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 $3,297Without $2,706

    E-8 at Madison draws $3,297 per month with dependents in 2026, $2,706 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/madison-wi/e-8/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Madison, WI
    E-8 · with dependents
    $3,297/ month
    $39,564 / year
    At E-8, this is #65 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,333 · low Anniston $1,638
    MHA WI316 · ZIPs 53508 53515 53517 53523 53527 53528 +48 more
    Your grade is calledARMYMSG / 1SGUSMCMSgt / 1stSgtNAVYSCPOUSAFSMSgt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$4,227 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$2,706 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Madison — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareMadison · E-8 · $3,297/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,991/mo · $35,892/yr
    ▼ CUT$306−$3,672/yr · like −$4,708 of salary

    What this rate means

    E-8 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,333 / month
    Westchester County$6,333
    San Bernardino$3,408
    Sitka$3,399
    Annapolis$3,384
    Fort G. G. Meade$3,378
    Madison$3,297
    Austin$3,294
    Ann Arbor$3,291
    Hampden County$3,288
    Quantico$3,288
    Anniston$1,638

    Madison is #65 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,695 a month — $56,340 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Madison0 – $4,056 / month
    E-1$2,394
    E-2$2,394
    E-3$2,394
    E-4$2,394
    E-5$2,655
    E-6$2,889
    E-7$3,084
    E-8$3,297
    E-9$3,525
    W-1$2,910
    W-2$3,171
    W-3$3,435
    W-4$3,558
    W-5$3,711
    O-1E$3,123
    O-2E$3,396
    O-3E$3,582
    O-1$2,691
    O-2$2,886
    O-3$3,426
    O-4$3,759
    O-5$3,993
    O-6$4,026
    O-7$4,056

    Promoting to E-9 here adds $228 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 Madison to Westchester County at E-8 is worth $3,036 a month — about 13 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $228 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 22% 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. $3,297 a month of BAH takes more than $3,297 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.