E-5 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,127 / month
San Francisco$5,127
Pittsburgh$2,283
Dover AFB$2,277
Hampton$2,274
Fort Collins$2,268
Nashville$2,268
County Cost Group 830$2,250
Austin$2,241
Asheville$2,214
Buffalo$2,214
Anniston$1,185
Nashville is #131 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,942 a month —
$47,304 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at Nashville0 – $3,264 / month
E-1$2,112
E-2$2,112
E-3$2,112
E-4$2,112
E-5$2,268
E-6$2,673
E-7$2,712
E-8$2,754
E-9$2,853
W-1$2,694
W-2$2,730
W-3$2,787
W-4$2,877
W-5$2,997
O-1E$2,718
O-2E$2,772
O-3E$2,898
O-1$2,322
O-2$2,670
O-3$2,784
O-4$3,033
O-5$3,219
O-6$3,243
O-7$3,264
Promoting to E-6 here adds $405 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 Nashville to San Francisco at E-5 is worth $2,859 a month — about 7 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $405 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. $2,268 a month of BAH takes more than $2,268 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.