Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$2,396 / mo gross
Without dependents here$1,500 / mo
In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
MHA
Most JBSA grades went DOWN for 2026 — see the rate-protection flag below.
RATE PROTECTION
Already stationed here? You don't take this cut. BAH rate protection holds you at your prior year's amount as long as your duty location, grade and dependency status stay the same. The lower 2026 number applies to members arriving on new orders, and to you if you promote, change dependency status, or PCS.
E-5 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,127 / month
San Francisco$5,127
Columbus$1,875
Indianapolis$1,875
Lexington$1,875
Abilene$1,872
San Antonio (JBSA)$1,869
Pensacola$1,863
Morehead$1,851
Little Rock$1,848
Shreveport$1,845
Anniston$1,185
San Antonio (JBSA) is #209 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 San Antonio (JBSA)0 – $2,490 / month
E-1$1,728
E-2$1,728
E-3$1,728
E-4$1,728
E-5$1,869
E-6$2,094
E-7$2,112
E-8$2,121
E-9$2,157
W-1$2,109
W-2$2,118
W-3$2,130
W-4$2,178
W-5$2,280
O-1E$2,115
O-2E$2,124
O-3E$2,196
O-1$1,905
O-2$2,091
O-3$2,127
O-4$2,307
O-5$2,457
O-6$2,475
O-7$2,490
Promoting to E-6 here adds $225 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 San Antonio (JBSA) to San Francisco at E-5 is worth $3,258 a month — about 14 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $225 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 25% 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. $1,869 a month of BAH takes more than $1,869 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.