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 $4,518Without $4,248

    O-3 at San Diego draws $4,518 per month with dependents in 2026, $4,248 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/san-diego/o-3/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    San Diego, CA
    O-3 · with dependents
    $4,518/ month
    $54,216 / year
    At O-3, this is #19 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $6,633 · low Anniston $1,686
    MHA CA038 · ZIPs 91901 91902 91903 91905 91906 91908 +155 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCPTUSMCCaptNAVYLTUSAFCapt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$5,792 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$4,248 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    MHA

    One MHA covers the county — 32nd Street, Coronado, North Island, Miramar and MCRD all draw the same rate.

    San Diego — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareSan Diego · O-3 · $4,518/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,072/mo · $36,864/yr
    ▼ CUT$1,446−$17,352/yr · like −$22,246 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-3 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $6,633 / month
    Westchester County$6,633
    Camp Pendleton$4,659
    Staten Island$4,554
    Essex CO$4,533
    Los Angeles$4,524
    San Diego$4,518
    Portsmouth$4,461
    Miami$4,437
    Honolulu County$4,428
    Cape Cod-Plymouth$4,419
    Anniston$1,686

    San Diego is #19 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,947 a month — $59,364 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 O-4 here adds $564 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 Westchester County at O-3 is worth $2,115 a month — about 4 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $564 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 6% 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. $4,518 a month of BAH takes more than $4,518 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.