BAH Calculator

Basic Allowance for Housing is set by three things: your pay grade, the ZIP code of your permanent duty station, and whether you have dependents. This calculator looks up the official 2026 rate for twelve of the largest duty stations, from Fort Bragg and Fort Bliss to San Diego, Honolulu and New York City, and shows the monthly and annual amount along with the rate for the other dependency status.

Every figure comes from the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) BAH rate lookup for 2026, read cell by cell for all 24 pay grades, with and without dependents; the rates took effect on January 1, 2026. Each ZIP code belongs to a Military Housing Area (MHA), and the Department of Defense sets the rate for the whole area from a survey of local rents, average utilities and renter's insurance for the housing typical of each grade. There is no national formula or rank multiplier: an E-5 with dependents receives $1,806 a month at Fort Bragg and $5,127 in San Francisco.

The rate is paid in full whatever your actual rent, so a cheaper lease leaves money over and a pricier one comes out of pocket; since 2015 the rates have deliberately left a small share of housing costs to the member. BAH is separate from OHA, which covers members stationed overseas, and members living in government quarters generally do not receive it. For a duty station not on the list, the DoD BAH calculator returns the official figure for any ZIP code, and rate protection keeps your current rate if your area's rate falls while you stay at the same station.