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

    W-1 with dependents at China Lake draws $1,785 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/china-lake-ca/w-1/with/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    China Lake, CA
    W-1 · with dependents
    $1,785/ month
    $21,420 / year
    At W-1, this is #297 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,472 · low Youngstown $1,350
    MHA CA021 · ZIPs 92347 93527 93528 93554 93555 93562
    Your grade is calledARMYWO1USMCWONAVYWO1
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$2,288 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$1,527 without dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    China Lake — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareChina Lake · W-1 · $1,785/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,760/mo · $33,120/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$975+$11,700/yr · like +$15,000 of salary

    What this rate means

    W-1 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,472 / month
    San Francisco$5,472
    Fort Riley$1,803
    Huntington$1,797
    County Cost Group 680$1,791
    Charleston$1,785
    China Lake$1,785
    County Cost Group 670$1,782
    Montgomery$1,773
    County Cost Group 660$1,770
    Saginaw$1,767
    Youngstown$1,350

    China Lake is #297 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,122 a month — $49,464 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 W-2 here adds $183 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 W-1 is worth $3,687 a month — about 20 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $183 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 17% 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. $1,785 a month of BAH takes more than $1,785 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.