BAH by Location: 2026 Rates for Major Bases

How location determines your BAH

The continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska are divided into more than 300 Military Housing Areas. Each MHA is priced against its own local rental market, which is why two members of the same rank can receive very different allowances depending on where they are stationed. A move across the country can raise or lower your BAH by thousands of dollars a year — so checking your destination's rate before a PCS is one of the smartest financial moves you can make.

The location pages above show real 2026 DoD rates for each area's full pay-grade range, the installations that share that MHA, and local housing context to help you budget. For the complete methodology, see What Is BAH?

Highest-cost BAH locations

The most expensive Military Housing Areas track the country's priciest rental markets — major coastal metros and island installations. Areas that consistently rank near the top of the national chart include:

• Honolulu / Oahu, Hawaii — limited land plus the cost of shipping everything to the islands keeps rents among the highest in the nation. See our Hawaii BAH guide.
• San Diego, California — a huge Navy and Marine Corps footprint in one of the most expensive coastal housing markets in the country.
• San Francisco Bay Area & Los Angeles/Long Beach — California metros where civilian rents drive BAH well above the national average.
• Washington, D.C. / National Capital Region — a dense concentration of senior billets in a high-cost market.
• New York City & Boston — Northeast metros with premium rents reflected in their MHA rates.

In these areas, senior enlisted and officer grades can see with-dependents rates well above $4,000 per month.

Lowest-cost BAH locations

At the other end, many inland and rural installations sit in affordable rental markets, so their BAH rates are far lower. This is not a penalty — your allowance simply matches local housing costs, and a lower rate in a cheap market can stretch just as far as a high rate in an expensive one. Junior enlisted rates at the lowest-cost MHAs can fall below $1,200 per month with dependents, but so does the rent.

Hawaii, Alaska, and overseas

Two points of confusion come up constantly:

• Hawaii and Alaska use BAH, not OHA. Both are U.S. states, so members there receive standard stateside BAH — and if they rent below their rate, they keep the difference.
• Overseas assignments use OHA. Stationed in Germany, Japan, Korea, or another foreign country, you receive the Overseas Housing Allowance instead, which reimburses actual rent up to a cap rather than paying a flat amount.

Checking rates before a PCS

Because your allowance resets to the new MHA the moment you change duty stations, run both your current and future ZIP codes through the calculator before you move. A transfer from a high-cost coast to a low-cost inland post can cut your housing income substantially — and the reverse can be a welcome raise. Build your new budget around the destination rate, never the old one. For how rate protection does (and does not) apply, read PCS & rate protection.

Location BAH FAQ