E-5 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,127 / month
San Francisco$5,127
Perth Amboy$3,393
Vallejo$3,369
Juneau$3,354
Riverside$3,351
Vandenberg SFB$3,333
Portsmouth$3,321
Marin$3,303
San Bernardino$3,288
Portland$3,252
Anniston$1,185
Vandenberg SFB is #35 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 Vandenberg SFB0 – $4,425 / month
E-1$3,156
E-2$3,156
E-3$3,156
E-4$3,156
E-5$3,333
E-6$3,642
E-7$3,693
E-8$3,747
E-9$3,873
W-1$3,660
W-2$3,714
W-3$3,783
W-4$3,906
W-5$4,065
O-1E$3,699
O-2E$3,771
O-3E$3,933
O-1$3,378
O-2$3,639
O-3$3,780
O-4$4,113
O-5$4,356
O-6$4,392
O-7$4,425
Promoting to E-6 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 Vandenberg SFB to San Francisco at E-5 is worth $1,794 a month — about 6 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $309 per grade here.
02
Dependency status is worth 20% 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. $3,333 a month of BAH takes more than $3,333 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.