Military pay · grade group
Warrant officer pay (W-1 to W-5) in 2026
The warrant officer pay table for 2026, why most warrant officers enter it high on the seniority scale, and what changes in allowances compared with the enlisted grades.
W-1 to W-5 basic pay in 2026
W-2, over 4
$5,286
| Per year | $63,432 |
| Before the 3.8% raise (approx.) | $5,092 |
| Per drill (1/30 of a month) | $176.20 |
A warrant officer 1 starts at $4,056.60 a month of basic pay in 2026, a chief warrant officer 2 with more than eight years earns $6,051, a CW3 with more than fourteen years $7,397.70, a CW4 with more than twenty years $9,228.90, and a CW5 reaches $13,308.30 at the top of the table, after the 3.8% raise of January 1, 2026. Warrant officers are technical and tactical specialists, such as Army aviators, Marine Corps gunners, Navy and Coast Guard technical experts; the Air Force reintroduced warrant officers in cyber and IT fields in 2024. Most come from the enlisted ranks after several years, and those years count for pay: a staff sergeant appointed W-1 with eight years of service is paid in the "over 8" column, not in the first one. Warrant officers receive the officer rate of BAS, $328.48, lower than the enlisted rate, and BAH at the warrant officer rates of their duty station.
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Warrant officer basic pay, 2026
| Years | W-1 | W-2 | W-3 | W-4 | W-5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 or less | $4,056.60 | $4,621.80 | $5,223.30 | $5,719.80 | n/a |
| Over 2 | $4,493.70 | $5,058.90 | $5,440.50 | $6,152.10 | n/a |
| Over 4 | $4,859.10 | $5,286 | $5,736.90 | $6,502.20 | n/a |
| Over 6 | $5,152.20 | $5,585.40 | $5,970.90 | $6,801.90 | n/a |
| Over 8 | $5,584.20 | $6,051 | $6,431.10 | $7,098 | n/a |
| Over 10 | $5,786.10 | $6,282.60 | $6,910.50 | $7,398 | n/a |
| Over 12 | $6,069.30 | $6,509.40 | $7,136.40 | $7,848.30 | n/a |
| Over 14 | $6,346.50 | $6,787.50 | $7,397.70 | $8,243.70 | n/a |
| Over 16 | $6,564.90 | $7,005 | $7,665.90 | $8,619.90 | n/a |
| Over 18 | $6,766.20 | $7,201.50 | $8,150.40 | $8,928.60 | n/a |
| Over 20 | $7,010.10 | $7,437 | $8,476.50 | $9,228.90 | $10,169.70 |
| Over 22 | $7,010.10 | $7,591.50 | $8,671.80 | $9,669.60 | $10,685.70 |
| Over 24 | $7,010.10 | $7,714.20 | $8,879.70 | $10,032 | $11,070.30 |
| Over 26 | $7,010.10 | $7,714.20 | $9,162.60 | $10,445.40 | $11,495.10 |
| Over 30 | $7,010.10 | $7,714.20 | $9,162.60 | $10,653.60 | $12,070.80 |
Entering the table in the middle
The warrant officer table is designed for people who arrive with experience. An Army aviator who enters flight school straight from civilian life starts at the "2 or less" column, $4,056.60, but a sergeant first class with twelve years who is appointed W-1 starts at $6,069.30, because the pay entry base date includes the enlisted years. Promotion to CW2 normally follows two years after appointment, which moves that same member to $6,787.50 at fourteen years of service. Warrant officers with long enlisted careers therefore reach the upper columns of the W-3 and W-4 rows by the time they retire.
The same rule makes comparisons with enlisted pay tricky. At ten years, the W-2 rate is $6,282.60 and the E-7 rate $5,300.40; at twenty years, a CW3 earns $8,476.50 and an E-8 $6,995.40. The warrant path pays more, but the real difference also depends on how long each career lasts and on bonuses, such as aviation incentive pay, that this page does not include.
Allowances: officer BAS, warrant BAH
The subsistence allowance of warrant officers is the officer rate, $328.48 in 2026, against $476.95 for enlisted members, a difference of $148.47 a month. The housing allowance has its own warrant officer columns in the DTMO file. With dependents in Norfolk, a W-1 receives $2,574, a W-3 $2,697 and a W-5 $3,000; the BAH calculator gives the rate at any ZIP code.
W-1 to W-5 in each service
The Army has the largest warrant officer corps, from WO1 to CW5, in aviation and in technical fields. The Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard appoint chief warrant officers mostly from senior enlisted ranks, with W-1 used little or not at all in some of them. The Air Force, which had not appointed warrant officers since the late 1950s, reintroduced them in 2024 for cyber and information technology specialties. All are paid from the same DFAS table. For the grades many warrant officers come from, see the E-7 to E-9 page; for officers with prior enlisted service, the O-1E to O-3E page.
Retirement for warrant officers
A warrant officer can retire after twenty years of total service, enlisted years included. High-3 and BRS work the same way as for other members, and a member who held a higher grade earlier, enlisted or officer, can in some cases be advanced on the retired list. The military retirement calculator starts from the W-grade of your choice.