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
    With $2,634Without $2,052

    O-2E at El Centro draws $2,634 per month with dependents in 2026, $2,052 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/el-centro-ca/o-2e/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    El Centro, CA
    O-2E · with dependents
    $2,634/ month
    $31,608 / year
    At O-2E, this is #154 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,564 · low Anniston $1,671
    MHA CA420 · ZIPs 92222 92227 92231 92232 92233 92243 +13 more
    Your grade is calledARMY1LTUSMC1stLtNAVYLTJGUSAF1st Lt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$3,377 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$2,052 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    El Centro — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareEl Centro · O-2E · $2,634/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,051/mo · $36,612/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$417+$5,004/yr · like +$6,415 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-2E with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,564 / month
    Westchester County$6,564
    Coos Bay$2,670
    College Station$2,667
    Elizabeth City$2,655
    Pittsburgh$2,640
    El Centro$2,634
    Volusia County$2,622
    Wilmington$2,619
    County Cost Group 810$2,607
    Cincinnati$2,595
    Anniston$1,671

    El Centro is #154 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,893 a month — $58,716 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at El Centro0 – $3,018 / month
    E-1$1,905
    E-2$1,905
    E-3$1,905
    E-4$1,905
    E-5$1,986
    E-6$2,151
    E-7$2,334
    E-8$2,541
    E-9$2,721
    W-1$2,166
    W-2$2,418
    W-3$2,673
    W-4$2,739
    W-5$2,823
    O-1E$2,373
    O-2E$2,634
    O-3E$2,751
    O-1$2,013
    O-2$2,148
    O-3$2,664
    O-4$2,847
    O-5$2,976
    O-6$2,997
    O-7$3,018

    Promoting to O-3E here adds $117 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 El Centro to Westchester County at O-2E is worth $3,930 a month — about 34 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $117 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 28% 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. $2,634 a month of BAH takes more than $2,634 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.