Rates effective
01 JAN 2026 · CONUS

Basic Allowance for Housing by duty station, pay grade and dependency status. Official DoD rates, no login, no email.

Duty station or MHA
    Try Fort Liberty, Cavazos, Moore or a ZIP — old and unofficial names resolve.
    Or type your rank
    Dependents

    E-3 without dependents at Des Moines draws $1,284 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/des-moines-ia/e-3/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Des Moines, IA
    E-3 · without dependents
    $1,284/ month
    $15,408 / year
    At E-3, this is #237 of 338 stations loaded · high New York City $4,833 · low Fort Chaffee $879
    MHA IA082 · ZIPs 50007 50009 50021 50023 50032 50035 +70 more
    Your grade is calledARMYPFCUSMCLCplNAVYSNUSAFA1C
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$1,646 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$1,593 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Des Moines — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareDes Moines · E-3 · $1,284/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$1,875/mo · $22,500/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$591+$7,092/yr · like +$9,092 of salary

    What this rate means

    E-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $4,833 / month
    New York City$4,833
    Bangor$1,296
    County Cost Group 770$1,296
    Fallon NAS$1,287
    Fort Leonard Wood$1,287
    Des Moines$1,284
    Huntsville$1,284
    Lexington$1,284
    Shreveport$1,281
    Corpus Christi$1,278
    Fort Chaffee$879

    Des Moines is #237 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,954 a month — $47,448 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Des Moines0 – $2,454 / month
    E-1$1,284
    E-2$1,284
    E-3$1,284
    E-4$1,284
    E-5$1,359
    E-6$1,656
    E-7$1,719
    E-8$1,863
    E-9$1,989
    W-1$1,674
    W-2$1,860
    W-3$2,007
    W-4$2,223
    W-5$2,310
    O-1E$1,767
    O-2E$1,962
    O-3E$2,202
    O-1$1,413
    O-2$1,722
    O-3$2,049
    O-4$2,289
    O-5$2,334
    O-6$2,415
    O-7$2,454

    Promoting to E-4 here adds $0 a month. The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.

    01

    Dependency status is worth 24% 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. $1,284 a month of BAH takes more than $1,284 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.