W-4 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,963 / month
Westchester County$6,963
Lincoln$2,364
Indianapolis$2,361
Whiteman AFB$2,349
Lexington$2,343
Columbia$2,340
Greensboro$2,340
Pensacola$2,325
Baton Rouge$2,322
Seymour Johnson AFB$2,322
Stevens Point$1,779
Columbia is #234 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $5,184 a month —
$62,208 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
Promoting to W-5 here adds $135 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 Columbia to Westchester County at W-4 is worth $4,623 a month — about 34 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $135 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 10% 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. $2,340 a month of BAH takes more than $2,340 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.