Pay & allowancescalculator2026 rates, verified October 13, 2026
The housing allowance for a ZIP code, grade and dependency status, from DoD’s own rate file — with up to three duty stations side by side on one dollar scale.
Your BAH
Example$3,975.00 a month
$47,700.00 a year · CA038 San Diego, CA · E-5 with dependents
Rates as of · verified · Change log · Report an error
Independent estimate · not an official statement · general information, not financial or tax advice
One dollar scale for every row; the dashed line marks the lowest rate, so each difference reads as a length.
CA038 · $2,169.00 more a month than the lowest · $26,028.00 a year
NC182 · the lowest here
VA298 · $624.00 more a month than the lowest · $7,488.00 a year
San Diego, CA pays $2,169 more a month than Fort Bragg/Pope, NC for E‑5 with dependents — $26,028.00 a year.
Rate protection. DoD: “No matter what happens to housing costs – including the out-of-pocket expense adjustment – an individual service member who maintains uninterrupted basic allowance for housing eligibility at a given location will not see a rate decrease.” We can’t know a rate-protected amount you already receive; your LES shows it.
Estimate by Rank and Pay · rates as of January 1, 2026 · not an official statement · rankandpay.com
Use this ZIP in the pay calculator GI Bill® housing at this ZIP
The same in every ZIP — DoD’s 2026 non-locality table, effective January 1, 2026.
BAH is one lookup in two steps: where the ZIP is, then what that housing area pays your grade. DoD publishes whole-dollar rates; we use them exactly.
2027 rates: Not modeled — DoD usually publishes next year’s BAH in mid-December; a date in 2027 says “Not modeled” until the file is in our data (checked October 13, 2026).
Your protected rate: Not modeled — a member who keeps uninterrupted BAH eligibility at one location keeps an older, higher rate; only your LES shows it.
Overseas housing (OHA) and COLA: Not modeled — they use other tables we don’t carry.
Dual-military and special cases: Not modeled — who draws the with-dependents rate in a dual-military couple, and BAH during training or TDY, follow rules this calculator doesn’t ask about.