Rates effective
01 JAN 2026 · CONUS

Basic Allowance for Housing by duty station, pay grade and dependency status. Official DoD rates, no login, no email.

Duty station or MHA
    Try Fort Liberty, Cavazos, Moore or a ZIP — old and unofficial names resolve.
    Or type your rank
    Dependents
    With $4,809Without $4,644

    O-2 at Boston draws $4,809 per month with dependents in 2026, $4,644 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/boston-ma/o-2/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Boston, MA
    O-2 · with dependents
    $4,809/ month
    $57,708 / year
    At O-2, this is #7 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,451 · low Youngstown $1,332
    MHA MA120 · ZIPs 01701 01702 01703 01704 01705 01721 +184 more
    Your grade is calledARMY1LTUSMC1stLtNAVYLTJGUSAF1st Lt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$6,165 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$4,644 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Boston — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareBoston · O-2 · $4,809/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,739/mo · $32,868/yr
    ▼ CUT$2,070−$24,840/yr · like −$31,846 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,451 / month
    San Francisco$5,451
    Nantucket$5,115
    New York City$5,094
    Northern New Jersey$5,049
    Santa Clara County$4,974
    Boston$4,809
    Long Island$4,770
    Maui County$4,767
    Martha's Vineyard$4,587
    Hanscom AFB$4,476
    Youngstown$1,332

    Boston is #7 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 Boston0 – $6,594 / month
    E-1$4,344
    E-2$4,344
    E-3$4,344
    E-4$4,344
    E-5$4,791
    E-6$4,812
    E-7$4,938
    E-8$5,079
    E-9$5,379
    W-1$4,827
    W-2$4,995
    W-3$5,169
    W-4$5,457
    W-5$5,805
    O-1E$4,962
    O-2E$5,142
    O-3E$5,511
    O-1$4,803
    O-2$4,809
    O-3$5,163
    O-4$5,928
    O-5$6,483
    O-6$6,540
    O-7$6,594

    Promoting to O-3 here adds $354 a month. The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.

    01

    Where you are stationed outweighs what you are paid. Moving from Boston to San Francisco at O-2 is worth $642 a month — about 2 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $354 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 4% here. That is a status your finance office determines, not a box you tick — and it is the single largest lever on this page that is not a change of address.

    03

    None of it is taxed. $4,809 a month of BAH takes more than $4,809 of basic pay to match, which is why comparing a civilian salary against military base pay alone understates the gap.

    Ad slot — in-content, after the answerPlaced below the number, never above it. VA-loan and PCS-move advertisers bid here.

    Things the rate table doesn't 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.