W-2 with dependents, every station0 – $4,536 / month
Camp Pendleton$4,536
San Diego$4,464
Honolulu County$4,182
JB Elmendorf-Richardson$3,123
JB Lewis-McChord$3,024
Norfolk$2,628
Fort Stewart$2,520
Fort Carson$2,514
Fort Campbell$2,307
Fort Drum$2,196
Fort Bliss$2,178
Fort Hood$2,139
San Antonio (JBSA)$2,118
Fort Bragg$2,112
Camp Lejeune$2,016
Fort Benning$2,016
Fort Riley$1,872
San Diego is #2 of 17. The spread between
the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $2,664 a month —
$31,968 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 W-3 here adds $57 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 Camp Pendleton at W-2 is worth $72 a month — about 1 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $57 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 10% 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. $4,464 a month of BAH takes more than $4,464 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.