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

    O-4 with dependents at Essex CO draws $5,301 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/essex-co-ma/o-4/with/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Essex CO, MA
    O-4 · with dependents
    $5,301/ month
    $63,612 / year
    At O-4, this is #14 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $7,470 · low Youngstown $1,809
    MHA MA125 · ZIPs 01810 01812 01830 01831 01832 01833 +33 more
    Your grade is calledARMYMAJUSMCMajNAVYLCDRUSAFMaj
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$6,796 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$4,053 without dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Essex CO — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareEssex CO · O-4 · $5,301/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,396/mo · $40,752/yr
    ▼ CUT$1,905−$22,860/yr · like −$29,308 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-4 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $7,470 / month
    Westchester County$7,470
    Hanscom AFB$5,535
    Long Island$5,502
    Martha's Vineyard$5,385
    Kauai County$5,376
    Essex CO$5,301
    Monterey$5,259
    Miami$5,208
    Camp Pendleton$5,085
    San Diego$5,082
    Youngstown$1,809

    Essex CO is #14 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 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-5 here adds $552 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 Westchester County at O-4 is worth $2,169 a month — about 4 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $552 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 31% 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. $5,301 a month of BAH takes more than $5,301 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.