PCS compareCounty Cost Group 850 · O-2 · $2,742/mo
Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,739/mo · $32,868/yr
▼ CUT−$3−$36/yr · like −$46 of salary
What this rate means
O-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,451 / month
San Francisco$5,451
Astoria$2,787
Minneapolis$2,778
Great Lakes Navtracen$2,757
Portland$2,748
County Cost Group 850$2,742
Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,739
Whidbey Island$2,736
Rome$2,730
Bremerton$2,727
Youngstown$1,332
County Cost Group 850 is #105 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,119 a month —
$49,428 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at County Cost Group 8500 – $3,624 / month
E-1$2,247
E-2$2,247
E-3$2,247
E-4$2,247
E-5$2,409
E-6$2,745
E-7$2,838
E-8$2,940
E-9$3,096
W-1$2,763
W-2$2,880
W-3$3,006
W-4$3,129
W-5$3,282
O-1E$2,853
O-2E$2,985
O-3E$3,153
O-1$2,454
O-2$2,742
O-3$3,003
O-4$3,330
O-5$3,570
O-6$3,600
O-7$3,624
Promoting to O-3 here adds $261 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 850 to San Francisco at O-2 is worth $2,709 a month — about 10 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $261 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 16% 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. $2,742 a month of BAH takes more than $2,742 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.