Official data current

El Centro BAH rates

Verified · Effective 2026-01-01 · MHA CA420

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W-2 · With dependents
$2,418per month

$29,016 per year · federal tax-free allowance

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

National position #178 of 338W-2 · with dependents reference
Taxable-pay equivalent$3,100/mo Using the stated 22% comparison rate
Year-over-year change+$39/mo · +1.6%2025 $2,379 → 2026 $2,418
W-2 rate selectedMHA CA420 ZIPs 92222 92227 92231 92232 92233 92243 +13
PCS compare El Centro · W-2 · with dep. · $2,418/mo
El Centro $2,418/mo · $29,016/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$2,379
2026$2,418

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

El Centro — full sheet Tap a row

What this rate means

W-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,036 / month
Westchester County $6,036
Durham $2,454
Fort Worth $2,451
Cleveland $2,448
Battle Creek $2,445
Hampton $2,445
Myrtle Beach $2,445
State College $2,436
Grand Rapids $2,430
Fargo $2,427
Columbus $2,418
El Centro $2,418
Ocala $2,415
County Cost Group 800 $2,400
Provo $2,385
Eastern Panhandle $2,370
Lemoore NAS $2,364
Albuquerque $2,361
Duluth $2,361
Eastern Shore $2,358
Raleigh $2,355
Corpus Christi $2,352
Youngstown $1,560

El Centro is #178 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,476 a month — $53,712 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

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

Moving from El Centro to Westchester County at W-2 is worth $3,618 a month — about 14 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…