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 $3,753Without $3,126

    O-2 at Washington draws $3,753 per month with dependents in 2026, $3,126 without

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/washington-dc-metro-area/o-2/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Washington, DC Metro Area
    O-2 · with dependents
    $3,753/ month
    $45,036 / year
    At O-2, this is #32 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,451 · low Youngstown $1,332
    MHA DC053 · ZIPs 20001 20002 20003 20004 20005 20006 +553 more
    Your grade is calledARMY1LTUSMC1stLtNAVYLTJGUSAF1st Lt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$4,812 / mo gross
    Without dependents here$3,126 / mo
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Washington — full sheetTap a row
    PCS compareWashington · O-2 · $3,753/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,739/mo · $32,868/yr
    ▼ CUT$1,014−$12,168/yr · like −$15,600 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-2 with dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,451 / month
    San Francisco$5,451
    Monterey$3,864
    Hawaii County$3,834
    Marin$3,813
    Miami$3,789
    Washington$3,753
    Essex CO$3,741
    Burlington$3,732
    New Haven$3,714
    Chicago$3,699
    Youngstown$1,332

    Washington is #32 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $4,119 a month — $49,428 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Washington0 – $4,770 / month
    E-1$3,096
    E-2$3,096
    E-3$3,096
    E-4$3,096
    E-5$3,132
    E-6$3,759
    E-7$3,855
    E-8$3,957
    E-9$4,128
    W-1$3,780
    W-2$3,894
    W-3$4,023
    W-4$4,167
    W-5$4,350
    O-1E$3,870
    O-2E$4,002
    O-3E$4,197
    O-1$3,213
    O-2$3,753
    O-3$4,020
    O-4$4,410
    O-5$4,692
    O-6$4,731
    O-7$4,770

    Promoting to O-3 here adds $267 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 Washington to San Francisco at O-2 is worth $1,698 a month — about 6 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $267 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. $3,753 a month of BAH takes more than $3,753 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.