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 $3,516Without $3,084

    O-1 at Essex CO draws $3,516 per month with dependents in 2026, $3,084 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/essex-co-ma/o-1/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Essex CO, MA
    O-1 · with dependents
    $3,516/ month
    $42,192 / year
    At O-1, this is #28 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,172 · low Youngstown $1,218
    MHA MA125 · ZIPs 01810 01812 01830 01831 01832 01833 +33 more
    Your grade is calledARMY2LTUSMC2ndLtNAVYENSUSAF2d Lt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$4,508 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$3,084 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Essex CO — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareEssex CO · O-1 · $3,516/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,517/mo · $30,204/yr
    ▼ CUT$999−$11,988/yr · like −$15,369 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-1 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,172 / month
    San Francisco$5,172
    Ventura$3,600
    West Point$3,549
    Trenton$3,531
    Monterey$3,519
    Essex CO$3,516
    Chicago$3,477
    Perth Amboy$3,477
    West Palm Beach$3,453
    Vallejo$3,393
    Youngstown$1,218

    Essex CO is #28 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,954 a month — $47,448 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Essex CO0 – $5,952 / month
    E-1$3,282
    E-2$3,282
    E-3$3,282
    E-4$3,282
    E-5$3,477
    E-6$3,744
    E-7$4,032
    E-8$4,344
    E-9$4,755
    W-1$3,765
    W-2$4,158
    W-3$4,545
    W-4$4,833
    W-5$5,181
    O-1E$4,089
    O-2E$4,488
    O-3E$4,887
    O-1$3,516
    O-2$3,741
    O-3$4,533
    O-4$5,301
    O-5$5,853
    O-6$5,904
    O-7$5,952

    Promoting to O-2 here adds $225 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 Essex CO to San Francisco at O-1 is worth $1,656 a month — about 7 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $225 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 14% 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. $3,516 a month of BAH takes more than $3,516 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.