Government Salary Grade Table Explained: SG 1 to SG 33

TL;DR: The Salary Grade table in effect since January 1, 2026 is the Third Tranche Monthly Salary Schedule under Executive Order No. 64, s. 2024, published by the DBM in National Budget Circular No. 601. It runs from SG 1, Step 1 (₱14,634) to SG 33, Step 2 (₱462,329), with 8 steps per grade in between. A DepEd Teacher I sits at SG 11 (₱31,705), a government Nurse I at SG 15 (₱42,178) by law, and a DPWH Engineer I at SG 12 (₱33,947). Police, military, and other uniformed personnel are not on this table — they follow a separate base pay schedule. A fourth and final tranche is due January 1, 2027.

Filipinos search "salary grading in the Philippines" for very different reasons: a jobseeker checking what a plantilla item actually pays, a reviewee estimating what a passed board exam is worth in government service, or a parent gauging whether teaching or nursing is a stable career path. This guide lays out the current Salary Grade (SG) 1 to 33 table exactly as published by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), explains how the step system works, and shows which real government jobs sit at which grade — sourced strictly from DBM circulars and the laws that assign specific professions to specific grades.

What Is the Salary Grade System?

The Salary Grade system is the government's standardized pay classification under Republic Act No. 6758 (the Compensation and Position Classification Act of 1989), later updated by Executive Order No. 64, s. 2024. Every civilian government position — from a Clerk I to a Department Secretary — is assigned to one of 33 numbered grades, and every grade has a fixed monthly salary schedule that applies uniformly across agencies, so a Teacher I in Batanes and a Teacher I in Davao are paid the same base rate.

EO 64 rolled out an updated schedule in four tranches from FY 2024 to FY 2027, adjusting rates upward each year without changing which position sits at which grade. The rates below are the third tranche, effective January 1, 2026, under DBM National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 601, dated January 22, 2026.

Disclaimer: salary figures change with each tranche and can be revised by subsequent DBM issuances. Always confirm current rates against the latest National Budget Circular on dbm.gov.ph before budgeting around a specific number.

The Full Salary Grade Table (SG 1-33), Effective January 1, 2026

Below is the complete Step 1 and Step 8 monthly basic salary for every grade, taken directly from Annex A of NBC No. 601. Steps 2 through 7 fall between these two figures in even increments; SG 33 (reserved for the very highest executive positions) only has two published steps.

Note the jump between SG 30 and SG 31 — that gap separates rank-and-file and mid-level supervisory positions from the highest career executive and appointive posts (bureau directors, undersecretaries, and above).

How Does the Step System Work?

Each salary grade has 8 steps, and a step increment is earned roughly every 3 years of satisfactory service in the same position, per the standard step-increment rules DBM applies alongside each tranche. Step 1 is what a brand-new hire receives on day one. An employee who stays in the same plantilla item without promotion keeps moving up the step ladder — never the grade — until reaching Step 8, the ceiling for that position.

A promotion, by contrast, moves an employee to a higher grade, generally landing at whichever step in the new grade is closest to (but not lower than) their prior salary. This is why two people with the same job title can be paid differently: one might be a newly promoted Step 1 while a tenured colleague is already at Step 6 or 7.

Which Government Jobs Sit at Which Salary Grade?

Salary grade assignments come from each agency's approved staffing pattern and, for a handful of professions, directly from law. A sample of common jobs, cross-checked against the official Step 1 rates above:

Two professions are worth calling out specifically because a law, not just an agency staffing pattern, fixes the grade: Section 32 of RA 9173 (the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002) states plainly that "the minimum base pay of nurses working in the public health institutions shall not be lower than salary grade 15," and DBM Budget Circular No. 2020-4 (July 17, 2020) formally implemented that upgrade for the Nurse I position after it had sat at SG 11 for years. See our full nurse salary in the Philippines and teacher salary in the Philippines breakdowns for the complete pay picture including allowances and bonuses.

What Salary Grade Table Does NOT Cover

The civilian SG 1-33 schedule in NBC No. 601 explicitly excludes:

• Military and uniformed personnel — the PNP, AFP, BFP, and BJMP are paid under their own base pay schedule, most recently updated by Executive Order No. 107, s. 2025, which set a Patrolman/Patrolwoman's monthly base pay at ₱31,151 starting January 1, 2026. Their ranks do not map onto SG 1-33 in the way civilian positions do.
• Agencies exempt from RA 6758 that run their own DBM- and President-approved compensation system.
• GOCCs covered by the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) under RA 10149 and EO 95, s. 2025, which use a separate compensation framework (IOS-G).
• Consultants, job order/contract-of-service workers, student workers, and pakyaw laborers, who are not covered by any salary grade since they have no employer-employee relationship with the government.

If you're comparing "how much does a police officer make" against "how much does a teacher make," you're comparing two entirely different pay systems, not two rows of the same table.

What's on Top of Basic Salary?

The salary grade figure is basic pay only. On top of it, most civilian government employees also receive:

• PERA (Personnel Economic Relief Allowance) — a flat ₱2,000/month, unchanged since 2010 despite several unpassed bills seeking to raise it.
• Mid-year bonus — one month's basic salary, released around May 15 to employees who rendered at least 4 aggregate months of service in the qualifying period and remain in service.
• Year-end bonus plus cash gift — one month's basic salary as of October 31, plus a ₱5,000 cash gift, released starting mid-November.
• Mandatory deductions: GSIS (Section 5 of RA 8291 sets a 9% member share and a 12% employer share of monthly compensation, with the member share falling to 2% on compensation above the maximum average monthly compensation limit the GSIS Board sets — check your payslip or GSIS for the limit currently in force), PhilHealth (5% of basic pay split 2.5%/2.5%, per RA 11223, floor ₱500 and ceiling ₱5,000/month), and Pag-IBIG (2% employee/2% employer, capped at ₱200/month each because the Maximum Fund Salary is fixed at ₱10,000 under HDMF Circular No. 460).
• Job-specific allowances — hazard pay and subsistence allowance for public health workers under RA 7305, the ₱10,000/year teaching allowance for public school teachers under RA 11997, and similar add-ons that exist only for certain professions.

How to Use This Table When Job Hunting or Budgeting

• Match the plantilla item, not just the job title. "Administrative Officer" can sit anywhere from SG 8 to SG 24 depending on the roman-numeral level and agency; ask HR for the exact SG before assuming a number.
• Separate basic pay from take-home pay. GSIS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG deductions plus withholding tax reduce what actually lands in the bank each payday; PERA, the teaching allowance, and Magna Carta allowances are added back on top and generally aren't taxed the same way basic salary is.
• Track tranche dates. If you're planning finances around a promotion or a new government job, remember the fourth and final EO 64 tranche is scheduled for January 1, 2027 — rates will rise again before then.
• Confirm law-mandated grades directly. For nursing and a short list of other professions, the salary grade is fixed by statute, not just agency discretion — cite the specific law (like RA 9173) if an agency tries to pay below it.
• If you're aiming for a rank-and-file national government post rather than a specific licensed profession like teaching or nursing, most entry-level items still require passing the Civil Service Exam first — see our Civil Service Exam guide and tips on how to pass it before applying.

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Sources

• DBM National Budget Circular No. 601, s. 2026 — Third Tranche Salary Schedule (official PDF)
• Executive Order No. 64, s. 2024 — Official Gazette
• Executive Order No. 64, s. 2024 — full text, LawPhil
• Republic Act No. 9173, Sec. 32 — Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, LawPhil
• DBM — Guidelines on the Upgrade of Nurse II Salary Grade (Budget Circular No. 2021-2)
• Republic Act No. 8291, Sec. 5 — GSIS Act of 1997, schedule of contributions, LawPhil
• PIA — PhilHealth sets 5% premium contribution rate for 2026
• HDMF Circular No. 460 — Pag-IBIG contribution rate summary
• PNP 2026 base pay under EO No. 107, s. 2025 — reporting summary