Official data current

Des Moines BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA IA082

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O-4 · With dependents
$2,706per month

$32,472 per year · federal tax-free allowance

Official DoD / DTMO rate · CONUS BAH, not an estimate

National position #190 of 338O-4 · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$3,469/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$168/mo · +6.6%2025 $2,538 → 2026 $2,706
O-4 rate selectedMHA IA082 ZIPs 50007 50009 50021 50023 50032 50035 +70
PCS compare Des Moines · O-4 · with dep. · $2,706/mo
Des Moines $2,706/mo · $32,472/yr
CURRENT

Pick a station below to see what the move is worth a year, before tax. Orders rarely arrive as one option — add several and rank them.

Comparison uses with-dependents rates. Differences are annual and untaxed. Rate protection is not applied — a PCS resets you to the new location's current-year rate.

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Rate history

How updates work
2025$2,538
2026$2,706

Verified official history. With-dependents rate shown; use the dependency switch above for its exact comparison.

Des Moines — full sheet Tap a row

What this rate means

O-4 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $7,470 / month
Westchester County $7,470
Provo $2,745
Fargo $2,739
Dahlonega $2,736
Grand Rapids $2,730
Louisville $2,730
Fort Knox $2,724
Auburn $2,718
Ocala $2,718
Cheyenne $2,715
County Cost Group 790 $2,706
Des Moines $2,706
Kings Bay $2,706
Birmingham $2,703
Morehead $2,697
Rapid City $2,691
Wichita Fls $2,691
Bangor $2,688
Lemoore NAS $2,673
Albuquerque $2,670
Johnson City $2,664
Mountain Home AFB $2,658
Youngstown $1,809

Des Moines is #190 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $5,661 a month — $67,932 a year, untaxed.

Every pay grade at Des Moines0 – $2,943 / month
E-1 $1,593
E-2 $1,593
E-3 $1,593
E-4 $1,593
E-5 $1,770
E-6 $2,208
E-7 $2,292
E-8 $2,379
E-9 $2,511
W-1 $2,229
W-2 $2,328
W-3 $2,436
W-4 $2,538
W-5 $2,667
O-1E $2,304
O-2E $2,418
O-3E $2,559
O-1 $1,830
O-2 $2,205
O-3 $2,433
O-4 $2,706
O-5 $2,904
O-6 $2,925
O-7 $2,943

The pay chart moves this allowance far less than the map does.

Moving from Des Moines to Westchester County at O-4 is worth $4,764 a month — about 24 promotions at this grade. Where you are stationed outweighs rank, by a lot.

What the rate table does not 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.

Source: DoD Defense Travel Management Office, effective 01 JAN 2026. How these rates are sourced and checked.

Source record

Where these numbers come from

Official fields remain unchanged. Years are aligned by DTMO's MHA code; no missing value is interpolated.

2026 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2026-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-05
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
5446fed831e1…
2025 official releaseDTMO source archive
Effective
2025-01-01
Retrieved
2026-09-07
Last verified
2026-09-07
SHA-256
32d18c4220e8…