SSC GD Salary 2026: Pay Level 3, Posts and Forces (BSF, CISF, CRPF, SSB, ITBP, AR, SSF)

SSC GD is one exam, but it fills posts in seven different organisations. A common question is whether the salary changes with the force you get. For basic pay, it does not. This page covers the pay level in the 2026 notice, the forces and posts, the force-wise vacancies, and how allowances are added to basic pay.

SSC GD pay level and basic pay

Paragraph 2 of the notice is one line: Pay Level 3 (₹21,700 to ₹69,100) for all the posts.

What that means for you:

• Starting basic pay is ₹21,700 a month. This is the lowest point of the Level 3 range given in the notice.
• ₹69,100 is the top of the Level 3 range. Annual increments move your basic pay up within the level.
• The level is the same in every force. A constable in CISF and a rifleman in Assam Rifles both start at Level 3. Your force decides where you serve and what duty-linked allowances you may get, not your basic pay.

Forces and posts covered by SSC GD 2026

The notice says SSC will recruit to two kinds of post:

• Constable (General Duty) in the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Secretariat Security Force (SSF).
• Rifleman (General Duty) in Assam Rifles (AR).

When you apply, you must rank all seven forces in order of preference. The notice codes them BSF (A), CISF (B), CRPF (C), SSB (D), ITBP (E), Assam Rifles (F) and SSF (H). Your force is allocated on merit in the computer based exam, including NCC bonus marks, combined with the order you gave. SSC will not accept a request to change the order after applications close, so think about it before you submit.

Some articles online also mention Sepoy in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). NCB is not among the seven forces in the 2026 notice. Check any force list you read against the current notice.

Force-wise vacancies in SSC GD 2026

The notice gives 25,487 tentative vacancies: 23,467 for men and 2,020 for women.

A few points from the notice about these numbers:

• They are tentative. State-wise, force-wise, gender-wise and category-wise details are on the SSC website under For Candidates, Tentative Vacancy. Any change is announced there.
• CISF has the largest share, at 14,595 of the 25,487 posts.
• SSB and SSF have no vacancies for women in this notice.
• SSF posts are filled on an all-India basis. Posts in the other forces are filled against the vacancies of each State/UT, with some earmarked for border guarding districts and militancy/Naxal affected districts.
• 10% of vacancies are earmarked for Ex-Servicemen. If suitable ESM candidates are not found, those posts go to other candidates of the same category.

How the monthly pay is built

Your gross pay is basic pay plus allowances. The two largest are worked out as a percentage of basic.

• Dearness Allowance (DA): the Union Cabinet raised DA to 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026, an increase of 2 percentage points over the earlier 58% (PIB release, 18 April 2026). The Department of Expenditure has since issued an order revising DA rates from 1 July 2026; check that order for the current rate. DA is revised for January and July each year, so any figure here will change.
• House Rent Allowance (HRA): depends on the class of city (X, Y or Z). In its 2017 decision on 7th CPC allowances, the Government linked HRA rates to DA, with upward revisions when DA crosses 25% and again when it crosses 50%. The same decision set a minimum HRA of ₹5,400, ₹3,600 and ₹1,800 for X, Y and Z cities. We have not given a current HRA percentage because we could not confirm it from an official source. Whether HRA applies to you depends on your posting and accommodation, which the notice does not cover.
• Duty-linked allowances for CAPFs: the 2017 decision placed allowances such as High Altitude Allowance, Field Area Allowance, Counter Insurgency Operations Allowance and the COBRA allowance for CRPF in a Risk and Hardship Matrix. They are paid only where your posting qualifies, and we could not confirm the current rates from an official order, so we have not listed amounts here. The same decision extended one additional free railway warrant to CAPF personnel.

Basic pay and DA at the start of Level 3

To use a newer DA rate, multiply ₹21,700 by that rate and add the result to ₹21,700.

Why there is no in-hand figure here

In-hand pay is gross pay minus deductions such as the pension contribution, insurance and income tax. It also depends on your city, posting and the allowances your unit draws. Two constables in the same batch can have different in-hand pay for these reasons, so treat any single in-hand number you see online as an estimate. Your first pay slip will show the real figure.

Things in the notice that affect your career

• You can be posted anywhere in India. The notice says selected candidates are liable to serve anywhere in the country.
• Joining may happen in phases. Appointment depends on training seats in each force, so candidates may be appointed in batches.
• Service rules come from your force. Joining, seniority, training and other in-service matters are governed by the rules of the organisation you are allocated to, not by SSC.
• There is no waiting list. SSC does not keep a reserve list after the final result.

Who can apply

To compare the salary with what the exam asks of you, here are the basic conditions from the notice:

• Education: Matriculation or Class 10 passed on or before 1 January 2026.
• Age: 18 to 23 years on 1 January 2026, with relaxation of 5 years for SC/ST and 3 years for OBC, among others.
• Domicile: you must give a domicile or permanent residence certificate for the State/UT you named in your application, because vacancies are State/UT-wise.
• Selection stages: computer based exam, then PST/PET, then medical examination and document verification. About 8 times the number of vacancies are called for PET/PST. Our SSC GD physical standards guide covers the height, chest and race rules.

What changes your pay later

• Annual increments move you up the Level 3 column.
• DA revisions happen for January and July each year.
• Promotion: the next rank, its pay level and when you become eligible are set by your force's rules, not by the SSC notice, so we have not given a timeline.

Start with the written exam

The pay is the same in every force, but which force you get depends on your CBE merit and your preference order. Your CBE score is the one thing you can work on directly. Take SSC GD Full Mock 1, free to see where you stand in each section, and find more mocks and guides on the SSC GD page.