CA038 · E-5
SAN DIEGO, CA
- With dependents
- $3,975
- Without dependents
- $3,147
Your duty station. Your pay grade. Your rate.
BAH calculator
Find your monthly housing allowance using published 2026 rates. No account. No guesswork.
2026 data verified
Downloaded 2026-11-13
Downloaded 2026-11-13
2027 rates are pending. Expected in December 2026; this calculator currently uses verified 2026 data.
2026 published rates
Calculate your BAH
Start with your duty station ZIP code, pay grade, and dependent status.
Your monthly housing allowance
Enter a five digit ZIP code to see the 2026 published monthly rate, annualized estimate, and both dependent rates.
Published rates · 2026
E-5 monthly housing allowance
These are published locality rates, not a personal entitlement decision. Select your actual duty station ZIP and pay grade above for a matching lookup.
CA024 · E-5
CAMP PENDLETON, CA
- With dependents
- $3,963
- Without dependents
- $3,093
VA298 · E-5
NORFOLK/PORTSMOUTH, VA
- With dependents
- $2,430
- Without dependents
- $1,908
TX270 · E-5
ABILENE/DYESS AFB, TX
- With dependents
- $1,872
- Without dependents
- $1,545
A clearer number. A better housing plan.
Find a published Basic Allowance for Housing rate using your duty station ZIP code, pay grade, and dependent status. The calculator currently uses verified 2026 data. Official 2027 rates are pending; an expected December 2026 release is a planning expectation, not a published schedule or a rate forecast.
Start with the duty station, then compare the two rates
Enter the five digit ZIP code for your permanent duty station, including any leading zero. Choose the pay grade that applies to the period you are checking, then select with dependents or without dependents. A home address, a preferred rental neighborhood, and a duty station may have different ZIP codes. For an ordinary locality BAH lookup, begin with the duty station rather than the place where you would like to live.
The result identifies the Military Housing Area, or MHA, matched by the published ZIP mapping. It shows the monthly amount and the corresponding amount for the other dependent category so you can compare the table entries. The annual figure is the selected monthly rate multiplied by twelve. It is a budgeting reference, not a determination of the payments you will receive over a year with a move, promotion, or other change.
Read a published rate as one part of a housing budget
BAH helps eligible service members meet housing costs when government housing is not provided. The allowance is based on housing markets and military circumstances, rather than the rent on one particular lease. A calculator amount does not establish that a specific home is affordable. Compare it with the rent, utilities, deposits, commuting costs, and other expenses that apply to the home you are considering.
This tool looks up locality rates. It does not decide eligibility, authorize an allowance, review orders, calculate a partial month, or reproduce your Leave and Earnings Statement. Government quarters, certain Reserve orders, training, dependent location exceptions, and other situations can require a different rule or allowance. Your servicing finance office can determine which rules apply to your assignment and explain a payment that differs from a new table lookup.
What the current data covers
The current 2026 dataset contains 338 MHA entries and 27 pay grade columns. Its usable ZIP index contains 40,745 ZIP codes. Source rows without an applicable rate are excluded; an unmatched ZIP is never assigned an invented amount. A ZIP mapped to an MHA beginning with ZZ uses a national rate entry rather than a local housing market rate, and the result identifies that distinction.
The selected source package was downloaded on November 13, 2026. For the retained 2026 snapshot, all 18,252 combinations of MHA, pay grade, and dependent category matched the specified comparison CSV. That comparison checks the import rather than replacing the rate authority. The 2026 snapshot includes the temporary TX270 adjustment for Abilene and Dyess AFB effective May 16, 2026; it is not carried forward as an assumed future amount. Consult the data source page for each release and its date boundaries.
Use the year and the personal circumstances together
A current published table and a protected personal rate can differ. Before using a result to question a payment, confirm the calendar year, duty location, pay grade, dependent category, and whether individual rate protection applies. Keep the lookup inputs with your notes so that a second person can reproduce the same table entry. Changing the optional branch selection does not create a separate Army, Navy, or Air Force rate schedule.
BAHCalcPro is a free independent reference tool. It is not part of the Department of Defense or any military service, and it cannot change a military pay record. Official publications and the applicable entitlement rules control. You can use the calculator without creating an account or supplying a name, a military identification number, a street address, or financial documents.
BAH questions, answered
Are official 2027 BAH rates available here?
No. The current published dataset used here is 2026, and the 2027 status is pending. Rates for 2027 are expected in December 2026 based on the usual annual release pattern, but that timing is not a confirmed announcement. No predicted increase, projected percentage, or estimated 2027 dollar amount is used in this calculator.
Should I enter my home ZIP or my duty station ZIP?
Use the permanent duty station ZIP for an ordinary locality BAH lookup. Your residential ZIP can map to another housing area. Some authorized exceptions use a different location, including certain dependent location arrangements. If an exception may apply, confirm the correct basis with your servicing finance office rather than choosing the ZIP that produces the higher result.
Does having more dependents increase the BAH rate?
The published locality tables have two categories: with dependents and without dependents. They do not add a separate amount for each additional dependent. Selecting with dependents here finds that table entry; it does not establish that a person is a qualifying dependent or that you are authorized to receive that category.
How does individual BAH rate protection work?
A continuing eligible member can retain a higher protected rate when the new published rate decreases and the relevant duty station, pay grade, and dependency circumstances remain unchanged. A PCS, a reduction in grade, a dependency change, or a loss of eligibility can change that protection. A promotion does not by itself reduce protected BAH. This calculator shows published rates and does not determine your protected personal amount.
Why might a five digit ZIP code have no result?
A correctly formatted ZIP is not necessarily a supported duty location in the published BAH mapping. Check the ZIP on the orders or with the installation. Overseas assignments generally use Overseas Housing Allowance, or OHA, rather than a domestic locality BAH lookup; Alaska and Hawaii use BAH. An unmatched result does not establish ineligibility or authorize a nearby area rate.
Does a calculator result confirm my BAH eligibility?
No. It identifies a table amount for the selected inputs. Orders, government housing, service status, dependency rules, and other facts can affect entitlement. Use your finance office for an eligibility decision, a payment correction, a partial month calculation, or advice about a circumstance that the three basic lookup inputs do not describe.
Is there a lower BAH rate for an E-1 with under four months of service?
The retained official 2026 locality BAH table contains one E-1 column for each dependent category, with no separate under four months column. The lower entry level amount associated with that service threshold belongs to basic pay. This calculator uses the published E-1 housing entry for its selected dataset without inventing an additional BAH reduction.