SSC CGL Salary 2026: Posts List, Pay Levels and Approximate In-hand Pay

SSC CGL fills Group B and Group C posts across central ministries and departments. Every post sits on one level of the 7th Pay Commission pay matrix. The level fixes your starting basic pay. Allowances are then worked out from that basic pay. This page lists the 2026 posts by level and shows an approximate monthly salary for a new joiner in an X city, with the working shown.

SSC CGL 2026 posts list by pay level

These are the "likely posts" in the SSC CGL 2026 notice. The starting basic pay is the first figure in the pay range the notice gives for each level.

The notice puts tentative vacancies at about 12,256. SSC says post-wise and category-wise numbers will be put up on its website.

Some posts, such as CBIC Inspectors, CBI and NIA Sub Inspectors and NCB posts, have physical and medical standards. Check these in the notice before you fill your post preferences.

How SSC CGL salary is calculated

Your monthly pay has four main parts. All the rates below come from orders of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

• Basic pay: the cell of your pay level. A new joiner starts at the first cell.
• Dearness Allowance (DA): 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026, as per the DoE office memorandum dated 22 April 2026. DA is revised twice a year. At the time of writing (27 October 2026), the order for July 2026 had not been issued, so this page uses 60%.
• House Rent Allowance (HRA): a share of basic pay that depends on the class of the city where you are posted. Since DA has crossed 50%, the rates are 30% for X cities, 20% for Y cities and 10% for Z cities. X cities are those with a population of 50 lakh or more. HRA is not paid if you live in government accommodation.
• Transport Allowance (TA): for Levels 3 to 8, ₹3,600 plus DA in the cities listed in the DoE order (this includes Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune), and ₹1,800 plus DA elsewhere. At 60% DA, ₹3,600 becomes ₹5,760.

The main deduction is your pension contribution. New central government employees contribute 10% of basic pay plus DA under NPS, or under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) if they choose it. Other small deductions, such as group insurance and CGHS where it applies, vary by post and city.

Approximate in-hand salary in an X city

The upper end of each range is gross pay minus the 10% pension contribution on basic plus DA, rounded to the nearest ₹100. The lower end leaves about ₹1,000 for other small deductions. Income tax depends on your regime and any other income, so it is not included.

In a Y city, HRA falls to 20% of basic. TA also falls to ₹1,800 plus DA if the city is not on the higher-TA list. So the same post can pay several thousand rupees less outside the big cities.

Which is the highest paying SSC CGL post?

By pay level, the top posts are Assistant Audit Officer and Assistant Accounts Officer at Level 8. They start at ₹47,600 basic. Both are Group B gazetted posts under C&AG. Candidates shortlisted for these posts also write Paper III in Tier 2 (General Studies: Finance and Economics), in addition to Paper I.

Next come the Level 7 posts, which start at ₹44,900. Within a level, the basic pay and DA are the same for every post. What differs is the city you are posted to, the type of work, transfer patterns and promotion prospects. Many aspirants rank Inspector posts and ASO in the Central Secretariat highly for these reasons, not because the basic pay is higher.

What changes your pay later

• Annual increment: you move up one cell in your pay level each year.
• DA revisions: DA is reviewed every January and July.
• 8th Pay Commission: the Government set up the 8th Central Pay Commission by a resolution dated 3 November 2025. It has 18 months from its constitution to make recommendations. Until it reports and the Government accepts it, the 7th CPC pay matrix applies.

Getting to these posts starts with Tier 1

Your post depends on your Tier 2 rank and your post preferences. But first you need to clear Tier 1, which now has a 15-minute timer per section. See past SSC CGL cutoff figures to know the score you need, and read our sectional timing guide for a plan.

To check your current level, take SSC CGL Full Mock 1 free. It follows the 2026 pattern, and your report shows the score and time for each section.