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 $5,082Without $4,440

    O-4 at San Diego draws $5,082 per month with dependents in 2026, $4,440 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/san-diego/o-4/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    San Diego, CA
    O-4 · with dependents
    $5,082/ month
    $60,984 / year
    At O-4, this is #18 of 338 stations loaded · high Westchester County $7,470 · low Youngstown $1,809
    MHA CA038 · ZIPs 91901 91902 91903 91905 91906 91908 +155 more
    Your grade is calledARMYMAJUSMCMajNAVYLCDRUSAFMaj
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$6,515 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$4,440 / 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-4 · $5,082/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$3,396/mo · $40,752/yr
    ▼ CUT$1,686−$20,232/yr · like −$25,938 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-4 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $7,470 / month
    Westchester County$7,470
    Essex CO$5,301
    Monterey$5,259
    Miami$5,208
    Camp Pendleton$5,085
    San Diego$5,082
    Los Angeles$5,052
    Staten Island$5,043
    Portsmouth$4,983
    Trenton$4,926
    Youngstown$1,809

    San Diego is #18 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $5,661 a month — $67,932 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-5 here adds $411 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-4 is worth $2,388 a month — about 6 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $411 per grade here.

    02

    Dependency status is worth 14% 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. $5,082 a month of BAH takes more than $5,082 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.