BAH Rate Desk2026
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
    Enlisted
    E-1E-2E-3E-4E-5E-6E-7E-8E-9
    Warrant
    W-1W-2W-3W-4W-5
    Prior enl.
    O-1EO-2EO-3E
    Officer
    O-1O-2O-3O-4O-5O-6O-7
    Dependents
    WithWithout

    O-3 without dependents at Washington draws $3,531 per month in 2026

    Permalinkbahratedesk.com/washington-dc-metro-area/o-3/without/ExcelCSVDownloads cover this station.
    Washington, DC Metro Area
    O-3 · without dependents
    $3,531/ month
    $42,372 / year
    At O-3, this is #36 of 338 stations loaded · high San Francisco $5,331 · low Youngstown $1,344
    MHA DC053 · ZIPs 20001 20002 20003 20004 20005 20006 +553 more
    Your grade is calledARMYCPTUSMCCaptNAVYLTUSAFCapt
    Untaxed — matching it with taxable pay takes$4,527 / mo gross
    Other dependency status here$4,020 with dependents
    In government quarters, no dependents$50.10 / mo partial
    Washington — full sheetTap a row
    GradeWith dep.Without
    Enlisted
    E-1$3,096$2,409
    E-2$3,096$2,409
    E-3$3,096$2,409
    E-4$3,096$2,409
    E-5$3,132$2,832
    E-6$3,759$3,057
    E-7$3,855$3,099
    E-8$3,957$3,261
    E-9$4,128$3,447
    Warrant officer
    W-1$3,780$3,096
    W-2$3,894$3,258
    W-3$4,023$3,471
    W-4$4,167$3,777
    W-5$4,350$3,876
    Officer — prior enlisted
    O-1E$3,870$3,129
    O-2E$4,002$3,405
    O-3E$4,197$3,753
    Officer
    O-1$3,213$3,054
    O-2$3,753$3,126
    O-3$4,020$3,531
    O-4$4,410$3,855
    O-5$4,692$3,909
    O-6$4,731$3,999
    O-7$4,770$4,071
    PCS compareWashington · O-3 · $3,531/mo
    Aberdeen Proving Grounds$2,643/mo · $31,716/yr
    ▼ CUT−$888−$10,656/yr · like −$13,662 of salary

    What this rate means

    O-3 without dependents, nearest stations0 – $5,331 / month
    San Francisco$5,331
    Seattle$3,627
    Chicago$3,603
    Portsmouth$3,555
    West Palm Beach$3,534
    Washington$3,531
    Vandenberg SFB$3,528
    Burlington$3,516
    New Haven$3,483
    Riverside$3,471
    Youngstown$1,344

    Washington is #36 of 338. The spread between the dearest and cheapest station at this grade is $3,987 a month — $47,844 a year, untaxed.

    Every pay grade at Washington0 – $4,071 / month
    E-1$2,409
    E-2$2,409
    E-3$2,409
    E-4$2,409
    E-5$2,832
    E-6$3,057
    E-7$3,099
    E-8$3,261
    E-9$3,447
    W-1$3,096
    W-2$3,258
    W-3$3,471
    W-4$3,777
    W-5$3,876
    O-1E$3,129
    O-2E$3,405
    O-3E$3,753
    O-1$3,054
    O-2$3,126
    O-3$3,531
    O-4$3,855
    O-5$3,909
    O-6$3,999
    O-7$4,071

    Promoting to O-4 here adds $324 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-3 is worth $1,800 a month — about 6 promotions worth of housing allowance, at $324 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. $3,531 a month of BAH takes more than $3,531 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.