PCS compareCounty Cost Group 510 · O-3 · $1,515/mo
Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,643/mo · $31,716/yr
▲ RAISE+$1,128+$13,536/yr · like +$17,354 of salary
What this rate means
O-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,331 / month
San Francisco$5,331
Meridian$1,527
County Cost Group 530$1,524
County Cost Group 520$1,518
Albany$1,515
County Cost Group 510$1,515
Cannon AFB$1,506
Hattiesburg$1,470
Monroe$1,470
Altus AFB$1,449
Youngstown$1,344
County Cost Group 510 is #330 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,987 a month —
$47,844 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at County Cost Group 5100 – $1,818 / month
E-1$996
E-2$996
E-3$996
E-4$996
E-5$1,074
E-6$1,218
E-7$1,269
E-8$1,392
E-9$1,473
W-1$1,233
W-2$1,389
W-3$1,485
W-4$1,635
W-5$1,707
O-1E$1,326
O-2E$1,455
O-3E$1,617
O-1$1,128
O-2$1,299
O-3$1,515
O-4$1,689
O-5$1,725
O-6$1,791
O-7$1,818
Promoting to O-4 here adds $174 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 County Cost Group 510 to San Francisco at O-3 is worth $3,816 a month — about 22 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $174 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 19% 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. $1,515 a month of BAH takes more than $1,515 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.