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.
O-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,451 / month
San Francisco$5,451
Ogden$2,226
Provo$2,226
Corpus Christi$2,214
Cheyenne$2,211
Coos Bay$2,211
Rapid City$2,208
County Cost Group 790$2,205
Des Moines$2,205
Indianapolis$2,205
Nellis AFB$2,205
Bismarck$2,196
Baton Rouge$2,190
Fort Huachuca$2,190
Mountain Home AFB$2,181
Kansas City$2,172
Toledo$2,163
Jackson$2,160
Fort Gordon$2,154
Kings Bay$2,154
El Centro$2,148
Lexington$2,148
Youngstown$1,332
Bismarck is #202 of 338. The spread between the
dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,119 a month —
$49,428 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at Bismarck0 – $2,409 / month
E-1$1,500
E-2$1,500
E-3$1,500
E-4$1,500
E-5$1,596
E-6$2,202
E-7$2,262
E-8$2,328
E-9$2,376
W-1$2,223
W-2$2,289
W-3$2,373
W-4$2,379
W-5$2,385
O-1E$2,271
O-2E$2,358
O-3E$2,382
O-1$1,674
O-2$2,196
O-3$2,370
O-4$2,388
O-5$2,391
O-6$2,397
O-7$2,409
The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.
Moving from Bismarck to San Francisco at O-2
is worth $3,255 a month — about 19 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.