs and the weighted average rates identified and computed under paragraph (a) of this section.

(ii) The frequency payline shall be computed using a weight equal to the number of weighted matches for each of the usable survey jobs and the weighted average rates identified and computed under paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) Either or both of the lines computed according to paragraph (b)(1) of this section may be recomputed after eliminating survey job data that cause distortion in the lines.

(3) The lead agency may compute midpoint paylines using the following formula: Y = (au + af)/2 + ((bu + bf)/2)x, where Y is the hourly rate, x is the grade, au is the intercept of the unit payline, af is the intercept of the frequency payline, bu is the slope of the unit payline, and bf is the slope of the frequency payline. A midpoint line may be computed using the paylines based on all of the usable survey job data as described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, and a second midpoint line may be computed using the paylines based on limited survey job data authorized in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.

(4) The lead agency may compute other paylines for the purpose of instituting changes in the scope of the survey.

(c) Usable data obtained from a particular establishment may not be modified or deleted in order to reduce the effect of an establishment's rates on survey findings, i.e., data will not be deleted or modified to avoid establishment domination.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 32273, June 9, 1993; 60 FR 62701, Dec. 7, 1995]

(a) The lead agency shall submit to the agency wage committee:

(1) The data collected in the wage survey;

(2) The report and recommendations of the local wage survey committee concerning the use of data;

(3) The lead agency's analysis of the data; and

(4) The lines computed from the data.

(b) After considering the information available to it, the agency wage committee shall report to the lead agency its recommendation for a proposed wage schedule derived from the data.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The lead agency shall select a payline and construct wage schedules therefrom for issuance as the regular wage schedules for the wage area, after considering all of the information, analysis, and recommendations made available to it pursuant to this subpart.

(b)(1) The lead agency shall prepare and maintain a record of all of the analysis and deliberations made under this subpart, documenting fully the basis for its determination under paragraph (a) of this section.

(2) The lead agency shall include in the record all of the wage survey data obtained and the recommendations and reports received from the local wage survey committee and the agency wage committee.

(c)(1) The lead agency shall issue the nonsupervisory, leader, and supervisory regular wage schedules for the local wage area, showing the rates of pay for all grades and steps.

(2) The wage schedules shall have a single effective date for all employees in the wage area, determined by the lead agency in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 5344.

(d) The head of each agency having employees in the local wage area to whom the regular wage schedules apply shall authorize the application of the wage schedules issued under paragraph (c) of this section to those employees, effective on the date specified by the lead agency.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Wage change surveys shall be conducted in each wage area in years during which full-scale wage surveys are not conducted.

(b) Data shall be collected in wage change surveys only from establishments which participated in the preceding full-scale survey. Information concerning pay adjustments of general application in effect for jobs matched in each establishment which participated in the preceding full-scale survey shall be obtained.

(c) Data may be obtained in wage change surveys by telephone, mail, electronic means, or personal visit. The chairperson of the local wage survey committee shall determine the manner in which establishments will be contacted for collection of data. Data may be collected by the local wage survey committee members or by data collectors appointed and assigned to two member teams in accordance with § 532.233(e) of this subpart.

(d) Wage change survey data may not be collected before the date ordered by the lead agency.

(e) The local wage survey committee shall review all wage change survey data collected and forward the data to the lead agency. Where appropriate, the committee shall also forward to the lead agency a report of unusual circumstances surrounding the survey.

(f) The lead agency shall review the wage change survey data and, if applicable, the report filed by the local wage survey committee.

(g)(1) The lead agency shall recompute the line selected under § 532.245(a) of this subpart in the preceding full-scale survey using the wage change survey data and shall construct wage schedules therefrom in accordance with § 532.203 and, if appropriate, § 532.205 of this subpart.

(2) The lead agency shall consult with the agency wage committee in accordance with § 532.243 of this subpart.

(3) Records of this process shall be maintained in accordance with § 532.245(b) of this subpart.

(h) The wage schedules shall be issued and authorized in accordance with § 532.245 (c) and (d) of this subpart.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 32274, June 9, 1993; 86 FR 11859, Mar. 1, 2021]

(a) The lead agency for a wage area may establish the rate of the second, third, fourth, or fifth step of one or more grades of an occupation as the mandatory minimum rate or rates payable by any agency for the occupation at one or more locations within a wage area based on findings that:

(1) The hiring rates prevailing for an occupation in private sector establishments in the wage area are higher than the rate of the first step of the grade or grades of the occupation; and

(2) Federal installations and activities in the wage area are unable to recruit qualified employees at the rate of the first step of the grade or grades of the occupation.

(b) Any authorizations made under paragraph (a) of this section shall be indicated on the regular wage schedule for the wage area.

(c) Any authorizations made under paragraph (a) of this section shall be terminated with the issuance of a new regular wage schedule unless the conditions that warrant the authorizations continue and the new regular wage schedule continues that authorization.

(d) The lead agency, prior to terminating any authorization made under paragraph (a) of this section, shall require the appropriate official or officials at all installations or activities to which the authorization applies to discuss the termination with the appropriate official or officials of exclusively recognized employee organizations representing employees in the affected occupation. The agency officials shall report the results of these discussions to the lead agency.

(e) No employee shall have his/her pay reduced because of cancellation of an authorization made under paragraph (a) of this section.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981. Redesignated at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) A lead agency, with the approval of OPM, may establish special rates for use within all or part of a wage area for a designated occupation or occupational specialization and grade, in lieu of rates on the regular schedule. OPM may authorize special rates to the extent it considers necessary to overcome existing or likely significant handicaps in the recruitment or retention of well-qualified personnel when these handicaps are due to any of the following circumstances:

(1) Rates of pay offered by private sector employers for an occupation or occupational specialization and grade are significantly higher than those paid by the Federal Government within the competitive labor market;

(2) The remoteness of the area or location involved; or

(3) Any other circumstances that OPM considers appropriate.

(b) In authorizing special rates, OPM shall consider—

(1) The number of existing or likely vacant positions and the length of time they have been vacant, including evidence to support the likelihood that a recruitment problem will develop if one does not already exist;

(2) The number of employees who have or are likely to quit, including the number quitting for higher pay positions and evidence to support the likelihood that employees will quit;

(3) The number of vacancies employing agencies tried to fill and the number of hires and offers made;

(4) The nature of the existing labor market;

(5) The degree to which employing agencies have considered or used increased minimum rates for hard-to-fill positions;

(6) The degree to which employing agencies have considered relevant non-pay solutions to the staffing problem, such as conducting an aggressive recruiting program, using appropriate appointment authorities, redesigning jobs, establishing training programs, and improving working conditions;

(7) The impact of the staffing problem on employers' missions;

(8) The level of private sector rates paid for comparable positions; and

(9) As appropriate, the extent to which the use of unrestricted rates authorized under § 532.801 of this part was considered.

(c) In determining at what level to set special rates, OPM shall consider—

(1) The level of rates it believes necessary to recruit or retain an adequate number of well-qualified persons;

(2) The offsetting costs that will be incurred if special rates are not authorized; and

(3) The level of private sector rates paid for comparable positions.

(d) No one factor or combination of factors specified in paragraphs (b) or (c) of this section requires special rates to be established or to be adjusted to any given level. Each request to establish special rates shall be judged on its own merits, based on the extent to which it meets these factors. Increased minimum rates are not a prerequisite to the establishment of special rates under this section.

(e) Special rates shall be based on private sector wage data, or a percentage thereof, as specified by OPM at the time the special rates are authorized. The private sector data shall be calculated as a weighted average or payline, as appropriate. A single rate shall be used when this represents private sector practice, and five rates shall be used when rate ranges are used by the private sector. When a five-step rate range is used, the differentials between steps shall be set in accordance with § 532.203(f) of this subpart.

(f) Once approved by OPM, special rates may be adjusted by the lead agency on the same cycle as the applicable regular schedule to the extent deemed necessary to ensure the continued recruitment or retention of well-qualified personnel. The amount of the special rate adjustment may be up to the percentage (rounded to the nearest one-tenth of 1 percent) by which the market rate has changed since the last adjustment. Special rates may not exceed the percentage of market rates initially approved by OPM unless a request for higher special rates is made and approved under paragraphs (a) through (e) of this section.

(g) Any special rates established under paragraph (a) of this section shall be shown on the regular schedule or published as an amendment to the regular schedule and shall indicate the wage area (or part thereof) and each occupation or occupational specialization and grade for which the rates are authorized. These rates shall be paid by all agencies having such positions in the wage area (or part thereof) specified.

(h) The scheduled special rate payable under this section may not, at any time, be less than the unrestricted (uncapped) rate otherwise payable for such positions under the applicable regular wage schedule.

(i) If a special rate is terminated under paragraph (f) of this section, the lead agency shall provide written notice of such termination to OPM.

(j) Employers using special rates shall maintain current recruitment and retention data for all authorized special rates. Such data shall be made available to the lead agency prior to the wage area regular schedule adjustment date for the purpose of determining whether there is a continuing need for special rates and the amount of special rate adjustment necessary to recruit or retain well-qualified employees.

[57 FR 57875, Dec. 8, 1992]

(a) When special rates or rate ranges are established for nonsupervisory positions, a lead agency also shall establish special rates for leader, supervisory, and production facilitating positions, classified to the same occupational series and title, that lead, supervise, or perform production facilitating work directly relating to the nonsupervisory jobs covered by the special rates.

(b) The step rate structure shall be the same as that of the related nonsupervisory special rate or rate range.

(c) The following formulas shall be used to establish a special rate or rate range:

(1) A single rate shall equal the top step of the appropriate leader, supervisory, or production facilitating grade on the regular schedule, plus the cents per hour difference between the top step of the appropriate nonsupervisory grade on the regular schedule and the special nonsupervisory rate.

(2) For a multiple rate range, the step 2 rate shall equal the step 2 rate of the appropriate leader, supervisory, or production facilitating grade on the regular schedule, plus the cents per hour difference between the prevailing rate of the appropriate nonsupervisory grade on the regular schedule and the prevailing rate of the special rate position. Other required step rates shall be computed in accordance with the formula established in § 532.203 of this subpart.

[55 FR 46144, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) A lead agency, with the approval of OPM, may establish special schedules for use within an area for specific occupations that are critical to the mission of a Federal activity based on findings that—

(1) Unusual prevailing pay practices exist in the private sector that are incompatible with regular schedule practices, and serious recruitment or retention problems exist or will likely develop if employees are paid from the authorized regular schedule; or

(2) Administrative considerations require the establishment of special schedules to address unique agency missions or other unusual circumstances that OPM considers appropriate.

(b) An OPM authorization for a special schedule shall include instructions for its construction, application, and administration.

(c) Unless otherwise specified, positions covered by special schedules shall be subject to the general provisions of this part and to other applicable rules and regulations of OPM.

[57 FR 57876, Dec. 8, 1992]

(a) The Department of Defense shall establish and issue regular appropriated fund wage schedules for U.S. citizens who are employees in foreign areas. These wage schedules shall provide rates of pay for nonsupervisory, leader, supervisory, and production facilitating employees.

(b) Schedules shall be—

(1) Computed on the basis of a simple average of all regular appropriated fund wage area schedules in effect on December 31; and

(2) Effective on the first day of the first pay period that begins on or after January 1 of the succeeding year.

(c) Step 2 rates for each nonsupervisory grade shall be derived by computing a simple average of each step 2 rate for each of the 15 grades of all nonsupervisory wage rate schedules designated in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) Through the use of the step 2 rates derived under the schedule averaging process, the step rates for each of the 15 grades of the nonsupervisory schedule and all scheduled pay rates for leaders and supervisors shall be developed by using the standard formulas established in 5 CFR 532.203, Structure of regular wage schedules.

(e) Pay schedules for production facilitating positions shall be established in accordance with the table in § 532.263(c) of this subpart.

[50 FR 38634, Sept. 24, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 28799, Aug. 12, 1986; 51 FR 39853, Nov. 3, 1986; 54 FR 52011, Dec. 20, 1989. Redesignated and amended at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990; 58 FR 13194, Mar. 10, 1993]

(a) The Department of Defense shall establish and issue regular nonappropriated fund wage schedules for U.S. citizens who are wage employees in foreign areas. These schedules will provide rates of pay for nonsupervisory, leader, and supervisory employees.

(b) Schedules will be—

(1) Computed on the basis of a simple average of all regular nonappropriated fund wage area schedules defined for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia in effect on the first Sunday in January; and

(2) Effective on the first Sunday in January of each year.

(c) Step 2 rates for each nonsupervisory grade will be derived by computing a simple average of each step 2 rate for each of the 15 grades of all nonsupervisory wage rate schedules designated in paragraph (b) of this section.

(d) Through the use of the step 2 rates derived under the schedule averaging process, the step rates for each of the 15 grades of the nonsupervisory schedule and all scheduled pay rates for leaders and supervisors will be developed by using the standard formulas established in 5 CFR 532.203, Structure of regular wage schedules.

[50 FR 38634, Sept. 24, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 28799, Aug. 12, 1986; 54 FR 52011, Dec. 20, 1989. Redesignated and amended at 55 FR 46141, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The lead agency shall establish and issue special wage schedules for U.S. civil service wage employees in certain U.S. insular areas. The Department of Defense is the lead agency for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Midway, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These schedules shall provide rates of pay for nonsupervisory, leader, supervisory, and production facilitating employees.

(b) Special schedules shall be established at the same time and with rates identical to the foreign area appropriated fund wage schedules established under § 532.255 of this subpart.

(c) Wage employees recruited from outside the insular area where employed, who meet the same eligibility requirements as those specified for General Schedule employees in § 591.209 of subpart B of part 591, are also paid as a part of basic pay a differential for recruitment and retention purposes. The differential rate shall be that established for General Schedule employees in appendix B of subpart B of part 591 and shall be adjusted effective concurrently with the special schedules.

[58 FR 13194, Mar. 10, 1993, as amended at 84 FR 22693, May 20, 2019]

(a) The Department of Defense shall establish special wage schedules for leader and supervisory wage employees in the Puerto Rico wage area.

(b) The step 2 rate for each grade of the leader wage schedule shall be equal to 120 percent of the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the Puerto Rico wage area.

(c) The step 2 rate for the supervisory wage schedule shall be:

(1) For grades WS-1 through WS-10, equal to the rate for step 2 of the corresponding grade of the nonsupervisory regular wage schedule for the Puerto Rico wage area, plus 60 percent of the rate for step 2 of WG-10;

(2) For grades WS-11 through WS-18, the second rate of WS-10 plus 5, 11.5, 19.6, 29.2, 40.3, 52.9, 67.1, and 82.8 percent, respectively, of the difference between the step 2 rates of WS-10 and WS-19; and

(3) For grade WS-19, the third rate in effect for General Schedule grade GS-14 at the time of the area wage schedule adjustment. The WS-19 rate shall include any cost of living allowance payable for the area under 5 U.S.C. 5941.

(d) Step rates shall be developed by using the formula established in § 532.203 of this subpart.

[55 FR 46144, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The lead agency in each FWS wage area shall establish special nonsupervisory and supervisory production facilitating wage schedules for employees properly allocable to production facilitating positions under applicable Federal Wage System job grading standards.

(b) Nonsupervisory schedules shall have 11 pay levels, and supervisory schedules shall have 9 pay levels.

(c) Pay levels and rates of pay for nonsupervisory (WD) schedules and supervisory (WN) schedules shall be identical to the pay levels and rates of pay for the corresponding grades on the local FWS regular supervisory wage schedule. Pay levels shall be determined in accordance with the following table:

(d) Special production facilitating wage schedules shall be effective on the same date as the regular wage schedules in the FWS wage area.

[55 FR 46144, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Agencies may establish special wage schedules for apprentices and shop trainees who are included in:

(1) Formal apprenticeship programs involving training for journeyman level duties in occupations that are recognized as apprenticeable by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, U.S. Department of Labor; or

(2) Formal shop trainee programs involving training for journeyman level duties in nonapprenticeable occupations that require specialized trade or craft skill and knowledge.

(b) Special schedules shall consist of a single wage rate for each training period. Wage rates shall be determined as follows:

(1) Rates shall be based on the current second step rate of the target journeyman grade level on the regular nonsupervisory wage schedule for the area where the apprentice or trainee is employed.

(2) The entrance rate shall be computed at 65 percent of the journeyman level, step 2, rate, or the WG-1, step 1, rate, whichever is greater.

(3) When the WG-1, step 1, rate is used, the apprentice rate shall be increased by a minimum of 5 cents per hour for each succeeding increment interval until the rate obtained by this method equals the rate computed under the formula. No increase shall be less then 5 cents per hour.

(c) Advancement to higher increments shall be at 26-week intervals, regardless of the total length of the training period. Intermediate rates shall be established by subtracting the entrance rate from the journeyman level, step 2 rate, and dividing the difference by the number of 26-week periods of the particular training term. The resulting quotient equals the increment for each succeeding rate.

(d) Agencies may hire at advanced rates or accelerate progression through scheduled wage rates if prescribed by approved agency training standards or programs.

(e) If the employee is promoted to the target job or to a job at the same grade level, the promotion shall be to the second step rate. If the employee is assigned to a job at a grade level that is less than the grade level of the target job, existing pay fixing rules shall be followed.

[55 FR 46144, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The Department of Defense shall conduct special industry surveys and establish special wage schedules for wage employees in Puerto Rico whose primary duties involve the performance of work related to aircraft, electronic equipment, and optical instrument overhaul and repair.

(b) Except as provided in this section, regular appropriated fund wage survey and wage-setting procedures are applicable.

(c) Special survey specifications are as follows:

(1) Surveys must, at a minimum, include the air transportation and electronics industries in the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes:

(2) Surveys shall cover all establishments in the surveyed industries.

(3) Surveys shall, as a minimum, include all the following jobs:

(d) The data collected in a special wage survey shall be considered adequate if there are as many weighted matches used in computing the nonsupervisory payline as there are employees covered by the special wage rate schedules.

(e) Each survey job used in computing the nonsupervisory payline must include a minimum of three unweighted matches.

(f) Special schedules shall have three step rates with the payline fixed at step 2. Step 1 shall be set at 96 percent of the payline rate, and step 3 shall be set at 104 percent of the payline rate.

(g) The waiting period for within-grade increases shall be 26 weeks between steps 1 and 2 and 78 weeks between steps 2 and 3.

(h) Special wage schedules shall be effective on the same date as the regular wage schedules for the Puerto Rico wage area.

[55 FR 46145, Nov. 1, 1990, as amended at 60 FR 62701, Dec. 7, 1995; 71 FR 35374, June 20, 2006; 73 FR 45853, Aug. 7, 2008; 78 FR 58154, Sept. 23, 2013; 84 FR 36814, July 30, 2019; 89 FR 4540, Jan. 24, 2024]

(a) The Department of Defense shall establish special wage schedules for nonsupervisory, leader, and supervisory wage employees of the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, who are engaged in operating lock and dam equipment or who repair and maintain navigation lock and dam operating machinery and equipment.

(b) Employees shall be subject to one of the following pay provisions:

(1) If all navigation lock and dam installations under a District headquarters office are located within a single wage area, the employees shall be paid from special wage schedules having rates identical to the regular wage schedule applicable to that wage area.

(2) If navigation lock and dam installations under a District headquarters office are located in more than one wage area, employees shall be paid from a special wage schedule having rates identical to the regular wage schedule authorized for the headquarters office.

(c) Each special wage schedule shall be effective on the same date as the regular schedule on which it is based.

[55 FR 46145, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a)(1) The Department of the Interior shall establish special schedules for wage employees of the National Park Service whose duty station is located in one of the following NPS jurisdictions:

(i) Blue Ridge Parkway;

(ii) Natchez Trace Parkway; and

(iii) Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

(2) Each of these NPS jurisdictions is located in (i.e., overlaps) more than one FWS wage area.

(b) The special overlap wage schedules in each of the NPS jurisdictions shall be based on a determination concerning which regular nonsupervisory wage schedule in the overlapped FWS wage areas provides the most favorable payline for the employees.

(c) The most favorable payline shall be determined by computing a simple average of the 15 nonsupervisory second step rates on each one of the regular schedules authorized for each wage area overlapped. The highest average obtained by this method will identify the regular schedule that produces the most favorable payline.

(d) Each special schedule shall be effective on the same date as the regular schedule on which it is based.

(e) If there is a change in the identification of the most favorable payline, the special scheule for the current year shall be issued on its normal effective date. The next special scheule shall be issued on the effective date of the next regular schedule that produced the most favorable payline for the NPS jurisdiction in the previous year.

[55 FR 46145, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The United States Information Agency shall establish special wage schedules for Radio Antenna Riggers employed at transmitting and relay stations in the United States.

(b) The wage rate shall be the regular wage rate for the appropriate grade for Radio Antenna Rigger for the wage area in which the station is located, plus 25 percent of that rate.

(c) The 25 percent differential shall be in lieu of any environmental differential that would otherwise be payable.

(d) The special schedules shall be effective on the same date as the regular wage schedules for the wage area in which the positions are located.

[55 FR 46145, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The Department of Defense shall establish special wage schedules for prevailing rate employees at the United States Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California.

(b) Schedules shall be established by increasing the step 2 rates on the Reno, Nevada, regular wage schedule by 10 percent.

(c) Step rates shall be developed by using the standard formulas established in § 532.203 of this subpart.

(d) The special wage schedules shall be effective on the same date as the regular wage schedules applicable to the Reno, Nevada, wage area.

[55 FR 46146, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Agencies are authorized to establish special schedule payments for prevailing rate employees who perform diving and tending duties.

(b) Employees who perform diving duties shall be paid 175 percent of the locality WG-10, step 2, rate for all payable hours of the shift.

(c) Employees who perform tending duties shall be paid at the locality WG-10, step 2, rate for all payable hours of the shift.

(d) Employees whose regular scheduled rate exceeds the diving/tending rate on the day they perform such duties shall retain their regular scheduled rate on that day.

(e) An employee's diving/tending rate shall be used as the basic rate of pay for computing all premium payments for a shift.

(f) Employees who both dive and tend on the same shift shall receive the higher diving rate as the basic rate for all hours of the shift.

[55 FR 46146, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) Tipped employees shall be paid from the regular nonappropriated fund (NAF) schedule applicable to the employee's duty station.

(b) A tip offset may be authorized for employees classified as Waiter/Waitress. For purposes of this section, a tipped employee is one who is engaged in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips, and a tip offset is the amount of money by which an employer, in meeting legal minimum wage standards, may reduce a tipped employee's cash wage in consideration of the receipt of tips.

(c) A tip offset may be established, abolished, or adjusted by NAF instrumentalities on an annual basis and at such additional times as new or revised minimum wage statutes require. The amount of any tip offset may vary within a single instrumentality based on location, type of service, or time of service.

(d) If tipped employees are represented by a labor organization holding exclusive recognition, the employing NAF instrumentality shall negotiate with such organization to arrive at a determination as to whether, when, and how much tip offset shall be applied. Changes in tip offset practices may be made more frequently than annually as a result of collective bargaining agreement.

(e) Tip offset practices shall be governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended, or the applicable statutes of the State, possession or territory where an employee works, whichever provides the greater benefit to the employee. In locations where tip offset is prohibited by law, the requirements of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section do not apply.

[55 FR 46146, Nov. 1, 1990]

(a) The Department of the Interior shall establish and issue special wage schedules for wage supervisors of negotiated rate wage employees in the Bureau of Reclamation. These schedules shall be based on annual special wage surveys conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation in each special wage area. Survey jobs representing Bureau of Reclamation positions at up to four levels will be matched to private industry jobs in each special wage area. Special schedule rates for each position will be based on prevailing rates for that particular job in private industry.

(b) Each supervisory job shall be described at one of four levels corresponding to the four supervisory situations described in Factor I and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job Grading Standard for Supervisors. They shall be titled in accordance with regular FWS practices, with the added designation of level I, II, III, or IV. The special survey and wage schedule for a given special wage area includes only those occupations and levels having employees in that area. For each position on the special schedule, there shall be three step rates. Step 2 is the prevailing rate as determined by the survey; step 1 is 96 percent of the prevailing rate; and step 3 is 104 percent of the prevailing rate.

(c) For each special wage area, the Bureau of Reclamation shall designate and appoint a special wage survey committee, including a chairperson and two other members (at least one of whom shall be a supervisor paid from the special wage schedule), and one or more two-person data collection teams (each of which shall include at least one supervisor paid from the special wage schedule). The local wage survey committee shall determine the prevailing rate for each survey job as a weighted average. Survey specifications are as follows for all surveys:

(1) Based on Bureau of Reclamation activities and types of supervisory positions in the special wage area, the Bureau of Reclamation must survey private industry companies, with no minimum employment size requirement for establishments, in the following North American Industry Classification System code subsectors:

(2) Each local wage survey committee shall compile lists of all companies in the survey area known to have potential job matches. For the first survey, all companies on the list will be surveyed. Subsequently, companies shall be removed from the survey list if they prove not to have job matches, and new companies will be added if they are expected to have job matches. Survey data will be shared with other local wage survey committees when the data from any one company is applicable to more than one special wage area.

(3) For each area, survey job descriptions shall be tailored to correspond to the position of each covered supervisor in that area. They will be described at one of four levels (I, II, III, or IV) corresponding to the definitions of the four supervisory situations described in Factor I and four levels of Subfactor IIIA of the FWS Job Grading Standard for Supervisors. A description of the craft, trade, or labor work supervised will be included in each supervisory survey job description.

(d) Special wage area boundaries shall be identical to the survey areas covered by the special wage surveys. The areas of application in which the special schedules will be paid are generally smaller than the survey areas, reflecting actual Bureau of Reclamation worksites and the often scattered location of surveyable private sector jobs. Special wage schedules shall be established in the following areas:

The Great Plains Region Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Montana: All counties except Lincoln, Sanders,Lake, Flathead, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Granite, and Ravalli Wyoming: All counties except Lincoln, Teton, sublette, Uinta, and Sweetwater Colorado: All counties except Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Mesa, Delta, Montrose, San Miguel, Ouray, Delores, San Juan, Montezuma, La Plata, and Archuleta North Dakota: All counties South Dakota: All counties Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Montana: Broadwater, Jefferson,Lewis and Clark, Yellowstone, and Bighorn Counties Wyoming: All counties except Lincoln, Teton, Sublette, Uinta, and Sweetwater Colorado: Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Eagle, Fremont, Gilpin, Grand, Lake, Larimer, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, and Summitt Beginning month of survey: August The Mid-Pacific Region Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) California: Shasta, Sacramento, Butte, San Francisco, Merced, Stanislaus Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) California: Shasta, Sacramento, Fresno, Alameda, Tehoma, Tuolumne, Merced Beginning month of survey: February Green Springs Power Field Station Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Oregon: Jackson Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Oregon: Jackson Beginning month of survey: April Pacific NW. Region Drill Crew Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Montana: Flathead, Missoula Oregon: Lane, Bend, Medford, Umatilla, Multnomah Utah: Salt Lake Idaho: Ada, Canyon, Adams Washington: Spokane, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Oregon: Deschutes, Jackson, Umatilla Montana: Missoula Idaho: Ada Washington: Grant, Lincoln, Douglas, Okanogan, Yakima Beginning month of survey: April Snake River Area Office (Central Snake/Minidoka) Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Idaho: Ada, Caribou, Bingham, Bannock Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Idaho: Gem, Elmore, Bonneville, Minidoka, Boise, Valley, Power Beginning month of survey: April Hungry Horse Project Office Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Montana: Flathead, Missoula, Cascade, Sanders, Lake Idaho: Bonner Washington: Pend Oreille Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Montana: Flathead Beginning month of survey: March Grand Coulee Power Office (Grand Coulee Project Office) Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Oregon: Multnomah Washington: Spokane, King Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Washington: Grant, Douglas, Lincoln, Okanogan Beginning month of survey: April Upper Columbia Area Office (Yakima) Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Washington: King, Yakima Oregon: Multnomah Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Washington: Yakima Oregon: Umatilla Beginning Month of Survey: September Colorado River Storage Project Area Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Arizona: Apache, Coconino, Navajo Colorado: Moffat, Montrose, Routt, Gunnison, Rio Blanco, Mesa, Garfield, Eagle, Delta, Pitkin, San Miguel, Delores, Montezuma, La Plata, San Juan, Ouray, Archuleta, Hindale, Mineral Wyoming: Unita, Sweetwater, Carbon, Albany, Laramie, Goshen, Platte, Niobrara, Converse, Natrona, Fremont, Sublette, Lincoln Utah: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne, Weber Special Survey Area of Application (Counties) Arizona: Coconino Colorado: Montrose, Gunnison, Mesa Wyoming: Lincoln Utah: Daggett Beginning month of survey: March Elephant Butte Area Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) New Mexico: Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Donña Ana, Otero, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt, Chaves, Lincoln, Sierra, Socorro, Catron, Cibola, Valencia, Bernalillo, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca, Curry, Quay Texas: El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presido, Brewster, Pecos, Reeves, Loving, Ward, Winkler Arizona: Apache, Greenlee, Graham, Cochise Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) New Mexico: Sierra Beginning month of survey: June Lower Colorado Dams Area Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Nevada: Clark California: Los Angeles Arizona: Maricopa Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Nevada: Clark California: San Bernardino Arizona: Mohave Beginning month of survey: August Yuma Projects Area Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) California: San Diego Arizona: Maricopa, Yuma Note:

Bureau of Reclamation may add other survey counties for dredge operator supervisors because of the uniqueness of the occupation and difficulty in finding job matches.)

Special Wage Area of Application (Counties) Arizona: Yuma Beginning month of survey: November (Maintenance) and April (Dredging) Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, CO, Area Special Wage Survey Area (Counties) Colorado: Jefferson, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Larimer Special Wage Survey Area of Application (Counties) Colorado: Jefferson Beginning month of survey: February

(e) These special schedule positions will be identified by pay plan code XE, grade 00, and the Federal Wage System occupational codes will be used. New employees shall be hired at step 1 of the position. With satisfactory or higher performance, advancement between steps shall be automatic after 52 weeks of service.

(f)(1) In the first year of implementation, all special areas will have full-scale surveys.

(2) Current employees shall be placed in step 2 of the new special schedule, or, if their current rate of pay exceeds the rate for step 2, they shall be placed in step 3. Pay retention shall apply to any employee whose rate of basic pay would otherwise be reduced as a result of placement in these new special wage schedules.

(3) The waiting period for within-grade increases shall begin on the employee's first day under the new special schedule.

[60 FR 5310, Jan. 27, 1995, as amended at 69 FR 7105, Feb. 13, 2004; 71 FR 35375, June 20, 2006; 73 FR 45853, Aug. 7, 2008; 78 FR 58154, Sept. 23, 2013; 84 FR 36814, July 30, 2019; 89 FR 4541, Jan. 24, 2024]

(a) The Department of Defense (DOD) will establish a flat rate pay system for nonappropriated fund (NAF) automotive mechanics. This flat rate pay system will take into account local prevailing rates, the mechanic's skill level, and the standard number of hours required to complete a particular job.

(b) DOD will issue special wage schedules for NAF automotive mechanics who are covered by the flat rate pay system. These special schedules will provide rates of pay for nonsupervisory, leader, and supervisory employees. These special schedule positions will be identified by pay plan codes XW (nonsupervisory), XY (leader), and XZ (supervisory), grades 8-10, and will use the Federal Wage System occupational code 5823.

(c) DOD will issue special wage schedules for NAF automotive mechanics based on annual special flat rate surveys of similar jobs conducted in each special schedule wage area.

(1) The survey area for these special surveys will include the same counties as the regular NAF survey area.

(2) The survey jobs used will be Automotive Worker and Automotive Mechanic.

(3) The special surveys will include data on automotive mechanics that are paid under private industry flat rate pay plans as well as those paid by commission.

(4) In addition to all standard North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes currently used on the regular surveys, the industries surveyed will include—

(5) The surveys will cover establishments with a total employment of eight or more.

(6) The special schedules for NAF automotive mechanics will be effective on the same dates as the regular wage schedules in the NAF FWS wage area.

(d) New employees will be hired at step 1 of the position under the flat rate pay system. Current employees will be moved to these special wage schedules on a step-by-step basis. Pay retention will apply to any employee whose rate of basic pay would otherwise be reduced as a result of placement in these new special schedules.

[79 FR 22765, Apr. 24, 2014, as amended at 89 FR 4541, Jan. 24, 2024; 89 FR 8065, Feb. 6, 2024]

(a)(1) The Department of Defense will establish special wage schedules for wage employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who work at flood control dams (also known as reservoir projects) and whose duty station is located in one of the lakes that comprise the Vicksburg District of the Mississippi Valley Division.

(2) These special wage schedules will provide rates of pay for nonsupervisory, leader, and supervisory employees. These special schedule positions will be identified by pay plan codes XR (nonsupervisory), XT (leader), and XU (supervisory).

(b) The Vicksburg District of the Mississippi Valley Division is comprised of the following four lakes:

(1) Grenada Lake in Grenada County, MS (2) Enid Lake in Yalobusha County, MS (3) Sardis Lake in Panola County, MS (4) Arkabutla Lake in Tate County, MS

(c) Special wage schedules shall be established at the same time and with rates identical to the Memphis, TN, appropriated fund wage schedule.

[80 FR 61277, Oct. 13, 2015]

This appendix shows the annual schedule of wage surveys. It lists all States alphabetically, each State being followed by an alphabetical listing of all wage areas in the State. Information given for each wage area includes—

(1) The lead agency responsible for conducting the survey;

(2) The month in which the survey will begin; and

(3) Whether full-scale surveys will be done in odd or even numbered fiscal years.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981] Editorial Note:For Federal Register citations affecting appendix A to subpart B of part 532, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and at www.govinfo.gov.

This appendix shows the annual schedule of NAF wage surveys. It lists all States alphabetically, each State being followed by an alphabetical listing of all wage areas in the State. Information given for each wage area includes—

(1) The lead agency responsible for conducting the survey;

(2) The month in which the survey will begin; and

(3) Whether full-scale surveys will be conducted in odd or even numbered calendar years.

[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981] Editorial Note:For Federal Register citations affecting appendix B to subpart B of part 532, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and at www.govinfo.gov.

This appendix lists the wage area definitions for appropriated fund employees. With a few exceptions, each area is defined in terms of county units, independent cities, or a similar geographic entity. Each wage area definition consists of:

(1) Wage area title. Wage areas usually carry the title of the principal city in the area. Sometimes, however, the area title reflects a broader geographic area, such as Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.

(2) Survey area definition. Lists each county, independent city, or a similar geographic entity in the survey area.

(3) Area of application definition. Lists each county, independent city, or a similar geographic entity which, in addition to the survey area, is in the area of application.

Definitions of Wage Areas and Wage Area Survey Areas ALABAMA Birmingham-Cullman-Talladega Survey Area Alabama: Calhoun (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Etowah (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Jefferson St. Clair Shelby Talladega (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Tuscaloosa Walker Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Bibb Blount Calhoun (effective until January 2028) Chilton Clay Coosa Cullman Etowah (effective until January 2028) Fayette Greene Hale Lamar Marengo Perry Pickens Talladega (effective January 2028) Winston Dothan Survey Area Alabama: Dale Houston Georgia: Early Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Barbour Coffee Geneva Henry Georgia: Clay Miller Seminole Huntsville Survey Area Alabama: Limestone Madison Marshall Morgan Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama Colbert DeKalb Franklin Lauderdale Lawrence Marion Tennessee Giles Lincoln Wayne Montgomery-Selma Survey Area Alabama Autauga Elmore Montgomery Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama Bullock Butler Crenshaw Dallas Lowndes Pike Wilcox ALASKA Anchorage Survey Area Alaska: (boroughs and the areas within a 24-kilometer (15-mile) radius of their corporate city limits) Anchorage Fairbanks Juneau Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alaska: State of Alaska (except special area schedules) ARIZONA Northeastern Arizona Survey Area Arizona: Apache Coconino Navajo New Mexico: San Juan Area of Application. Survey area plus: Colorado: Dolores Gunnison (Only includes the Curecanti National Recreation Area portion) La Plata Montezuma Montrose Ouray San Juan San Miguel Utah: Garfield (Only includes the Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Canyonlands National Parks portions) Grand (Only includes the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks portions) Iron (Only includes the Cedar Breaks National Monument and Zion National Park portions) Kane San Juan Washington Wayne (Only includes the Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks portions) Phoenix Survey Area Arizona: Gila Maricopa Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arizona: Pinal Yavapai Tucson Survey Area Arizona: Pima Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arizona: Cochise Graham Greenlee Santa Cruz ARKANSAS Little Rock Survey Area Arkansas: Jefferson Pulaski Saline Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arkansas: Arkansas Ashley Baxter Boone Bradley Calhoun Chicot Clark Clay Cleburne Cleveland Conway Dallas Desha Drew Faulkner Franklin (Does not include the Fort Chaffee portion) Fulton Garland Grant Greene Hot Spring Independence Izard Jackson Johnson Lawrence Lincoln Logan Lonoke Marion Monroe Montgomery Newton Ouachita Perry Phillips Pike Polk Pope Prairie Randolph Scott Searcy Sharp Stone Union Van Buren White Woodruff Yell CALIFORNIA Fresno Survey Area California: Fresno Kings Tulare Area of Application. Survey area plus: California: Madera Mariposa Tuolumne (Only includes the Yosemite National Park portion) Los Angeles Survey Area California: Kern (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) Los Angeles Orange (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) Riverside (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) San Bernardino (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) Santa Barbara (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) Ventura (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2026) Area of Application. Survey area plus: California: Inyo (Only includes the China Lake Naval Weapons Center portion) Kern (effective until November 2026) Orange (effective until November 2026) Riverside (effective until November 2026) San Bernardino (effective until November 2026) Santa Barbara (effective until November 2026) San Luis Obispo Ventura (effective until November 2026) Sacramento-Roseville Survey Area California: Placer Sacramento Sutter Yolo Yuba Area of Application. Survey area plus: California: Amador Butte Colusa El Dorado Glenn Humboldt Lake Modoc Nevada Plumas Shasta Sierra Siskiyou Tehama Trinity San Diego Survey Area California: San Diego Arizona: Yuma (effective for wage surveys beginning in September 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arizona: La Paz Yuma (effective until September 2027) California: Imperial San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Survey Area California: Alameda Contra Costa Marin Monterey (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) Napa San Joaquin (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) San Francisco San Mateo Santa Clara Solano Area of Application. Survey area plus: California: Calaveras Mendocino Merced Monterey (effective until October 2027) San Benito San Joaquin (effective until October 2027) Santa Cruz Sonoma Stanislaus Tuolumne (Does not include the Yosemite National Park portion) COLORADO Denver Survey Area Colorado: Adams Arapahoe Boulder Broomfield Denver Douglas Gilpin Jefferson Area of Application. Survey area plus: Colorado: Clear Creek Eagle Elbert Garfield Grand Jackson Lake Larimer Lincoln Logan Morgan Park Phillips Pitkin Rio Blanco Routt Sedgwick Summit Washington Weld Yuma Southern Colorado Survey Area Colorado: El Paso Pueblo Teller Area of Application. Survey area plus: Colorado: Alamosa Archuleta Baca Bent Chaffee Cheyenne Conejos Costilla Crowley Custer Delta Fremont Gunnison (does not includes the Curecanti National Recreation Area portion) Hinsdale Huerfano Kiowa Kit Carson Las Animas Mineral Otero Prowers Rio Grande Saguache CONNECTICUT New Haven-Hartford Survey Area Connecticut: Hartford New Haven New London (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Massachusetts: Hampden (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Hampshire (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Connecticut: Litchfield Middlesex New London (effective until April 2027) Tolland Windham Massachusetts: Franklin Hampden (effective until April 2027) Hampshire (effective until April 2027) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington-Baltimore-Arlington Survey Area District of Columbia: Washington, DC Maryland (city): Baltimore (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Maryland (counties): Anne Arundel (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Baltimore (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Carroll (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Charles Frederick Harford (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Howard (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Montgomery Prince George's Washington (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Pennsylvania: Franklin (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Virginia (cities): Alexandria Fairfax Falls Church Manassas Manassas Park Virginia (counties): Arlington Fairfax King George (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Loudoun Prince William West Virginia: Berkley (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maryland (city): Baltimore (effective until July 2027) Maryland (counties) Allegany Anne Arundel (effective until July 2027) Baltimore (effective until July 2027) Calvert Caroline Carroll (effective until July 2027) Dorchester Garrett Harford (effective until July 2027) Howard (effective until July 2027) Kent Queen Anne's St. Mary's Talbot Washington (effective until July 2027) Pennsylvania: Franklin (effective until July 2027) Fulton Virginia (cities): Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Staunton Waynesboro Winchester Virginia (counties): Albemarle (Only includes the Shenandoah National Park portion) Augusta Caroline Clarke Culpeper Fauquier Frederick Greene (Only includes the Shenandoah National Park portion) King George (effective until July 2027) Madison Orange Page Rappahannock Rockingham Shenandoah Spotsylvania Stafford Warren Westmoreland West Virginia: Berkeley (effective until July 2027) Hampshire Hardy Jefferson Mineral Morgan FLORIDA Cocoa-Beach Survey Area Florida: Brevard Area of Application. Survey area. Jacksonville Survey Area Florida: Alachua Baker Clay Columbia (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) Duval Nassau Orange (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) St. Johns Sumter (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) Georgia: Camden Area of Application. Survey area plus: Florida: Bradford Citrus Columbia (effective until January 2027) Dixie Flagler Gilchrist Hamilton Lafayette Lake Levy Madison Marion Orange (effective until January 2027) Osceola Polk Putnam Seminole Sumter (effective until January 2027) Suwannee Taylor Union Volusia Georgia: Charlton Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale Survey Area Florida: Miami-Dade Palm Beach (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Florida: Broward Collier Glades Hendry Highlands Indian River Lee Martin Monroe Okeechobee Palm Beach (effective until May 2027) St. Lucie Area of Application. Survey area. Panama City Survey Area Florida: Bay Gulf Area of Application. Survey area plus: Florida: Calhoun Franklin Gadsden Holmes Jackson Jefferson Leon Liberty Wakulla Washington Georgia: Decatur Pensacola Survey Area Florida: Escambia Santa Rosa Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Baldwin Clarke Conecuh Covington Escambia Mobile Monroe Washington Florida: Okaloosa Walton Tampa-St. Petersburg Survey Area Florida: Hillsborough Pasco Pinellas Area of Application. Survey area plus: Florida: Charlotte De Soto Hardee Hernando Manatee Sarasota GEORGIA Albany Survey Area Georgia: Colquitt Dougherty Lee Mitchell Worth Area of Application. Survey area plus: Georgia: Atkinson Baker Ben Hill Berrien Brooks Calhoun Clinch Coffee Cook Echols Grady Irwin Lanier Lowndes Quitman Randolph Schley Sumter Terrell Thomas Tift Turner Ware Webster Atlanta Survey Area Alabama: Lee (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Macon (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Russell (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Georgia: Butts Chattahoochee (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Cherokee Clayton Cobb De Kalb Douglas Fayette Forsyth Fulton Gwinnett Henry Muscogee (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Newton Paulding Rockdale Walton Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Chambers Cherokee Cleburne Lee (effective until May 2027) Macon (effective until May 2027) Randolph Russell (effective until May 2027) Tallapoosa Georgia: Banks Barrow Bartow Carroll Chattahoochee (effective until May 2027) Clarke Coweta Dawson Elbert Fannin Floyd Franklin Gilmer Gordon Greene Habersham Hall Haralson Harris Hart Heard Jackson Jasper Lamar Lumpkin Madison Marion Meriwether Morgan Muscogee (effective until May 2027) Oconee Oglethorpe Pickens Pike Polk Putnam Rabun Spalding Stephens Stewart Talbot Taliaferro Towns Troup Union Upson White Augusta Survey Area Georgia: Columbia McDuffie Richmond South Carolina: Aiken Area of Application. Survey area plus: Georgia: Burke Emanuel Glascock Jefferson Jenkins Lincoln Warren Wilkes South Carolina: Allendale Bamberg Barnwell Edgefield McCormick Macon Survey Area Georgia: Bibb Houston Jones Laurens Twiggs Wilkinson Area of Application. Survey area plus: Georgia: Baldwin Bleckley Crawford Crisp Dodge Dooly Hancock Johnson Macon Monroe Montgomery Peach Pulaski Taylor Telfair Treutlen Washington Wheeler Wilcox Savannah Survey Area Georgia: Bryan Chatham Effingham Liberty South Carolina: Beaufort (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Georgia: Appling Bacon Brantley Bulloch Candler Evans Glynn Jeff Davis Long McIntosh Pierce Screven Tattnall Toombs Wayne South Carolina: Beaufort (effective until May 2027) Hampton Jasper HAWAII Hawaii Survey Area Hawaii: Honolulu Area of Application. Survey area plus: Hawaii: Hawaii Kauai (includes the islands of Kauai and Niihau) Maui (includes the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe) IDAHO Boise Survey Area Idaho: Ada Boise Canyon Elmore Gem Area of Application. Survey area plus: Idaho: Adams Bannock Bear Lake Bingham Blaine Bonneville Butte Camas Caribou Cassia Clark Custer Fremont Gooding Jefferson Jerome Lemhi Lincoln Madison Minidoka Oneida Owyhee Payette Power Teton Twin Falls Valley Washington ILLINOIS Bloomington-Pontiac Survey Area Illinois: Champaign Menard Sangamon Vermilion Area of Application. Survey area plus: Illinois: Christian Clark Coles Crawford Cumberland De Witt Douglas Edgar Ford Jasper Livingston Logan McLean Macon Morgan Moultrie Piatt Scott Shelby Chicago-Naperville, IL Survey Area Illinois: Cook Du Page Kane Lake McHenry Will Area of Application. Survey area plus: Illinois: Boone Bureau De Kalb Grundy Iroquois Kankakee Kendall La Salle Ogle Putnam Stephenson Winnebago Indiana: Jasper Lake La Porte Newton Porter Pulaski Starke Wisconsin: Kenosha INDIANA Evansville-Henderson Survey Area Indiana: Daviess Greene Knox Martin Orange Area of Application. Survey area plus: Illinois: Edwards Gallatin Hardin Lawrence Richland Wabash White Indiana: Crawford Dubois Gibson Perry Pike Posey Spencer Vanderburgh Warrick Kentucky: Crittenden Daviess Hancock Henderson McLean Ohio Union Webster Fort Wayne-Marion Survey Area Indiana: Adams Allen DeKalb Huntington Wells Area of Application. Survey area plus: Indiana: Cass Elkhart Fulton Jay Kosciusko LaGrange Marshall Noble St. Joseph Steuben Wabash Whitley Ohio: Defiance Henry Paulding Putnam Williams Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie Survey Area Indiana: Boone Grant (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Hamilton Hancock Hendricks Johnson Lawrence (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Marion Miami (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Monroe (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Morgan Shelby Vigo (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Indiana: Bartholomew Benton Blackford Brown Carroll Clay Clinton Decatur Delaware Fayette Fountain Grant (effective until October 2026) Henry Howard Jackson Jennings Lawrence (effective until October 2026) Madison Miami (effective until October 2026) Monroe (effective until October 2026) Montgomery Owen Parke Putnam Randolph Rush Sullivan Tippecanoe Tipton Vermillion Vigo (effective until October 2026) Warren Wayne White IOWA Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Survey Area Iowa: Benton Black Hawk Johnson Linn Area of Application. Survey area plus: Iowa: Allamakee Bremer Buchanan Butler Cedar Chickasaw Clayton Davis Delaware Fayette Floyd Grundy Henry Howard Iowa Jefferson Jones Keokuk Mitchell Tama Van Buren Wapello Washington Winneshiek Davenport-Moline Survey Area Illinois: Henry Rock Island Iowa: Scott Area of Application. Survey area plus: Illinois: Brown Carroll Cass Fulton Hancock Henderson Jo Daviess Knox Lee McDonough Marshall Mason Mercer Peoria Schuyler Stark Tazewell Warren Whiteside Woodford Iowa: Clinton Des Moines Dubuque Jackson Lee Louisa Muscatine Des Moines Survey Area Iowa: Polk Story Warren Area of Application. Survey area plus: Iowa: Adair Appanoose Boone Calhoun Carroll Cerro Gordo Clarke Dallas Decatur Franklin Greene Guthrie Hamilton Hancock Hardin Humboldt Jasper Kossuth Lucas Madison Mahaska Marion Marshall Monroe Poweshiek Ringgold Union Wayne Webster Winnebago Worth Wright KANSAS Manhattan Survey Area Kansas: Geary Riley (effective for wage surveys beginning in November 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kansas: Brown Clay Cloud Coffey Dickinson Lyon Marshall Morris Nemaha Ottawa Pottawatomie Republic Riley (effective until November 2027) Saline Washington Wichita Survey Area Kansas: Butler Sedgwick Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kansas: Barber Barton Chase Chautauqua Cheyenne Clark Comanche Cowley Decatur Edwards Elk Ellis Ellsworth Finney Ford Gove Graham Grant Gray Greeley Greenwood Hamilton Harper Harvey Haskell Hodgeman Jewell Kearny Kingman Kiowa Labette Lane Lincoln Logan McPherson Marion Meade Mitchell Montgomery Morton Neosho Ness Norton Osborne Pawnee Phillips Pratt Rawlins Reno Rice Rooks Rush Russell Scott Seward Sheridan Sherman Smith Stafford Stanton Stevens Sumner Thomas Trego Wallace Wichita Wilson Woodson KENTUCKY Lexington Survey Area Kentucky: Bourbon Clark Fayette Jessamine Madison Scott Woodford Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kentucky: Anderson Bath Bell Boyle Breathitt Casey Clay Estill Fleming Franklin Garrard Green Harrison Jackson Knott Knox Laurel Lee Leslie Lincoln McCreary Marion Menifee Mercer Montgomery Morgan Nicholas Owsley Perry Powell Pulaski Rockcastle Rowan Taylor Washington Wayne Whitley Wolfe Louisville Survey Area Indiana: Clark Floyd Jefferson Kentucky: Bullitt Hardin Jefferson Oldham Area of Application. Survey area plus: Indiana: Harrison Scott Washington Kentucky: Breckinridge Grayson Hart Henry Larue Meade Nelson Shelby Spencer Trimble LOUISIANA Lake Charles-Alexandria Survey Area Louisiana: Allen Beauregard Calcasieu Grant Rapides Sabine Vernon Area of Application. Survey area plus: Louisiana: Acadia Avoyelles Caldwell Cameron Catahoula Concordia Evangeline Franklin Iberia Jefferson Davis Lafayette La Salle Madison Natchitoches St. Landry St. Martin Tensas Vermilion Winn New Orleans Survey Area Louisiana: Jefferson Orleans Plaquemines St. Bernard St. Charles St. John the Baptist St. Tammany Area of Application. Survey area plus: Louisiana: Ascension Assumption East Baton Rouge East Feliciana Iberville Lafourche Livingston Pointe Coupee St. Helena St. James St. Mary Tangipahoa Terrebonne Washington West Baton Rouge West Feliciana Shreveport Survey Area Louisiana: Bossier Caddo Webster Area of Application. Survey area plus: Louisiana: Bienville Claiborne De Soto East Carroll Jackson Lincoln Morehouse Ouachita Red River Richland Union West Carroll Texas: Gregg Harrison Panola Rusk Upshur MAINE Augusta Survey Area Maine: Kennebec Knox Lincoln Area of Application. Survey area: Central And Northern Maine Survey Area Maine: Aroostook Penobscot Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maine: Hancock Piscataquis Somerset Waldo Washington MASSACHUSETTS Boston-Worcester-Providence Survey Area Maine: Androscoggin (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Cumberland (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Sagadahoc (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) York (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Massachusetts: Barnstable Bristol (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Essex Middlesex Norfolk Plymouth Suffolk Worcester (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) New Hampshire: Rockingham (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Strafford (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Rhode Island: Bristol (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Kent (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Newport (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Providence (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Washington (effective for wage surveys beginning in August 2026) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maine: Androscoggin (effective until August 2026) Cumberland (effective until August 2026) Franklin Oxford Sagadahoc (effective until August 2026) York (effective until August 2026) Massachusetts: Bristol (effective until August 2026) Dukes Nantucket Worcester (effective until August 2026) New Hampshire: Belknap Carroll Cheshire Coos Grafton Hillsborough Merrimack Rockingham (effective until August 2026) Strafford (effective until August 2026) Sullivan Rhode Island: Bristol (effective until August 2026) Kent (effective until August 2026) Newport (effective until August 2026) Providence (effective until August 2026) Washington (effective until August 2026) Vermont: Orange Windham Windsor MICHIGAN Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor Survey Area Michigan: Lapeer Livingston Macomb Oakland St. Clair Washtenaw (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) Wayne Ohio: Lucas (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Michigan: Arenac Bay Clare Clinton Eaton Genesee Gladwin Gratiot Huron Ingham Isabella Jackson Lenawee Midland Monroe Saginaw Sanilac Shiawassee Tuscola Washtenaw (effective until January 2027) Ohio: Fulton Lucas (effective until January 2027) Wood Northwestern Michigan Survey Area Michigan: Delta Dickinson Marquette Area of Application. Survey area plus: Michigan: Alcona Alger Alpena Antrim Baraga Benzie Charlevoix Cheboygan Chippewa Crawford Emmet Gogebic Grand Traverse Houghton Iosco Iron Kalkaska Keweenaw Leelanau Luce Mackinac Manistee Menominee Missaukee Montmorency Ogemaw Ontonagon Oscoda Otsego Presque Isle Roscommon Schoolcraft Wexford Wisconsin: Florence Marinette Southwestern Michigan Survey Area Michigan: Barry Calhoun Kalamazoo Van Buren Area of Application. Survey area plus: Michigan: Allegan Berrien Branch Cass Hillsdale Ionia Kent Lake Mason Mecosta Montcalm Muskegon Newaygo Oceana Osceola Ottawa St. Joseph MINNESOTA Duluth Survey Area Minnesota: Carlton St. Louis Wisconsin: Douglas Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Aitkin Becker (only includes the White Earth Indian Reservation portion) Beltrami Cass Clearwater Cook Crow Wing Hubbard Itasca Koochiching Lake Lake of the Woods Mahnomen Wisconsin: Ashland Bayfield Burnett Iron Sawyer Washburn Minneapolis-St. Paul Survey Area Minnesota: Anoka Carver Chisago Dakota Hennepin Morrison (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Ramsey Scott Stearns (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Washington Wright Wisconsin: St. Croix Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Chippewa Cottonwood Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Isanti Kanabec Kandiyohi Lac Qui Parle Le Sueur McLeod Martin Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison (effective until April 2027) Mower Nicollet Olmsted Pine Pope Redwood Renville Rice Sherburne Sibley Stearns (effective until April 2027) Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Watonwan Winona Yellow Medicine Wisconsin: Pierce Polk MISSISSIPPI Biloxi Survey Area Mississippi: Hancock Harrison Jackson Area of Application. Survey area plus: Mississippi: George Pearl River Stone Jackson Survey Area Mississippi: Hinds Rankin Warren Area of Application. Survey area plus: Mississippi: Adams Amite Attala Claiborne Copiah Franklin Holmes Humphreys Issaquena Jefferson Jefferson Davis Lawrence Lincoln Madison Marion Pike Scott Sharkey Simpson Smith Walthall Wilkinson Yazoo Meridian Survey Area Alabama: Choctaw Mississippi: Forrest Lamar Lauderdale Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Sumter Mississippi: Clarke Covington Greene Jasper Jones Kemper Leake Neshoba Newton Perry Wayne Northern Mississippi Survey area Mississippi: Clay Grenada Lee Leflore Lowndes Monroe Oktibbeha Area of Application. Survey area plus: Mississippi: Alcorn Bolivar Calhoun Carroll Chickasaw Choctaw Coahoma Itawamba Lafayette (Does not include the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Montgomery Noxubee Pontotoc (Does not include the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Prentiss Quitman Sunflower Tallahatchie Tishomingo Union (Does not include the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Washington Webster Winston Yalobusha MISSOURI Kansas City Survey Area Kansas: Jefferson (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Johnson Leavenworth Osage (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Shawnee (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Wyandotte Missouri: Cass Clay Jackson Johnson (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Platte Ray Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kansas: Allen Anderson Atchison Bourbon Doniphan Douglas Franklin Jackson Jefferson (effective until October 2026) Linn Miami Osage (effective until October 2026) Shawnee (effective until October 2026) Wabaunsee Missouri: Adair Andrew Atchison Bates Buchanan Caldwell Carroll Chariton Clinton Daviess DeKalb Gentry Grundy Harrison Henry Holt Johnson (effective until October 2026) Lafayette Linn Livingston Macon Mercer Nodaway Pettis Putnam Saline Schuyler Sullivan Worth St. Louis Survey Area Illinois: Clinton Madison Monroe St. Clair Williamson (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Missouri (city): St. Louis Missouri (counties): Boone (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2026) Franklin Jefferson St. Charles St. Louis Area of Application. Survey area plus: Illinois: Adams Alexander Bond Calhoun Clay Effingham Fayette Franklin Greene Hamilton Jackson Jefferson Jersey Johnson Macoupin Marion Montgomery Perry Pike Pope Pulaski Randolph Saline Union Washington Wayne Williamson (effective until October 2026) Missouri: Audrain Bollinger Boone (effective until October 2026) Callaway Cape Girardeau Clark Cole Cooper Crawford Gasconade Howard Iron Knox Lewis Lincoln Madison Marion Mississippi Moniteau Monroe Montgomery Osage Perry Pike Ralls Randolph St. Francois Ste. Genevieve Scotland Scott Shelby Warren Washington Southern Missouri Survey Area Missouri: Christian Greene Laclede Phelps Pulaski Webster Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kansas: Cherokee Crawford Missouri: Barry Barton Benton Butler Camden Carter Cedar Dade Dallas Dent Douglas Hickory Howell Jasper Lawrence Maries Miller Morgan New Madrid Newton Oregon Ozark Polk Reynolds Ripley St. Clair Shannon Stoddard Stone Taney Texas Vernon Wayne Wright MONTANA Montana Survey Area Montana: Cascade Lewis and Clark Yellowstone Area of Applicaton. Survey area plus: Montana: Beaverhead Big Horn Blaine Broadwater Carbon Carter Chouteau Custer Daniels Dawson Deer Lodge Fallon Fergus Flathead Gallatin Garfield Glacier Golden Valley Granite Hill Jefferson Judith Basin Lake Liberty Lincoln McCone Madison Meagher Mineral Missoula Musselshell Park Petroleum Phillips Pondera Powder River Powell Prairie Ravalli Richland Roosevelt Rosebud Sanders Sheridan Silver Bow Stillwater Sweet Grass Teton Toole Treasure Valley Wheatland Wibaux Wyoming: Big Horn Park Teton NEBRASKA Omaha Survey Area Iowa: Pottawattamie Nebraska: Douglas Lancaster Sarpy Area of Applicaton. Survey area plus: Iowa: Adams Audubon Buena Vista Cass Cherokee Clay Crawford Fremont Harrison Ida Mills Monona Montgomery O'Brien Page Palo Alto Plymouth Pocahontas Sac Shelby Sioux Taylor Woodbury Nebraska: Adams Antelope Arthur Blaine Boone Boyd Brown Buffalo Burt Butler Cass Cedar Chase Cherry Clay Colfax Cuming Custer Dakota Dawson Dixon Dodge Dundy Fillmore Franklin Frontier Furnas Gage Garfield Gosper Grant Greeley Hall Hamilton Harlan Hayes Hitchcock Holt Hooker Howard Jefferson Johnson Kearney Keith Keya Paha Knox Lincoln Logan Loup McPherson Madison Merrick Nance Nemaha Nuckolls Otoe Pawnee Perkins Phelps Pierce Platte Polk Red Willow Richardson Rock Saline Saunders Seward Sherman Stanton Thayer Thomas Thurston Valley Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler York South Dakota: Union NEVADA Las Vegas Survey Area Nevada: Clark Nye Area of Applicaton. Survey area plus: Arizona: Mohave California: Inyo (Does not include the China Lake Naval Weapons Center portion.) Nevada: Esmeralda Lincoln Reno Survey Area California: Lassen (effective for wage surveys beginning in March 2026) Nevada: Lyon Mineral Storey Washoe Area of Applicaton. Survey area plus: California: Alpine Lassen (effective until March 2026) Mono (Does not cover locations where the Bridgeport, CA, special schedule applies) Nevada (city): Carson City Nevada (county): Churchill Douglas Elko Eureka Humboldt Lander Pershing White Pine NEW MEXICO Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Los Alamos Survey Area New Mexico: Bernalillo McKinley (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Sandoval Area of Application. Survey area plus: New Mexico: Catron Cibola Colfax Curry De Baca Guadalupe Harding Lincoln (Does not include the White Sands Missile Range portion) Los Alamos McKinley (effective until April 2027) Mora Quay Rio Arriba Roosevelt San Miguel Santa Fe Socorro (Does not include the White Sands Missile Range portion) Taos Torrance Union Valencia NEW YORK Albany-Schenectady Survey Area New York: Albany Montgomery Rensselaer Saratoga Schenectady Area of Applicaton. Survey area plus: Massachusetts: Berkshire New York: Columbia Delaware Fulton Greene Hamilton Schoharie Warren Washington Vermont: Bennington Rutland Buffalo Survey Area New York: Erie Niagara Area of Application. Survey area plus: New York: Allegany Cattaraugus Chautauqua Wyoming Pennsylvania: Elk (Only includes the Allegheny National Forest portion) Forest (Only includes the Allegheny National Forest portion) McKean Warren New York-Newark Survey Area New Jersey: Bergen Burlington (Only includes the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst portion) Essex Hudson Middlesex Monmouth (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Morris Ocean (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Passaic Somerset Union New York: Bronx Dutchess (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Kings Nassau New York Orange Queens Suffolk Westchester Pennsylvania: Monroe (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2028) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Connecticut: Fairfield New Jersey: Hunterdon Mercer Monmouth (effective until January 2028) Ocean (effective until January 2028) Sussex Warren New York: Dutchess (effective until January 2028) Putnam Richmond Rockland Sullivan Ulster Pennsylvania: Carbon Lehigh Monroe (effective until January 2028) Northampton Pike Wayne Northern New York Survey Area New York: Clinton Franklin Jefferson St. Lawrence Vermont: Chittenden Franklin Grand Isle Area of Application. Survey area plus: New York: Essex Lewis Vermont: Addison Caledonia Essex Lamoille Orleans Washington Rochester Survey Area New York: Livingston Monroe Ontario Orleans Steuben Wayne Area of Application. Survey area plus: New York: Chemung Genesee Schuyler Seneca Yates Pennsylvania: Tioga Syracuse-Utica-Rome Survey Area New York: Herkimer Madison Oneida Onondaga Oswego Area of Application. Survey area plus: New York: Broome Cayuga Chenango Cortland Otsego Tioga Tompkins NORTH CAROLINA Asheville Survey Area North Carolina: Buncombe Haywood Henderson Madison Transylvania Area of Application. Survey area plus: North Carolina: Avery Cherokee Clay Graham Jackson Macon Mitchell Polk Rutherford Swain Yancey Central North Carolina Survey Area North Carolina: Cumberland Durham Harnett Hoke Johnston Orange Wake Wayne Area of Application. Survey area plus: North Carolina: Alamance Bladen Caswell Chatham Davidson Davie Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Granville Guilford Halifax Lee Montgomery Moore Nash Northampton Person Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Sampson Scotland Stokes Surry Vance Warren Wilson Yadkin South Carolina: Dillon Marion Marlboro Charlotte-Concord Survey Area North Carolina: Cabarrus Gaston Mecklenburg Rowan Union Area of Application. Survey area plus: North Carolina: Alexander Anson Burke Caldwell Catawba Cleveland Iredell Lincoln McDowell Stanly Wilkes South Carolina: Chester Chesterfield Lancaster York Southeastern North Carolina Survey Area North Carolina: Brunswick Carteret Columbus Craven Jones Lenoir New Hanover Onslow Pamlico Pender Area of Application. Survey area plus: North Carolina: Beaufort Bertie Duplin Greene Hyde Martin Pitt Washington NORTH DAKOTA North Dakota Survey Area Minnesota: Clay Polk North Dakota: Burleigh Cass Grand Forks McLean Mercer Morton Oliver Traill Ward Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Becker (does not include the White Earth Indian Reservation portion) Kittson Marshall Norman Otter Tail Pennington Red Lake Roseau Wilkin North Dakota: Adams Barnes Benson Billings Bottineau Bowman Burke Cavalier Dickey Divide Dunn Eddy Emmons Foster Golden Valley Grant Griggs Hettinger Kidder LaMoure Logan McHenry McIntosh McKenzie Mountrail Nelson Pembina Pierce Ramsey Ransom Renville Richland Rolette Sargent Sheridan Sioux Slope Stark Steele Stutsman Towner Walsh Wells Williams OHIO Cincinnati Survey Area Indiana: Dearborn Kentucky: Boone Campbell Kenton Ohio: Clermont Hamilton Warren Area of Application. Survey area plus: Indiana: Franklin Ohio Ripley Switzerland Union Kentucky: Bracken Carroll Gallatin Grant Lewis Mason Owen Pendleton Robertson Ohio: Adams Brown Butler Clinton Highland Cleveland-Akron-Canton Survey Area Ohio: Cuyahoga Geauga Lake Mahoning (effective for wage surveys beginning in April 2027) Medina Area of Application. Survey area plus: Ohio: Ashland Ashtabula Carroll Columbiana Coshocton Crawford Erie Holmes Huron Lorain Mahoning (effective until April 2027) Ottawa Portage Richland Sandusky Stark Summit Trumbull Tuscarawas Wayne Columbus-Marion-Zanesville Survey Area Ohio: Delaware Fairfield Franklin Licking Madison Pickaway Ross (effective for wage surveys beginning in January 2027) Area of Application. Survey area plus: Ohio: Athens Fayette Guernsey Hancock Hardin Hocking Knox Logan Marion Morgan Morrow Muskingum Noble Perry Pike Ross (effective until January 2027) Seneca Union Vinton Wyandot Dayton Survey Area Ohio: Champaign Clark Greene Miami Montgomery Preble Area of Application. Survey area plus: Ohio: Allen Auglaize Darke Mercer Shelby Van Wert OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City Survey Area Oklahoma: Canadian Cleveland McClain Oklahoma Pottawatomie Area of Application. Survey area plus: Oklahoma: Alfalfa Atoka Beckham Blaine Caddo Coal Custer Dewey Ellis Garfield Garvin Grady Grant Harper Hughes Johnston Kingfisher Lincoln Logan Major Marshall Murray Noble Payne Pontotoc Roger Mills Seminole Washita Woods Woodward Tulsa Survey Area Oklahoma: Creek Mayes Muskogee Osage Pittsburg Rogers Tulsa Wagoner Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arkansas: Benton Carroll Crawford Franklin (Only includes the Fort Chaffee portion) Madison Sebastian Washington Missouri: McDonald Oklahoma: Adair Cherokee Choctaw Craig Delaware Haskell Kay Latimer Le Flore McCurtain McIntosh Nowata Okfuskee Okmulgee Ottawa Pawnee Pushmataha Sequoyah Washington OREGON Portland-Vancouver-Salem Survey Area Oregon: Clackamas Marion Multnomah Polk Washington Washington: Clark Area of Application. Survey area plus: Oregon: Benton Clatsop Columbia Gilliam Hood River Linn Sherman Tillamook Wasco Yamhill Washington: Cowlitz Klickitat Skamania Wahkiakum Southwestern Oregon Survey Area Oregon: Douglas Jackson Lane Area of Application. Survey area plus: California: Del Norte Oregon: Coos Crook Curry Deschutes Jefferson Josephine Klamath Lake Lincoln PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg-York-Lebanon Survey Area Pennsylvania: Cumberland Dauphin Lebanon Union (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2026) York Area of Application. Survey area plus: Pennsylvania: Adams Clinton Juniata Lancaster Lycoming Mifflin Perry Snyder Union (effective until May 2026) Philadelphia-Reading-Camden Survey Area Delaware: Kent (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) New Castle (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) Maryland: Cecil (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) New Jersey: Burlington (Excluding the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst portion) Camden Gloucester Salem (effective for wage surveys beginning in October 2027) Pennsylvania: Bucks Chester Delaware Montgomery Philadelphia Area of Application. Survey area plus: Delaware: Kent (effective until October 2027) New Castle (effective until October 2027) Sussex Maryland: Cecil (effective until October 2027) Somerset Wicomico Worcester (Does not include the Assateague Island portion) New Jersey: Atlantic Cape May Cumberland Salem (effective until October 2027) Pennsylvania: Berks Schuylkill Pittsburgh Survey Area Pennsylvania: Allegheny Beaver Butler Cambria (effective for wage surveys beginning in July 2027) Washington Westmoreland Area of Application. Survey area plus: Ohio: Belmont Harrison Jefferson Pennsylvania: Armstrong Bedford Blair Cambria (effective until July 2027) Cameron Centre Clarion Clearfield Crawford Elk (Does not include the Allegheny National Forest portion) Erie Fayette Forest (Does not include the Allegheny National Forest portion) Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Lawrence Mercer Potter Somerset Venango West Virginia: Brooke Hancock Marshall Ohio Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Survey Area Pennsylvania: Lackawanna Luzerne Area of Application. Survey area plus: Pennsylvania: Bradford Columbia Montour Northumberland Sullivan Susquehanna Wyoming PUERTO RICO Puerto Rico Survey Area Puerto Rico (Municipios): Bayamón Canóvanas Carolina Cataño Guaynabo Humacao Loíza San Juan Toa Baja Trujillo Alto Area of Application. Puerto Rico SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston Survey Area South Carolina: Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Area of Application. Survey area plus: South Carolina: Colleton Georgetown Horry Williamsburg Columbia Survey Area South Carolina: Darlington Florence Kershaw Lee Lexington Richland Sumter Area of Application. Survey area plus: South Carolina: Abbeville Anderson Calhoun Cherokee Clarendon Fairfield Greenville Greenwood Laurens Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Saluda Spartanburg Union SOUTH DAKOTA Eastern South Dakota Survey Area South Dakota: Minnehaha Area of Application. Survey area plus: Iowa: Dickinson Emmet Lyon Osceola Minnesota: Jackson Lincoln Lyon Murray Nobles Pipestone Rock South Dakota: Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lincoln Lyman McCook McPherson Marshall Mellette Miner Moody Potter Roberts Sanborn Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Walworth Yankton Ziebach TENNESSEE Eastern Tennessee Survey Area Tennessee: Carter Hawkins Sullivan Unicoi Washington Virginia (city): Bristol Virginia (counties): Scott Washington Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kentucky: Harlan Letcher North Carolina: Alleghany Ashe Watauga Tennessee: Cocke Greene Hancock Johnson Virginia: Buchanan Grayson Lee Russell Smyth Tazewell Memphis Survey Area Arkansas: Crittenden Mississippi Mississippi: De Soto Tennessee: Shelby Tipton Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arkansas: Craighead Cross Lee Poinsett St. Francis Mississippi: Benton Lafayette (Only includes the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Marshall Panola Pontotoc (Only includes the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Tate Tippah Tunica Union (Only includes the Holly Springs National Forest portion) Missouri: Dunklin Pemiscot Tennessee: Carroll Chester Crockett Dyer Fayette Gibson Hardeman Hardin Haywood Lake Lauderdale Madison McNairy Obion Nashville Survey Area Kentucky: Christian Tennessee: Cheatham Davidson Dickson Montgomery Robertson Rutherford Sumner Williamson Wilson Area of Application. Survey area plus: Alabama: Jackson Georgia: Catossa Chattooga Dade Murray Walker Whitfield Illinois: Massac Kentucky: Adair Allen Ballard Barren Butler Caldwell Calloway Carlisle Clinton Cumberland Edmonson Fulton Graves Hickman Hopkins Livingston Logan Lyon McCracken Marshall Metcalfe Monroe Muhlenberg Russell Simpson Todd Trigg Warren Tennessee: Anderson Bedford Benton Bledsoe Blount Bradley Campbell Cannon Claiborne Clay Coffee Cumberland Decatur DeKalb Fentress Franklin Grainger Grundy Hamblen Hamilton Henderson Henry Hickman Houston Humphreys Jackson Jefferson Knox Lawrence Lewis Loudon McMinn Macon Marion Marshall Maury Meigs Monroe Moore Morgan Overton Perry Pickett Polk Putnam Rhea Roane Scott Sequatchie Sevier Smith Stewart Trousdale Union Van Buren Warren Weakley White TEXAS Austin Survey Area Texas: Hays Milam Travis Williamson Area of Application. Survey area plus: Texas: Bastrop Blanco Burnet Caldwell Fayette Lee Llano Mason San Saba Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice Survey Area Texas: Hidalgo (effective for wage surveys beginning in June 2026) Nueces San Patricio Area of Application. Survey area plus: Texas: Aransas Bee Brooks Calhoun Cameron Duval Goliad Hidalgo (effective until June 2026) Jim Wells Kenedy Kleberg Live Oak Refugio Starr Victoria Willacy Dallas-Fort Worth Survey Area Texas: Collin Dallas Denton Ellis Grayson Hood Johnson Kaufman Parker Rockwall Tarrant Wise Area of Application. Survey area plus: Oklahoma: Bryan Carter Love Texas: Cherokee Cooke Delta Erath Fannin Henderson Hill Hopkins Hunt Jack Lamar Montague Navarro Palo Pinto Rains Smith Somervell Van Zandt Wood El Paso Survey Area New Mexico: Dona Ana Otero Texas: El Paso Area of Application. Survey area plus: New Mexico: Chaves Eddy Grant Hidalgo Lincoln (Only includes the White Sands Missile Range portion) Luna Sierra Socorro (Only includes the White Sands Missile Range portion) Texas: Culberson Hudspeth Houston-Galveston-Texas City Survey Area Texas: Brazoria Fort Bend Galveston Harris Liberty Montgomery Waller Area of Application. Survey area plus: Texas: Angelina Austin Chambers Colorado Grimes Hardin Houston Jackson Jasper Jefferson Lavaca Madison Matagorda Nacogdoches Newton Orange Polk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto Shelby Trinity Tyler Walker Washington Wharton San Antonio Survey Area Texas: Bexar Comal Guadalupe Area of Application. Survey area plus: Texas: Atascosa Bandera DeWitt Dimmit Edwards Frio Gillespie Gonzales Jim Hogg Karnes Kendall Kerr Kinney La Salle McMullen Maverick Medina Real Uvalde Val Verde Webb Wilson Zapata Zavala Texarkana Survey Area Arkansas: Little River Miller Texas: Bowie Area of Application. Survey area plus: Arkansas: Columbia Hempstead Howard Lafayette Nevada Sevier Texas: Camp Cass Franklin Marion Morris Red River Titus Waco Survey Area Texas: Bell Coryell McLennan Area of Application. Survey area plus: Texas: Anderson Bosque Brazos Burleson Falls Freestone Hamilton Lampasas Leon Limestone Mills Robertson Western Texas Survey Area Texas: Callahan Ector Howard Jones Lubbock Midland Nolan Taylor Tom Green Area of Application. Survey area plus: New Mexico: Lea Oklahoma: Beaver Cimarron Texas Texas: Andrews Armstrong Bailey Borden Brewster Briscoe Brown Carson Castro Childress Cochran Coke Coleman Collingsworth Comanche Concho Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Dallam Dawson Deaf Smith Dickens Donley Eastland Fisher Floyd Gaines Garza Glasscock Gray Hale Hall Hansford Hartley Haskell Hemphill Hockley Hutchinson Irion Jeff Davis Kent Kimble King Lamb Lipscomb Loving Lynn McCulloch Martin Menard Mitchell Moore Motley Ochiltree Oldham Parmer Pecos Potter Presidio Randall Reagan Reeves Roberts Runnels Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Sherman Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Terrell Terry Throckmorton Upton Ward Wheeler Winkler Yoakum Wichita Falls, Texas-Southwestern Oklahoma Survey Area Oklahoma: Comanche Cotton Stephens Tillman Texas: Archer Clay Wichita Area of Application. Survey area plus: Oklahoma: Greer Harmon Jackson Jefferson Kiowa Texas: Baylor Foard Hardeman Knox Wilbarger Young UTAH Utah Survey Area Utah: Box Elder Davis Salt Lake Tooele Utah Weber Area of Application. Survey area plus: Colorado: Mesa Moffat Idaho: Franklin Utah: Beaver Cache Carbon Daggett Duchesne Emery Garfield (Does not include the Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Canyonlands National Parks portions) Grand (Does not include the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks portions) Iron (Does not include the Cedar Breaks National Monument and Zion National Park portions) Juab Millard Morgan Piute Rich Sanpete Sevier Summit Uintah Wasatch Wayne (Does not include the Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks portions) VIRGINIA Richmond Survey Area Virginia (cities): Colonial Heights Hopewell Petersburg Richmond Virginia (counties): Charles City Chesterfield Dinwiddie Goochland Hanover Henrico New Kent Powhatan Prince George Area of Application. Survey area plus: Virginia (cities): Charlottesville Emporia Virginia (counties): Albemarle (Does not include the Shenandoah National Park portion) Amelia Brunswick Buckingham Charlotte Cumberland Essex Fluvanna Greene (Does not include the Shenandoah National Park portion) Greensville King and Queen King William Lancaster Louisa Lunenburg Mecklenburg Nelson Northumberland Nottoway Prince Edward Richmond Sussex Roanoke Survey Area Virginia (cities): Radford Roanoke Salem Virginia (counties): Botetourt Craig Montgomery Roanoke Area of Application. Survey area plus: Virginia (cities): Buena Vista Covington Danville Galax Lexington Lynchburg Martinsville Staunton Waynesboro Virginia (counties): Alleghany Amherst Appomattox Augusta (Does not include the Shenandoah National Park portion) Bath Bedford Bland Campbell Carroll Floyd Franklin Giles Halifax Henry Highland Patrick Pittsylvania Pulaski Rockbridge Wythe Virginia Beach-Chesapeake Survey Area North Carolina: Currituck Pasquotank (effective for wage surveys beginning in May 2026) Virginia (cities): Chesapeake Hampton Newport News Norfolk Poquoson Portsmouth Suffolk Virginia Beach Williamsburg Virginia (counties): Gloucester James City York Area of Application. Survey area plus: Maryland: Worcester (Only includes the Assateague Island portion) North Carolina: Camden Chowan Dare Gates Hertford Pasquotank (effective until May 2026) Perquimans Tyrrell Virginia (city): Franklin Virginia (counties): Accomack Isle of Wight Mathews Middlesex Northampton Southampton Surry WASHINGTON Seattle-Tacoma Survey Area Washington: Island (effective for wage surveys beginning in September 2026) King Kitsap Pierce Snohomish Area of Application. Survey area plus: Washington: Chelan (Only includes the North Cascades National Park section) Clallam Grays Harbor Island (effective until September 2026) Jefferson Lewis Mason Pacific San Juan Skagit Thurston Whatcom Southeastern Washington-Eastern Oregon Survey Area Oregon: Umatilla Washington: Benton Franklin Walla Walla Yakima Area of Application. Survey area plus: Oregon: Baker Grant Harney Malheur Morrow Union Wallowa Wheeler Washington: Columbia Kittitas (Only includes the Yakima Firing Range portion) Spokane Survey Area Washington: Spokane Area of Application. Survey area plus: Idaho: Benewah Bonner Boundary Clearwater Idaho Kootenai Latah Lewis Nez Perce Shoshone Washington: Adams Asotin Chelan (Does not include the North Cascades National Park portion) Douglas Ferry Garfield Grant Kittitas (Does not include the Yakima Firing Range portion) Lincoln Okanogan Pend Oreille Stevens Whitman WEST VIRGINIA West Virginia Survey Area Kentucky: Boyd Greenup Ohio: Lawrence West Virginia: Cabell Harrison Kanawha Marion Monongalia Putnam Wayne Area of Application. Survey area plus: Kentucky: Carter Elliott Floyd Johnson Lawrence Magoffin Martin Pike Ohio: Gallia Jackson Meigs Monroe Scioto Washington Virginia (city): Norton Virginia (counties): Dickenson Wise West Virginia: Barbour Boone Braxton Calhoun Clay Doddridge Fayette Gilmer Grant Greenbrier Jackson Lewis Lincoln Logan McDowell Mason Mercer Mingo Monroe Nicholas Pendleton Pleasants Pocahontas Preston Raleigh Randolph Ritchie Roane Summers Taylor Tucker Tyler Upshur Webster Wetzel Wirt Wood Wyoming WISCONSIN Madison Survey Area Wisconsin: Dane Area of Application. Survey area plus: Wisconsin: Adams Columbia Grant Green Green Lake Iowa Lafayette Marquette Rock Sauk Waushara Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha Survey Area Wisconsin: Milwaukee Ozaukee Washington Waukesha Area of Application. Survey area plus: Wisconsin: Brown Calumet Dodge Door Fond du Lac Jefferson Kewaunee Manitowoc Menominee Oconto Outagamie Racine Shawano Sheboygan Walworth Winnebago Southwestern Wisconsin Survey Area Wisconsin: Chippewa Eau Claire La Crosse Monroe Trempealeau Area of Application. Survey area plus: Minnesota: Houston Wisconsin: Barron Buffalo Clark Crawford Dunn Forest Jackson Juneau Langlade Lincoln Marathon Oneida Pepin Portage Price Richland Rusk Taylor Vernon Vilas Waupaca Wood WYOMING Wyoming Survey Area South Dakota: Pennington Wyoming: Albany Laramie Natrona Area of Application. Survey area plus: Nebraska: Banner Box Butte Cheyenne Dawes Deuel Garden Kimball Morrill Scotts Bluff Sheridan Sioux South Dakota: Butte Custer Fall River Harding Jackson Lawrence Meade Oglala Lakota Perkins Wyoming: Campbell Carbon Converse Crook Fremont Goshen Hot Springs Johnson Lincoln Niobrara Platte Sheridan Sublette Sweetwater Uinta Washakie Weston [46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981] Editorial Note:For Federal Register citations affecting appendix C to subpart B of part 532, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and at www.govinfo.gov.

This appendix lists the wage area definitions for NAF employees. With a few exceptions, each area is defined in terms of county units or independent cities. Each wage area definition consists of:

(1) Wage area title. Wage areas usually carry the title of the county or counties surveyed.

(2) Survey area definition. Lists each county or independent city in the survey area.

(3) Area of application definition. Lists each county or independent city which, in addition to the survey area, is in the area of application.

Definitions of Wage Areas and Wage Area Survey Areas [75 FR 49351, Aug. 13, 2010, as amended at 76 FR 9640, Feb. 22, 2011; 76 FR 31786, June 2, 2011; 76 FR 53046, Aug. 25, 2011; 77 FR 28472, May 15, 2012; 78 FR 29612, May 21, 2013; 78 FR 60181, 60182, Oct. 1, 2013; 82 FR 40669, Aug. 28, 2017; 82 FR 41321, Aug. 31, 2017; 84 FR 49942, Sept. 24, 2019; 85 FR 19377, Apr. 7, 2020; 89 FR 67519, Aug. 21, 2024; 89 FR 67829, Aug. 22, 2024; 89 FR 93147, Nov. 26, 2024; 89 FR 100721, Dec. 13, 2024; 90 FR 43366, Sept. 9, 2025]