Official data current

Chicago BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA IL325

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O-3E · With dependents
$3,810per month

$45,720 per year · federal tax-free allowance

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

National position #51 of 338O-3E · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$4,885/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$360/mo · +10.4%2025 $3,450 → 2026 $3,810
O-3E rate selectedMHA IL325 ZIPs 60004 60005 60006 60007 60008 60009 +292
PCS compare Chicago · O-3E · with dep. · $3,810/mo
Chicago $3,810/mo · $45,720/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$3,450
2026$3,810

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

Chicago — full sheet Tap a row

What this rate means

O-3E with dependents, nearest stations0 – $7,023 / month
Westchester County $7,023
New Haven $4,038
Hawaii County $4,026
County Cost Group 890 $4,014
Worcester $4,002
Vandenberg SFB $3,933
Hartford $3,930
Warrenton $3,912
Boulder $3,846
Indian Head Navordsta $3,831
Brunswick $3,813
Chicago $3,810
Atlantic City $3,801
Santa Fe $3,795
Riverside $3,783
Juneau $3,720
JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst $3,702
Everett $3,666
County Cost Group 880 $3,660
Vallejo $3,636
Austin $3,624
Annapolis $3,612
Youngstown $1,788

Chicago is #51 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $5,235 a month — $62,820 a year, untaxed.

Every pay grade at Chicago0 – $4,152 / month
E-1 $3,174
E-2 $3,174
E-3 $3,174
E-4 $3,174
E-5 $3,438
E-6 $3,702
E-7 $3,723
E-8 $3,732
E-9 $3,771
W-1 $3,720
W-2 $3,729
W-3 $3,741
W-4 $3,795
W-5 $3,900
O-1E $3,726
O-2E $3,735
O-3E $3,810
O-1 $3,477
O-2 $3,699
O-3 $3,738
O-4 $3,927
O-5 $4,086
O-6 $4,122
O-7 $4,152

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

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…