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 $2,775Without $2,235

    W-3 at Helena draws $2,775 per month with dependents in 2026, $2,235 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/helena-mt/w-3/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Helena, MT
    W-3 · with dependents
    $2,775/ month
    $33,300 / year
    At W-3, this is #132 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,654 · low Anniston $1,689
    MHA MT347 · ZIPs 59410 59601 59602 59604 59620 59623 +9 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCW3USMCCWO3NAVYCWO3
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$3,558 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$2,235 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Helena — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareHelena · W-3 · $2,775/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,075/mo · $36,900/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$300+$3,600/yr · like +$4,615 of salary

    What this rate means

    W-3 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,654 / month
    Westchester County$6,654
    Reno$2,802
    Nashville$2,787
    Detroit$2,781
    Buffalo$2,775
    Helena$2,775
    Patuxent River$2,772
    Eugene$2,769
    Richmond$2,763
    St. Louis$2,763
    Anniston$1,689

    Helena is #132 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,965 a month — $59,580 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Helena0 – $3,279 / month
    E-1$1,752
    E-2$1,752
    E-3$1,752
    E-4$1,752
    E-5$1,887
    E-6$2,535
    E-7$2,622
    E-8$2,715
    E-9$2,847
    W-1$2,556
    W-2$2,661
    W-3$2,775
    W-4$2,874
    W-5$3,000
    O-1E$2,637
    O-2E$2,757
    O-3E$2,895
    O-1$1,968
    O-2$2,526
    O-3$2,772
    O-4$3,039
    O-5$3,231
    O-6$3,258
    O-7$3,279

    Promoting to W-4 here adds $99 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 Westchester County at W-3 is worth $3,879 a month — about 39 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $99 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 24% 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. $2,775 a month of BAH takes more than $2,775 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.