Official data current

Columbia BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA SC260

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O-3 · With dependents
$2,232per month

$26,784 per year · federal tax-free allowance

Official DoD / DTMO rate · CONUS BAH, not an estimate

National position #234 of 338O-3 · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$2,862/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$42/mo · +1.9%2025 $2,190 → 2026 $2,232
O-3 rate selectedMHA SC260 ZIPs 29002 29006 29009 29016 29020 29021 +60
PCS compare Columbia · O-3 · with dep. · $2,232/mo
Columbia $2,232/mo · $26,784/yr
CURRENT

Pick a station below to see what the move is worth a year, before tax. Orders rarely arrive as one option — add several and rank them.

Comparison uses with-dependents rates. Differences are annual and untaxed. Rate protection is not applied — a PCS resets you to the new location's current-year rate.

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Rate history

How updates work
2025$2,190
2026$2,232

Verified official history. With-dependents rate shown; use the dependency switch above for its exact comparison.

Columbia — full sheet Tap a row

What this rate means

O-3 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,633 / month
Westchester County $6,633
Rock Island $2,298
County Cost Group 770 $2,280
Lincoln $2,280
Pensacola $2,271
Malmstrom SFB $2,268
Shreveport $2,268
Fort Rucker $2,262
Greensboro $2,259
Fort Gordon $2,250
Whiteman AFB $2,244
Columbia $2,232
Fort Huachuca $2,232
Baton Rouge $2,229
Huntsville $2,226
Seymour Johnson AFB $2,226
Scott AFB $2,208
County Cost Group 760 $2,205
Fort Wayne $2,205
Greenville $2,205
Lexington $2,205
Fort Bliss $2,202
Anniston $1,686

Columbia is #234 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,947 a month — $59,364 a year, untaxed.

Every pay grade at Columbia0 – $2,760 / month
E-1 $1,812
E-2 $1,812
E-3 $1,812
E-4 $1,812
E-5 $1,878
E-6 $2,121
E-7 $2,160
E-8 $2,202
E-9 $2,310
W-1 $2,136
W-2 $2,175
W-3 $2,235
W-4 $2,340
W-5 $2,475
O-1E $2,163
O-2E $2,223
O-3E $2,361
O-1 $1,914
O-2 $2,118
O-3 $2,232
O-4 $2,517
O-5 $2,724
O-6 $2,745
O-7 $2,760

The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.

Moving from Columbia to Westchester County at O-3 is worth $4,401 a month — about 15 promotions at this grade. Where you are stationed outweighs rank, by a lot.

What the rate table does not 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.

Source: DoD Defense Travel Management Office, effective 01 JAN 2026. How these rates are sourced and checked.

Source record

Where these numbers come from

Official fields remain unchanged. Years are aligned by DTMO's MHA code; no missing value is interpolated.

2026 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2026-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-05
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
5446fed831e1…
2025 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2025-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-07
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
32d18c4220e8…