BAH · calculator
BAH calculator 2026
Enter the ZIP code of your permanent duty station, your grade and whether you have dependents: the calculator reads the official 2026 rate and shows every grade of the housing area.
BAH 2026 per month, San Diego, CA
$3,975
Without dependents: $3,147. $47,700 a year, tax free.
| E-1 | $3,666 with · $2,763 without |
| E-4 | $3,666 with · $2,763 without |
| E-5 (you) | $3,975 with · $3,147 without |
| E-6 | $4,404 with · $3,387 without |
| E-7 | $4,446 with · $3,678 without |
| E-9 | $4,671 with · $4,188 without |
| W-2 | $4,464 with · $4,062 without |
| O-1 | $4,032 with · $3,351 without |
| O-3 | $4,518 with · $4,248 without |
| O-4 | $5,082 with · $4,440 without |
| O-5 | $5,493 with · $4,458 without |
| O-6 | $5,541 with · $4,494 without |
DTMO 2026 BAH files: rate by military housing area, pay grade and dependency status. Rate protection keeps an older, higher rate for members already at the station. How this is calculated.
The Basic Allowance for Housing is set by three things: the ZIP code of your permanent duty station, your pay grade and whether you have dependents. In 2026 an E-5 with dependents receives anything from $1,185 a month in the lowest housing area, Anniston/Fort Mcclellan, AL, to $5,127 in the highest, San Francisco, CA, with a median around $2,058. The calculator below uses the files the Defense Travel Management Office publishes for 2026: 40,959 ZIP codes assigned to 338 military housing areas, and for each area a rate with dependents and a rate without dependents for every grade from E-1 to O-10. The rates took effect on January 1, 2026; they are designed to cover the median rent and average utilities of a home of the standard set for each grade, minus a 5% share members pay themselves. BAH is not taxed. Members in government quarters do not receive it, and members already at a station keep a higher 2025 rate through rate protection.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
What the calculator shows
After you type a ZIP code, the calculator finds its military housing area in the DTMO's ZIP code file, then reads the rate of your grade, with or without dependents. It also lists the rates of the other grades in the same area, so that you can see what a promotion would change. If the ZIP code is not in the file, which happens for some post office boxes and new ZIP codes, try the ZIP code of the main gate of your installation.
The housing standards behind each grade
The DoD prices each grade on a type of home. With dependents, junior enlisted members are priced on a two-bedroom townhouse, and the standard rises with grade to a detached house with four bedrooms for the most senior members. Without dependents, the standards are apartments and smaller homes. That is why, in many areas, the rates of E-1 to E-4 with dependents are identical, and why the single rate falls further behind the family rate where family homes are expensive.
Changes from 2025
Most areas rose for 2026, some fell. In San Diego the E-5 family rate went from $3,987 to $3,975; at Fort Hood from $1,581 to $1,695, 7.2% more; in San Antonio it went down, from $1,935 to $1,869. Pages for the large housing areas show every grade: San Diego, Norfolk, Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, JBLM, Washington DC and others. The full list of areas is on the BAH rates page.
BAH, basic pay and the GI Bill
BAH is one of three parts of regular military compensation; the military pay calculator adds basic pay and BAS. The same table also sets the Post-9/11 GI Bill housing allowance, which equals the E-5 with-dependents rate of the school's ZIP code: see the GI Bill housing allowance page.
Three cases the calculator does not cover
Members assigned overseas receive the overseas housing allowance, which reimburses actual rent up to a ceiling and is not part of the BAH files; Hawaii and Alaska, by contrast, have BAH rates like the rest of the country. Members on temporary duty keep the BAH of their permanent station. And partial BAH, a small amount paid to some single members living in government quarters, is a fixed national figure not shown here. For everything else, the rate in the calculator is the one finance offices apply.