Pick a station below to see what the move is worth a year, before tax.
Orders rarely arrive as one option — add several and rank them.
Comparison uses with-dependents rates. Differences are annual and untaxed.
Rate protection is not applied — a PCS resets you to the new location's current-year rate.
E-5 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,127 / month
San Francisco$5,127
Fort Stewart$2,310
Phoenix$2,289
Volusia County$2,286
Cincinnati$2,283
Pittsburgh$2,283
Dover AFB$2,277
Hampton$2,274
Fort Collins$2,268
Nashville$2,268
County Cost Group 830$2,250
Austin$2,241
Asheville$2,214
Buffalo$2,214
Rochester$2,214
Albuquerque$2,211
Dahlonega$2,208
Brunswick$2,205
Coastal Maine$2,193
Houston$2,193
Eugene$2,187
Knoxville$2,184
Anniston$1,185
Austin is #133 of 338. The spread between the
dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,942 a month —
$47,304 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at Austin0 – $4,161 / month
E-1$2,046
E-2$2,046
E-3$2,046
E-4$2,046
E-5$2,241
E-6$2,802
E-7$3,039
E-8$3,294
E-9$3,558
W-1$2,826
W-2$3,141
W-3$3,456
W-4$3,597
W-5$3,771
O-1E$3,087
O-2E$3,408
O-3E$3,624
O-1$2,313
O-2$2,796
O-3$3,447
O-4$3,825
O-5$4,095
O-6$4,131
O-7$4,161
The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.
Moving from Austin to San Francisco at E-5
is worth $2,886 a month — about 5 promotions at this grade.
Where you are stationed outweighs rank, by a lot.
What the rate table does not tell you
01
“With dependents” is a dependency
status, not a marital status. A single member paying child support can be authorized
BAH-Diff; a married dual-military couple with no children is not automatically the
with-dependents rate for both. If your situation is unusual, your finance office decides —
not this table.
02
O-8, O-9 and O-10 draw the same BAH as
O-7. The table stops there for a reason, not because it is missing rows.
03
This is CONUS BAH only. Overseas is OHA,
which works differently — it reimburses actual rent up to a cap, with separate utility and
move-in allowances. Alaska and Hawaii are BAH; Germany, Japan and Korea are OHA.