O-2E without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,268 / month
San Francisco$5,268
Roanoke$1,980
Corpus Christi$1,974
Mobile$1,965
San Antonio (JBSA)$1,965
Des Moines$1,962
Bangor$1,959
Fort Bliss$1,956
County Cost Group 780$1,950
Fort Leavenworth$1,950
Youngstown$1,305
Des Moines is #215 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,963 a month —
$47,556 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 O-3E here adds $240 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 San Francisco at O-2E is worth $3,306 a month — about 14 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $240 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 23% 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. $1,962 a month of BAH takes more than $1,962 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.