Despite Steep Costs of Living, Yosemite Park Employees Are About to See Their Wages Drop

The new year may bring significant pay cuts for workers at Yosemite National Park. Part-time staffers involved in everything from sanitation to trail maintenance could see their hourly rates fall by several dollars.

In a statement posted on Instagram on December 11, the National Federation of Federal Employees’ (NFFE) Local 465, a union representing Yosemite and four nearby national parks, said that federal employees were notified of the upcoming changes on November 21.

New park employees hired after January 1, 2026, as well as those who change roles or receive promotions after that date, could have their wages impacted. The changes are due to federal shifts in locality pay, a percentage typically added to federal employees’ base wages designed to offset cost-of-living differences in more expensive areas.

Yosemite National Park was previously included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland pay locality region, which offers a 46 percent increase over the government’s base rate, according to the FederalPay.org tracking website. This means that park employees working there would make 46 percent more than those in less expensive areas, for example. But after January 1, Yosemite will be included in the Fresno-Madera-Hanford locality region, where the increase over the base rate is just 17 percent.

In short, some employees could see their hourly wage drop by as much as $4.

At first, the cuts will only impact wage-grade (WG) workers. These seasonal park employees are largely paid hourly and hold blue-collar roles, such as janitors, trail workers, electricians, painters, and mechanics. A maintenance mechanic, for example, could see their hourly rate fall from $28.22 to $24.64. Although the cuts will hit wage-grade workers first, even salaried workers could feel the impacts should they change roles.

“Their pay is now effectively frozen,” the union said on social media. “Once the employee moves into a new position via a promotion or change in roles, they will see their pay scale fall to the new locality.”

This comes at a time when park rangers are already under severe strain due to budget cuts and layoffs. The union noted that, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s February executive order, agencies like the National Park Service may “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart,” which puts increasing pressure on part-time, seasonal staffers.

“The loss in pay and the pressure to fill gaps will likely result in added stress to the Yosemite WG workers, lower retention, fewer opportunities for workers to detail into different positions to gain career experience, and slower overall park operations,” the union said. “Our hard-working federal employees deserve better: a living wage, opportunities to grow, a sense of pride and worth serving their country. Our seasonals deserve better; they travel thousands of miles across the country to work in our parks, despite knowing they could make twice as much in the private sector, if not more.”

In an email sent to Bay Area NPR station KQED, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior (DOI) said the changes result from updates to locality areas in the Federal Wage System, created by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Most wage system employees will see a pay increase under the new structure, but Yosemite, one of the nation’s most heavily trafficked national parks, was among the exceptions.

“A small number of locations, including Yosemite, will see a decrease based on the updated OPM tables,” DOI told KQED. “We are coordinating with the Office of Human Capital to understand the impacts and to identify options that may help affected employees.”

It remains to be seen what options the DOI will identify to help the employees impacted by the reduced wages. Still, for a seasonal mechanic facing a pay cut of nearly $4 an hour in one of California’s most expensive regions, the solution can’t come soon enough.