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 Madison draws $2,799 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/madison-wi/o-3/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Madison, WI
    O-3 · without dependents
    $2,799/ month
    $33,588 / year
    At O-3, this is #80 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,331 · low Youngstown $1,344
    MHA WI316 · ZIPs 53508 53515 53517 53523 53527 53528 +48 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCPTUSMCCaptNAVYLTUSAFCapt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$3,588 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$3,426 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Madison — full sheetTap a row
    GradeWith dep.Without
    Enlisted
    E-1$2,394$1,797
    E-2$2,394$1,797
    E-3$2,394$1,797
    E-4$2,394$1,797
    E-5$2,655$1,995
    E-6$2,889$2,166
    E-7$3,084$2,406
    E-8$3,297$2,706
    E-9$3,525$2,769
    Warrant officer
    W-1$2,910$2,313
    W-2$3,171$2,703
    W-3$3,435$2,778
    W-4$3,558$2,931
    W-5$3,711$3,132
    Officer — prior enlisted
    O-1E$3,123$2,652
    O-2E$3,396$2,754
    O-3E$3,582$2,880
    Officer
    O-1$2,691$2,133
    O-2$2,886$2,571
    O-3$3,426$2,799
    O-4$3,759$3,096
    O-5$3,993$3,216
    O-6$4,026$3,414
    O-7$4,056$3,474
    PCS compareMadison · O-3 · $2,799/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,643/mo · $31,716/yr
    ▼ CUT−$156−$1,872/yr · like −$2,400 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,331 / month
    San Francisco$5,331
    Brunswick$2,856
    Orlando$2,847
    Fort Myers Beach$2,835
    Outer Banks$2,820
    Madison$2,799
    Baltimore$2,793
    Stockton$2,793
    JB Lewis-McChord$2,784
    Ballston Spa$2,775
    Youngstown$1,344

    Madison is #80 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 Madison0 – $3,474 / month
    E-1$1,797
    E-2$1,797
    E-3$1,797
    E-4$1,797
    E-5$1,995
    E-6$2,166
    E-7$2,406
    E-8$2,706
    E-9$2,769
    W-1$2,313
    W-2$2,703
    W-3$2,778
    W-4$2,931
    W-5$3,132
    O-1E$2,652
    O-2E$2,754
    O-3E$2,880
    O-1$2,133
    O-2$2,571
    O-3$2,799
    O-4$3,096
    O-5$3,216
    O-6$3,414
    O-7$3,474

    Promoting to O-4 here adds $297 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 San Francisco at O-3 is worth $2,532 a month — about 9 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $297 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. $2,799 a month of BAH takes more than $2,799 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.