Help & Reference
Background reading on Foreign Service pay, allowances, and retirement — useful context for getting the most out of the calculators.
Foreign Service Pay
Foreign Service Salary: How Diplomatic Pay Actually Works
Base salary, Overseas Comparability Pay, post allowances, and what actually drives total compensation overseas.
Post Allowances
Foreign Service Post Allowances: Hardship Pay, Danger Pay, and COLA Explained
How hardship differential, danger pay, and Post Allowance (COLA) work — what each is, how each is calculated, and how they interact.
Foreign Service Retirement
Foreign Service Retirement: How the FSPS Pension Formula Works
The FSPS pension formula, what counts toward your High-3, and why hardship and danger pay don't build your retirement base.
Work Arrangements
DETO: Domestic Employee Teleworking Overseas Explained
What DETO is, who qualifies, how pay works for Foreign Service and Civil Service employees, what allowances you do and do not receive, and how the approval process works — per 3 FAM 2370 and OPM guidance.