BAH Calculator
Look up your 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing by duty ZIP code, pay grade, and dependent status. Resolves your ZIP to its Military Housing Area and reads the exact monthly rate from the official DoD files — 338 housing areas, every grade, with and without dependents, verified.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Loading the 2026 rate data…
Estimate only — not legal, financial, or benefits advice. Only DoD can determine your actual benefit.
Official source: DoD Defense Travel Management Office — BAH ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
A lookup for the 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing: your duty ZIP resolves to one of 338 Military Housing Areas, and the tool reads the exact monthly rate for your pay grade with or without dependents from the official DoD rate files.
How it works
The Department of Defense sets BAH annually per Military Housing Area from local rental-market data, effective January 1. This tool uses the official ZIP-to-MHA mapping (about 41,000 ZIPs) and the published with/without-dependent rate files, stored verbatim in verified rule packs.
Getting the most from it
- Enter your duty station ZIP — not your home ZIP.
- Pick your pay grade and dependent status.
- Note the MHA code in the result so you can match it against your LES.
Reading your result
The figure is a monthly, tax-free allowance. If your LES shows a different number, common causes are rate protection at a prior higher rate, a partial month, or a dependency status change in processing.
What it can't tell you
It cannot apply individual rate protection history, overseas OHA (a different program), or partial-month proration. The DTMO calculator and your finance office are the authority for your own entitlement.
Frequently asked questions
BAH depends on three things: your duty station's Military Housing Area (resolved from ZIP code), your pay grade, and whether you have dependents. Rates are set annually from local rental-market data and take effect January 1.
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See what National Guard and Reserve service actually pays in 2026: one drill period equals 1/30 of monthly basic pay for your grade and years of service, and a standard drill weekend is four periods. Rates read directly from the verified DFAS tables — check a weekend, a month, or a full drill year.
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Your Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit level, explained: the service-time tiers from 50% to 100%, the current academic year's book stipend and private-school tuition cap, and how the monthly housing allowance is derived from BAH — all from the verified VA rate tables, with VA's comparison tool as the source of record.
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