Top Most Dangerous Assignments in the Foreign Service

The danger pay allowance is designed to provide additional compensation above basic compensation to all U.S. Government civilian employees, including Chiefs of Mission, for service at places in foreign areas where there exist conditions of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism or wartime conditions which threaten physical harm or imminent danger to the health or well-being of an employee. These conditions do not include acts characterized chiefly as economic crime.

Below is a list of the top most dangerous assignments in the Foreign Service; alphabetic list based on government danger pay rates as of July 2009. See this document for the danger pay factors used by State.

35%

AFGHANISTAN: Kabul, Other

IRAQ: Baghdad, Northern Iraq, Other

PAKISTAN: Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar

30%

LEBANON: Beirut, Other

YEMEN: Sanaa, Other

25%

ALGERIA: Other

JERUSALEM: West Bank

PAKISTAN: Lahore, Quetta

SAUDI ARABIA: Taif, Jeddah

SOMALIA: Mogadishu, Other

SUDAN: Juba, Khartoum, Other

20%

BURUNDI: Bujumbura

HAITI: Cap Haitien, Petionville, Port-au-Prince, Other

ISRAEL: Karmi'el, Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM: Jerusalem

KOSOVO: Pristina, Other

SAUDI ARABIA: Al-Khobar, Dammam, Dhahran Area

See the FAQ on Danger Pay (Also see DSSR Chapter 650). To view the full list of danger posts with its allowances, click here.