W-1 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,472 / month
San Francisco$5,472
Fort Stewart$2,454
Barstow$2,451
Fort Carson$2,448
Fort Worth$2,442
Cleveland$2,439
Hampton$2,436
Grand Rapids$2,421
Chattanooga$2,418
Salem$2,418
Youngstown$1,350
Cleveland is #157 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 Cleveland0 – $3,267 / month
E-1$1,791
E-2$1,791
E-3$1,791
E-4$1,791
E-5$1,998
E-6$2,418
E-7$2,442
E-8$2,451
E-9$2,559
W-1$2,439
W-2$2,448
W-3$2,460
W-4$2,604
W-5$2,817
O-1E$2,445
O-2E$2,454
O-3E$2,637
O-1$2,055
O-2$2,415
O-3$2,457
O-4$2,889
O-5$3,222
O-6$3,246
O-7$3,267
Promoting to W-2 here adds $9 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 Cleveland to San Francisco at W-1 is worth $3,033 a month — about 337 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $9 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. $2,439 a month of BAH takes more than $2,439 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.