Levels and grades work differently for every state. The one constant is that the higher the grade, the higher the pay. Levels are different also. A Level one in some states can be higher than a level two but in other states it can be the opposite.

Some departments within the same government agency will add anagrams into the mix. For example, the agency that I worked at had the County Attorney and the County Public Defender. The County Attorney listed their levels as "Legal Secretary 1, Legal Secretary 2, etc" (with the lower number as the lower grade) and the Public Defender listed their levels as "L.O.S.S. 1, L.O.S.S. 2, etc." (with the higher number as the higher grade) (In case you are wondering, LOSS stood for Legal Office Support Specialist as opposed to Litigation Office Support Specialist which were clerical jobs such as receptionist and file clerk)

Go on-line to you state' s jobs human resources section and there should be a section (probably hidden by a link) that will give you the listing of jobs with their grades/levels.