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 $4,158Without $3,534

    W-2 at Essex CO draws $4,158 per month with dependents in 2026, $3,534 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/essex-co-ma/w-2/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Essex CO, MA
    W-2 · with dependents
    $4,158/ month
    $49,896 / year
    At W-2, this is #26 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,036 · low Youngstown $1,560
    MHA MA125 · ZIPs 01810 01812 01830 01831 01832 01833 +33 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCW2USMCCWO2NAVYCWO2
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$5,331 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$3,534 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Essex CO — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareEssex CO · W-2 · $4,158/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,916/mo · $34,992/yr
    ▼ CUT$1,242−$14,904/yr · like −$19,108 of salary

    What this rate means

    W-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,036 / month
    Westchester County$6,036
    Fort Monmouth$4,212
    Honolulu County$4,182
    Trenton$4,179
    Perth Amboy$4,161
    Essex CO$4,158
    Miami$4,131
    Ventura$4,116
    Portsmouth$4,098
    San Luis Obispo$4,089
    Youngstown$1,560

    Essex CO is #26 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 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 W-3 here adds $387 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 W-2 is worth $1,878 a month — about 5 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $387 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 18% 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. $4,158 a month of BAH takes more than $4,158 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.