E-4 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,067 / month
New York City$5,067
Hanscom AFB$3,984
Maui County$3,819
Florida Keys$3,813
Cape Cod-Plymouth$3,696
San Diego$3,666
Martha's Vineyard$3,663
Camp Pendleton$3,627
Kauai County$3,588
Los Angeles$3,570
Youngstown$1,134
San Diego is #13 of 338. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,933 a month —
$47,196 a year, untaxed.
Every pay grade at San Diego0 – $5,586 / month
E-1$3,666
E-2$3,666
E-3$3,666
E-4$3,666
E-5$3,975
E-6$4,404
E-7$4,446
E-8$4,488
E-9$4,671
W-1$4,425
W-2$4,464
W-3$4,521
W-4$4,731
W-5$4,992
O-1E$4,449
O-2E$4,506
O-3E$4,770
O-1$4,032
O-2$4,401
O-3$4,518
O-4$5,082
O-5$5,493
O-6$5,541
O-7$5,586
Promoting to E-5 here adds $309 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 Diego to New York City at E-4 is worth $1,401 a month — about 5 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $309 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 33% 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. $3,666 a month of BAH takes more than $3,666 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.