BAH Calculator by ZIP Code

The Defense Travel Management Office publishes BAH for Military Housing Areas, not for installations. An MHA is defined geographically by ZIP code: major military population areas carry a two-letter state code and a three-digit number (Eglin AFB is FL056), and ZIPs with small military populations are grouped into county cost groups of similar housing cost. Each year DTMO publishes the ZIP-to-MHA file beside the rate tables; this page reads that file (40,959 ZIPs for 2026) and the rate table of the same edition, so the answer is the rate DJMS pays, not an estimate.

Rates are set from the cost of adequate civilian housing for comparable income levels in the same area, by pay grade and dependency status, and the new table takes effect with the pay raise each January 1 (37 U.S.C. § 403(b); FMR Vol 7A Ch 26 ¶5.1).

For a CONUS assignment the housing allowance is authorized based on the permanent duty station, and the PDS vicinity is its local commuting area. Type the ZIP of the installation or office you report to, not the ZIP of the house you plan to rent. A member may request, through the Secretarial Process, an allowance based on a dependent’s residence instead, but that is an exception the Service must approve.

Overseas stations are outside this table: a PDS outside the United States pays the Overseas Housing Allowance against actual rent, with its own ceilings by locality.

The monthly BAH paid to a member must not be reduced because housing costs in the MHA fell, because the national monthly housing cost changed, or because the member was promoted. A member who arrived when the area paid more keeps the higher amount until eligibility at that duty station ends; a member who arrives after a cut is priced at the current table. That is why two neighbors in the same grade can draw different BAH, and why this page shows the prior-year rate beside the current one.