O-5 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,162 / month
Westchester County$6,162
White Sands MR$2,007
Wilkes-Barre$2,007
Frankfort$2,001
Sumter$1,998
China Lake$1,995
Terre Haute$1,992
Springfield$1,986
County Cost Group 730$1,974
Topeka$1,974
Youngstown$1,593
China Lake is #273 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,569 a month —
$54,828 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-6 here adds $141 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-5 is worth $4,167 a month — about 30 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $141 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 33% 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. $1,995 a month of BAH takes more than $1,995 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.