E-6 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,070 / month
New York City$5,070
Coos Bay$1,662
Corpus Christi$1,662
Fort Leavenworth$1,662
County Cost Group 790$1,656
Des Moines$1,656
Greenville$1,656
Indianapolis$1,656
Rapid City$1,656
Baton Rouge$1,653
Youngstown$1,077
Des Moines is #210 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,993 a month —
$47,916 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-7 here adds $63 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-6 is worth $3,414 a month — about 54 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $63 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 33% 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. $1,656 a month of BAH takes more than $1,656 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.