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-5 without dependents at Des Moines draws $1,359 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/des-moines-ia/e-5/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Des Moines, IA
    E-5 · without dependents
    $1,359/ month
    $16,308 / year
    At E-5, this is #254 of 338 stations loaded · high New York City $4,980 · low Fort Chaffee $996
    MHA IA082 · ZIPs 50007 50009 50021 50023 50032 50035 +70 more
    Your grade is calledARMYSGTUSMCSgtNAVYPO2USAFSSgt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$1,742 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$1,770 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Des Moines — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareDes Moines · E-5 · $1,359/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$1,986/mo · $23,832/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$627+$7,524/yr · like +$9,646 of salary

    What this rate means

    E-5 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $4,980 / month
    New York City$4,980
    Gulfport$1,365
    Marquette$1,365
    Oklahoma City$1,365
    Tulsa$1,365
    Des Moines$1,359
    Lansing$1,356
    St Mary And Terrebonne$1,356
    Fort Huachuca$1,347
    Wright-Patterson AFB$1,341
    Fort Chaffee$996

    Des Moines is #254 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,984 a month — $47,808 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-6 here adds $297 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 Des Moines to New York City at E-5 is worth $3,621 a month — about 12 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $297 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 30% 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. $1,359 a month of BAH takes more than $1,359 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.