BAH Calculator 2026

Your Basic Allowance for Housing by duty-station ZIP code — 338 Military Housing Areas at the 2026 rates.

BAH follows your duty station, not where your family lives.
Dependency status is worth roughly $200–$600 a month depending on grade and location.

Compare a second station

Useful when you have PCS options, or are weighing a geographic bachelor arrangement.

Enter your duty-station ZIP code and pay grade, then press Calculate BAH.

How BAH is set

The Department of Defense divides the country into 338 Military Housing Areas and prices each one from local rental market data — rent, utilities and renter’s insurance for the housing profile assigned to your grade. Around 41,000 ZIP codes map onto those 338 areas.

  • It follows the duty station. Where your family lives does not change the rate — see the geographic bachelor rules for the exceptions.
  • It is tax-free. BAH never appears in taxable wages, which makes it worth about a third more than the same amount of salary.
  • Individual rate protection. If rates fall in your area, your own rate does not drop while you remain at that duty station in the same status.

Highest-paying housing areas

The ten most expensive Military Housing Areas at your selected grade and dependency status.
#Military Housing AreaMonthlyAnnualvs national average

Estimates only, at the 2026 rates effective 1 January 2026. Rates are set by the DoD Travel Management Office and are subject to individual rate protection, overseas housing allowance rules and partial-BAH situations not modeled here. Members in government quarters generally receive no BAH. Verify against the official BAH rate lookup and your finance office before relying on these figures.