BAH Rate Desk2026
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
    Enlisted
    E-1E-2E-3E-4E-5E-6E-7E-8E-9
    Warrant
    W-1W-2W-3W-4W-5
    Prior enl.
    O-1EO-2EO-3E
    Officer
    O-1O-2O-3O-4O-5O-6O-7
    Dependents
    WithWithout

    O-3 without dependents at Helena draws $2,298 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/helena-mt/o-3/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Helena, MT
    O-3 · without dependents
    $2,298/ month
    $27,576 / year
    At O-3, this is #158 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,331 · low Youngstown $1,344
    MHA MT347 · ZIPs 59410 59601 59602 59604 59620 59623 +9 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCPTUSMCCaptNAVYLTUSAFCapt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$2,946 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$2,772 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Helena — full sheetTap a row
    GradeWith dep.Without
    Enlisted
    E-1$1,752$1,515
    E-2$1,752$1,515
    E-3$1,752$1,515
    E-4$1,752$1,515
    E-5$1,887$1,572
    E-6$2,535$1,902
    E-7$2,622$1,968
    E-8$2,715$2,037
    E-9$2,847$2,211
    Warrant officer
    W-1$2,556$1,917
    W-2$2,661$2,016
    W-3$2,775$2,235
    W-4$2,874$2,550
    W-5$3,000$2,643
    Officer — prior enlisted
    O-1E$2,637$1,977
    O-2E$2,757$2,169
    O-3E$2,895$2,529
    Officer
    O-1$1,968$1,614
    O-2$2,526$1,971
    O-3$2,772$2,298
    O-4$3,039$2,619
    O-5$3,231$2,670
    O-6$3,258$2,754
    O-7$3,279$2,802
    PCS compareHelena · O-3 · $2,298/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,643/mo · $31,716/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$345+$4,140/yr · like +$5,308 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,331 / month
    San Francisco$5,331
    Wilmington$2,334
    Fort Worth$2,310
    Grand Rapids$2,307
    Fairbanks$2,301
    Helena$2,298
    Durham$2,289
    Albuquerque$2,280
    Barstow$2,274
    Salt Lake City$2,271
    Youngstown$1,344

    Helena is #158 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,987 a month — $47,844 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Helena0 – $2,802 / month
    E-1$1,515
    E-2$1,515
    E-3$1,515
    E-4$1,515
    E-5$1,572
    E-6$1,902
    E-7$1,968
    E-8$2,037
    E-9$2,211
    W-1$1,917
    W-2$2,016
    W-3$2,235
    W-4$2,550
    W-5$2,643
    O-1E$1,977
    O-2E$2,169
    O-3E$2,529
    O-1$1,614
    O-2$1,971
    O-3$2,298
    O-4$2,619
    O-5$2,670
    O-6$2,754
    O-7$2,802

    Promoting to O-4 here adds $321 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 Helena to San Francisco at O-3 is worth $3,033 a month — about 9 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $321 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 21% 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. $2,298 a month of BAH takes more than $2,298 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.