Guide
How BAH is calculated
BAH pays the median local rent plus average utilities for the kind of home civilians with similar incomes rent, minus a 5% cost share. It is set by duty station, pay grade and whether you have dependents. Everything below is from DTMO's BAH primer (January 2026) and fact sheet.
The three inputs
- Duty station ZIP code. DTMO maps every U.S. ZIP code to one of about 300 military housing areas (MHAs) or, outside them, a county cost group. The rate follows the duty station, not where you live.
- Pay grade. Each grade is tied to a housing standard, from a 1-bedroom apartment to a 4-bedroom single-family home.
- Dependency status. With or without at least one dependent. The number of dependents does not matter.
What the rate is built from
Each year DTMO collects rental data for each MHA: the median rent of adequate units and average utility costs (electricity, heating fuel, water and sewer). Only rental housing counts; mortgages and property taxes are not part of the calculation. Data collection targets the neighbourhoods where service members actually live, excludes high-crime areas, and is screened against incomes comparable to each grade.
Housing standards by grade
DTMO prices six housing profiles and interpolates between "anchor" grades. For a grade between anchors, the rate is the lower anchor's cost plus the "step" percentage of the gap to the next anchor. The BAH primer's example: an E-7 with dependents gets the E-6 cost (3br townhouse) plus 36% of the difference up to the W-3 cost (3br single-family home).
| Grade | With dependents | Step | Without dependents | Step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-1 to E-4 | 2br, midpoint of apartment and townhouse | 1br apartment | anchor (E-4) | |
| E-5 | 2br townhouse | anchor | 1br apartment | 67% |
| E-6 | 3br townhouse | anchor | 2br apartment | 7% |
| E-7 | 3br townhouse | 36% | 2br apartment | 53% |
| E-8 | 3br townhouse | 75% | 2br townhouse | 20% |
| E-9 | 3br single-family | 16% | 2br townhouse | 51% |
| W-1 | 3br townhouse | 1% | 2br apartment | 31% |
| W-2 | 3br townhouse | 52% | 2br townhouse | 19% |
| W-3 | 3br single-family | anchor | 2br townhouse | 54% |
| W-4 | 3br single-family | 22% | 3br townhouse | 9% |
| W-5 | 3br single-family | 48% | 3br townhouse | 45% |
| O-1E | 3br townhouse | 44% | 2br townhouse | anchor |
| O-2E | 3br townhouse | 93% | 2br townhouse | 44% |
| O-3E | 3br single-family | 26% | 3br townhouse | anchor |
| O-1 | 2br townhouse | 11% | 2br apartment | anchor |
| O-2 | 2br townhouse | 98% | 2br apartment | 83% |
| O-3 | 3br townhouse | 98% | 2br townhouse | 64% |
| O-4 | 3br single-family | 58% | 3br townhouse | 40% |
| O-5 | 4br single-family | anchor | 3br townhouse | 63% |
| O-6 | 4br single-family | 1% | 3br single-family | anchor |
| O-7 | 4br single-family | 2% | 3br single-family | 2% |
br = bedroom. O-1E to O-3E: officers with more than four years of prior enlisted or warrant service. Source: BAH primer, "BAH housing standards and interpolation between anchor points".
Two adjustments
75% floor. Any without-dependents rate below 75% of the with-dependents rate for the same area and grade is raised to 75%.
5% cost sharing. Since 2019 rates are set so members in the same grade and dependency status pay the same average out-of-pocket amount everywhere: 5% of the national mean rate for that grade. The 2026 amounts:
| Grade | With dependents | Without |
|---|---|---|
| E-1 | $115 | $93 |
| E-2 | $115 | $93 |
| E-3 | $115 | $93 |
| E-4 | $115 | $93 |
| E-5 | $126 | $110 |
| E-6 | $141 | $114 |
| E-7 | $144 | $120 |
| E-8 | $151 | $134 |
| E-9 | $160 | $139 |
| W-1 | $123 | $92 |
| W-2 | $146 | $123 |
| W-3 | $154 | $136 |
| W-4 | $161 | $147 |
| W-5 | $166 | $148 |
| O-1E | $151 | $129 |
| O-2E | $153 | $135 |
| O-3E | $163 | $147 |
| O-1 | $118 | $104 |
| O-2 | $134 | $118 |
| O-3 | $151 | $138 |
| O-4 | $176 | $157 |
| O-5 | $193 | $164 |
| O-6 | $201 | $175 |
| O-7+ | $212 | $187 |
Rate protection
If an area's rate falls, members already there keep the higher of the new rate or the amount received on 31 December, unless they PCS, are reduced in grade or change dependency status. Promotions do not end protection.
Places outside a housing area
BAH exists for every ZIP code. For counties outside the MHAs, DTMO groups all U.S. counties by rental cost using HUD Fair Market Rent data into 39 county cost groups, then sets each group's rates from the MHA data linked to it. About half of U.S. counties use a county cost group rate, but they hold less than 2% of service members. County cost group rates.
Timeline
Most rental data is collected during the peak PCS season in the spring and summer. Rates are then computed, reviewed by the services, and published in December to take effect on 1 January.
Related
Sources
- Defense Travel Management Office, BAH rates, all locations and all pay grades, 2026 (ASCII files), BAH Rate Lookup. Downloaded 2026-10-08.
- DTMO, 2025 and earlier rate files (same page), used for year-over-year change.
- DTMO, BAH Primer, January 2026 edition.
- DTMO, BAH Fact Sheet.
- DTMO, 2026 BAH national cost-sharing amounts (supplemental documents on the BAH Rate Lookup page).