BAH 2026Military housing area NC186
Wilmington, NC BAH 2026
DoD’s 2026 housing allowance for every pay grade in the Wilmington, NC military housing area, with and without dependents, and the 29 ZIP codes it covers.
On this page4 sections
- E‑5 with dependents
- $2,040a monthtied for 174th highest of 338
- E‑5 without dependents
- $1,701a month
- O‑3 with dependents
- $2,628a month156th highest of 338
- ZIP codes
- 29in this DoD area
Wilmington, NC pays $2,040 a month for an E‑5 with dependents: the tied for 174th highest of 338 areas. The lowest is Anniston/Fort McClellan, AL at $1,185, the highest San Francisco, CA at $5,127. The three ticks split the 338 areas into four equal groups, at $1,626, $2,064, $2,580.
Monthly BAH by grade, 2026
The 2026 rates for each grade, in whole dollars a month, exactly as DoD’s file lists them for NC186. E‑1 to E‑4 with dependents share one rate here.
| Grade | With dependents | Without dependents |
|---|---|---|
| Enlisted | ||
| E‑1 | $1,932 | $1,491 |
| E‑2 | $1,932 | $1,491 |
| E‑3 | $1,932 | $1,491 |
| E‑4 | $1,932 | $1,491 |
| E‑5 | $2,040 | $1,701 |
| E‑6 | $2,502 | $1,878 |
| E‑7 | $2,547 | $1,932 |
| E‑8 | $2,595 | $2,136 |
| E‑9 | $2,736 | $2,271 |
| Warrant officers | ||
| W‑1 | $2,523 | $1,905 |
| W‑2 | $2,568 | $2,133 |
| W‑3 | $2,631 | $2,289 |
| W‑4 | $2,775 | $2,508 |
| W‑5 | $2,958 | $2,559 |
| Officers with over 4 years of enlisted or warrant service | ||
| O‑1E | $2,553 | $2,037 |
| O‑2E | $2,619 | $2,241 |
| O‑3E | $2,805 | $2,496 |
| Officers | ||
| O‑1 | $2,100 | $1,818 |
| O‑2 | $2,496 | $2,007 |
| O‑3 | $2,628 | $2,334 |
| O‑4 | $3,018 | $2,541 |
| O‑5 | $3,303 | $2,565 |
| O‑6 | $3,327 | $2,607 |
| O‑7 | $3,351 | $2,652 |
| O‑8† | $3,351 | $2,652 |
| O‑9† | $3,351 | $2,652 |
| O‑10† | $3,351 | $2,652 |
E‑5, the grade in the summary above, is highlighted. † DoD’s file has three columns after O‑7, equal to O‑7 in every area; DoD labels its columns only through O‑7, so they are read here as O‑8 to O‑10.
ZIP codes in this area
DoD’s 2026 file puts these 29 ZIP codes in Wilmington, NC (NC186). The BAH calculator looks up any of them and can compare up to three; the buttons below open it at 28401, one ZIP in this area.
Show all 29 ZIP codesAll 29 ZIP codes
- 284xx
- 28401 28402 28403 28404 28405 28406 28407 28408 28409 28410 28411 28412 28420 28422 28428 28429 28449 28451 28452 28459 28461 28462 28465 28467 28468 28469 28470 28479 28480
Other areas in North Carolina
Areas whose DoD code starts with NC, with the E‑5 with-dependents rate for 2026.
How these rates work
- BAH depends on the area, the pay grade and whether the member has dependents; every rate here is a whole-dollar cell of DoD’s 2026 file (BAH-ASCII-2026.zip), not an estimate.
- Rate protection (37 U.S.C. 403(b)(6)): So long as a member retains uninterrupted eligibility for BAH within an area of the United States, the monthly allowance may not be reduced as a result of changes in housing costs in the area or the member’s promotion. This page can’t know a protected rate; the Leave and Earnings Statement shows it.
- ZIP codes outside DoD’s file, and the 214 ZIP codes DoD’s file assigns to XX499 (“UNKNOWN”), have no area page.
Sources
Checked against DoD’s file on October 13, 2026. The data page lists every file’s checksum: BAH data.