Free BAH Calculator
Look up your 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing by pay grade, dependency status, and location, or work backwards from your monthly rent to see what your BAH covers. Built for service members and military families.
This free BAH calculator looks up 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing rates by pay grade, from E-1 through O-10, with or without dependents, for the national flat rate and major duty stations, and can reverse the math to show how much of your monthly rent your BAH covers.
O-8 through O-10 are paid at the O-7 rate. E-1 and E-2 share a rate.
BAH pays one with-dependents rate no matter how many dependents you have.
Official 2026 DoD rates, effective January 1, 2026. The national flat rate (BAH RC/T) is the non-locality table, also paid while in transit.
What you pay, or are shopping for, each month.
Estimates for planning, not an official pay statement. See Terms of Use.
How BAH pay-grade and dependent math works
BAH starts with pay grade because the allowance is sized to the housing each rank is expected to need. An E-2 rents a modest apartment; an O-5 needs room for a family. The grade curve is not a smooth ramp. E-1 and E-2 are paid the same rate, junior enlisted grades often cluster together, and the first real jump lands at E-5, the junior/career enlisted line. At the top the table caps: O-7 through O-10 all draw the O-7 rate, so no flag officer collects more than a brigadier general.
Dependents add a second rate column, not a per-person payment: one dependent or six, the with-dependents rate is identical. The bump is real. In 2026 an E-5 in the Washington DC metro area gets $3,132 a month with dependents versus $2,832 without, a $300 difference. In San Diego the same E-5 gets $3,147 single and $3,975 with dependents. The logic is housing space: a member supporting a family needs more rooms than a member living alone.
Location is the biggest lever because every rate comes from local rental data. Every year the tables are rebuilt from rental surveys in 366 military housing areas, which is why the same E-5 with dependents draws $3,975 in San Diego, $3,663 in Honolulu, $3,132 around Washington DC, and $2,163 in Panama City. Two special cases sit outside the standard table. Partial BAH goes to members in government housing, such as barracks, who still support dependents or pay child support; in 2026 it runs from $8.70 a month for an E-5 to $22.20 for an O-3. Transient BAH is the flat national rate paid while a member travels between duty stations.
BAH calculator questions
How is my BAH rate calculated?
Three inputs decide it: your pay grade, whether you have dependents, and your military housing area (MHA), which follows your duty station. Each year the Defense Department rebuilds every MHA table from local rental cost surveys, so rates track local housing markets rather than a national average. This calculator uses the official 2026 rates, effective January 1, 2026.
Do I get more BAH for each dependent?
No. BAH has two columns, with dependents and without, and one dependent draws the same with-dependents rate as six. For example, in 2026 an E-5 in San Diego receives $3,147 a month without dependents and $3,975 with dependents: an $828 monthly bump that does not grow with family size.
What are partial BAH and transient BAH?
Partial BAH is a small monthly payment for members living in government housing, such as barracks, who still support dependents or pay child support. In 2026 it ranges from $8.70 a month for an E-5 to $22.20 for an O-3. Transient BAH is the flat national rate, also called BAH Type II, paid while you travel between duty stations before a new locality rate is assigned.
Can my BAH go down if rates drop?
If you are already stationed there, no. Rate protection lets you keep your higher rate when a new annual table comes in lower, while new arrivals get the new rate. When rates rise, everyone moves to the new table. That is why two members of the same rank in the same area can briefly draw different amounts.