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 $2,490Without $1,962

    O-6 at Lake Charles draws $2,490 per month with dependents in 2026, $1,962 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/lake-charles-la/o-6/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Lake Charles, LA
    O-6 · with dependents
    $2,490/ month
    $29,880 / year
    At O-6, this is #284 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $8,136 · low Youngstown $1,839
    MHA LA370 · ZIPs 70601 70602 70605 70606 70607 70609 +15 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCOLUSMCColNAVYCAPTUSAFCol
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$3,192 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$1,962 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Lake Charles — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareLake Charles · O-6 · $2,490/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,660/mo · $43,920/yr
    ▲ RAISE+$1,170+$14,040/yr · like +$18,000 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-6 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $8,136 / month
    Westchester County$8,136
    Columbus AFB$2,511
    Lafayette$2,502
    Fort Huachuca$2,499
    County Cost Group 730$2,496
    Lake Charles$2,490
    Fort Benning$2,487
    Fort Bliss$2,484
    Charleston$2,481
    Peoria$2,481
    Youngstown$1,839

    Lake Charles is #284 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $6,297 a month — $75,564 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Lake Charles0 – $2,502 / month
    E-1$1,287
    E-2$1,287
    E-3$1,287
    E-4$1,287
    E-5$1,356
    E-6$1,626
    E-7$1,755
    E-8$1,893
    E-9$2,061
    W-1$1,644
    W-2$1,809
    W-3$1,983
    W-4$2,088
    W-5$2,223
    O-1E$1,776
    O-2E$1,956
    O-3E$2,109
    O-1$1,398
    O-2$1,623
    O-3$1,977
    O-4$2,265
    O-5$2,472
    O-6$2,490
    O-7$2,502

    Promoting to O-7 here adds $12 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 Lake Charles to Westchester County at O-6 is worth $5,646 a month — about 471 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $12 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 27% 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. $2,490 a month of BAH takes more than $2,490 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.