BAH Rate Desk2026
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
    Enlisted
    E-1E-2E-3E-4E-5E-6E-7E-8E-9
    Warrant
    W-1W-2W-3W-4W-5
    Prior enl.
    O-1EO-2EO-3E
    Officer
    O-1O-2O-3O-4O-5O-6O-7
    Dependents
    WithWithout

    O-3 without dependents at China Lake draws $1,689 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/china-lake-ca/o-3/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    China Lake, CA
    O-3 · without dependents
    $1,689/ month
    $20,268 / year
    At O-3, this is #287 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,331 · low Youngstown $1,344
    MHA CA021 · ZIPs 92347 93527 93528 93554 93555 93562
    Your grade is calledARMYCPTUSMCCaptNAVYLTUSAFCapt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$2,165 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$2,154 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    China Lake — full sheetTap a row
    GradeWith dep.Without
    Enlisted
    E-1$1,524$1,344
    E-2$1,524$1,344
    E-3$1,524$1,344
    E-4$1,524$1,344
    E-5$1,563$1,428
    E-6$1,767$1,485
    E-7$1,905$1,530
    E-8$2,058$1,611
    E-9$2,238$1,680
    Warrant officer
    W-1$1,785$1,527
    W-2$1,968$1,608
    W-3$2,157$1,683
    W-4$2,268$1,794
    W-5$2,403$1,941
    Officer — prior enlisted
    O-1E$1,932$1,560
    O-2E$2,130$1,650
    O-3E$2,289$1,755
    Officer
    O-1$1,596$1,482
    O-2$1,764$1,554
    O-3$2,154$1,689
    O-4$2,445$1,911
    O-5$2,658$1,995
    O-6$2,676$2,136
    O-7$2,694$2,172
    PCS compareChina Lake · O-3 · $1,689/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,643/mo · $31,716/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$954+$11,448/yr · like +$14,677 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,331 / month
    San Francisco$5,331
    Montgomery$1,725
    Springfield$1,713
    County Cost Group 710$1,704
    Terre Haute$1,701
    China Lake$1,689
    Lubbock$1,689
    Paducah$1,689
    County Cost Group 700$1,686
    Huntington$1,686
    Youngstown$1,344

    China Lake is #287 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,987 a month — $47,844 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at China Lake0 – $2,172 / month
    E-1$1,344
    E-2$1,344
    E-3$1,344
    E-4$1,344
    E-5$1,428
    E-6$1,485
    E-7$1,530
    E-8$1,611
    E-9$1,680
    W-1$1,527
    W-2$1,608
    W-3$1,683
    W-4$1,794
    W-5$1,941
    O-1E$1,560
    O-2E$1,650
    O-3E$1,755
    O-1$1,482
    O-2$1,554
    O-3$1,689
    O-4$1,911
    O-5$1,995
    O-6$2,136
    O-7$2,172

    Promoting to O-4 here adds $222 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 San Francisco at O-3 is worth $3,642 a month — about 16 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $222 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 28% 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. $1,689 a month of BAH takes more than $1,689 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.