Official data current

Columbia BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA SC260

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W-2 · With dependents
$2,175per month

$26,100 per year · federal tax-free allowance

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

National position #232 of 338W-2 · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$2,788/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$51/mo · +2.4%2025 $2,124 → 2026 $2,175
W-2 rate selectedMHA SC260 ZIPs 29002 29006 29009 29016 29020 29021 +60
PCS compare Columbia · W-2 · with dep. · $2,175/mo
Columbia $2,175/mo · $26,100/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$2,124
2026$2,175

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

W-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,036 / month
Westchester County $6,036
Fort Gordon $2,205
Marquette $2,205
Lincoln $2,199
Fort Drum $2,196
Roanoke $2,193
Toledo $2,190
Greensboro $2,184
County Cost Group 770 $2,178
Fort Bliss $2,178
Lexington $2,178
Columbia $2,175
Fort Wayne $2,166
Davis-Monthan AFB $2,157
Huntsville $2,154
Shreveport $2,151
Greenville $2,142
Fort Hood $2,139
Mobile $2,139
Auburn $2,136
San Antonio (JBSA) $2,118
Fort Bragg $2,112
Youngstown $1,560

Columbia is #232 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,476 a month — $53,712 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 W-2 is worth $3,861 a month — about 64 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…