Official data current

Charleston BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA WV323

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W-2 · With dependents
$1,812per month

$21,744 per year · federal tax-free allowance

Official DoD / DTMO rate · CONUS BAH, not an estimate

National position #313 of 338W-2 · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$2,323/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$126/mo · +7.5%2025 $1,686 → 2026 $1,812
W-2 rate selectedMHA WV323 ZIPs 25003 25011 25015 25025 25026 25033 +85
PCS compare Charleston · W-2 · with dep. · $1,812/mo
Charleston $1,812/mo · $21,744/yr
CURRENT

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.

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Rate history

How updates work
2025$1,686
2026$1,812

Verified official history. With-dependents rate shown; use the dependency switch above for its exact comparison.

Charleston — full sheet Tap a row

What this rate means

W-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,036 / month
Westchester County $6,036
Montgomery $1,845
County Cost Group 650 $1,842
Gulfport $1,836
St Mary And Terrebonne $1,836
County Cost Group 640 $1,833
County Cost Group 630 $1,827
Fort Chaffee $1,827
Alexandria $1,821
Wichita $1,821
County Cost Group 620 $1,818
Charleston $1,812
County Cost Group 610 $1,809
Lake Charles $1,809
County Cost Group 600 $1,803
Saginaw $1,797
County Cost Group 590 $1,791
County Cost Group 580 $1,779
Erie $1,779
County Cost Group 570 $1,764
Meridian $1,758
County Cost Group 560 $1,755
Youngstown $1,560

Charleston is #313 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,476 a month — $53,712 a year, untaxed.

Every pay grade at Charleston0 – $2,496 / month
E-1 $1,308
E-2 $1,308
E-3 $1,308
E-4 $1,308
E-5 $1,404
E-6 $1,764
E-7 $1,800
E-8 $1,833
E-9 $1,956
W-1 $1,785
W-2 $1,812
W-3 $1,863
W-4 $1,992
W-5 $2,157
O-1E $1,803
O-2E $1,851
O-3E $2,016
O-1 $1,452
O-2 $1,761
O-3 $1,860
O-4 $2,208
O-5 $2,463
O-6 $2,481
O-7 $2,496

The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.

Moving from Charleston to Westchester County at W-2 is worth $4,224 a month — about 83 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.

Source: DoD Defense Travel Management Office, effective 01 JAN 2026. How these rates are sourced and checked.

Source record

Where these numbers come from

Official fields remain unchanged. Years are aligned by DTMO's MHA code; no missing value is interpolated.

2026 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2026-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-05
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
5446fed831e1…
2025 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2025-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-07
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
32d18c4220e8…