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 $2,130Without $1,650

    O-2E at China Lake draws $2,130 per month with dependents in 2026, $1,650 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/china-lake-ca/o-2e/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    China Lake, CA
    O-2E · with dependents
    $2,130/ month
    $25,560 / year
    At O-2E, this is #256 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,564 · low Anniston $1,671
    MHA CA021 · ZIPs 92347 93527 93528 93554 93555 93562
    Your grade is calledARMY1LTUSMC1stLtNAVYLTJGUSAF1st Lt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$2,731 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$1,650 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    China Lake — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareChina Lake · O-2E · $2,130/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,051/mo · $36,612/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$921+$11,052/yr · like +$14,169 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-2E with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,564 / month
    Westchester County$6,564
    Fort Bragg$2,166
    Minot AFB$2,163
    Brownsville$2,148
    County Cost Group 750$2,139
    China Lake$2,130
    San Antonio (JBSA)$2,124
    Lexington$2,121
    Champaign$2,118
    Lansing$2,118
    Anniston$1,671

    China Lake is #256 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,893 a month — $58,716 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at China Lake0 – $2,694 / month
    E-1$1,524
    E-2$1,524
    E-3$1,524
    E-4$1,524
    E-5$1,563
    E-6$1,767
    E-7$1,905
    E-8$2,058
    E-9$2,238
    W-1$1,785
    W-2$1,968
    W-3$2,157
    W-4$2,268
    W-5$2,403
    O-1E$1,932
    O-2E$2,130
    O-3E$2,289
    O-1$1,596
    O-2$1,764
    O-3$2,154
    O-4$2,445
    O-5$2,658
    O-6$2,676
    O-7$2,694

    Promoting to O-3E here adds $159 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 China Lake to Westchester County at O-2E is worth $4,434 a month — about 28 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $159 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 29% 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. $2,130 a month of BAH takes more than $2,130 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.