DLA: The Move-In Money Nobody Explains

When you PCS, the government pays for the obvious stuff. It moves your household goods, it pays your travel, it covers some lodging. What it does not itemize is the pile of small costs that come with setting up a new household: deposits, a few nights you did not plan on, the run to the store for everything you tossed before the move, the curtains that do not fit the new windows. Dislocation Allowance, DLA, is the flat payment that is supposed to absorb all of that.

It is one of the more generous PCS entitlements, it is non-taxable, and most people just see it hit their account without ever understanding what it is or whether they got the right amount. So here is the short version.

What DLA actually is

DLA is a one-time lump sum tied to each PCS move, paid to help offset the miscellaneous costs of relocating that no other allowance covers. It is set by your rank and whether you have dependents, not by your actual costs, so you do not submit receipts for it. You either rate it or you do not, and the amount is fixed.

Two features make it valuable. First, it is non-taxable, so the full amount is yours. Second, it is paid around the time of your move rather than as a reimbursement months later, so it is actual cash in hand when you need it for those deposits.

The 2026 rates

DLA scales with rank and dependency status. The with-dependents rate is meaningfully higher, because the cost of resettling a family is higher. A few representative 2026 figures, effective January 1, 2026:

Those are real 2026 numbers from the DTMO DLA table. The full table runs from $1,870.58 for an E-1 without dependents up to $6,385.58 for the most senior ranks with dependents. To pull your exact figure, the DLA Calculator has the whole table.

When you get it, and when you do not

DLA is paid for most PCS moves on orders. You can usually get it advanced before the move so the cash is there when you need it, which is the smart play if you are fronting deposits. A few situations change the picture:

• Your first move to your first duty station out of initial training generally does not pay full DLA the way a normal PCS does, so do not budget for it as a new accession.
• Moves you request for your own convenience (a personally requested move that is not a normal PCS) may not rate DLA. If it is on standard PCS orders, you almost always rate it.
• You can rate a secondary DLA in specific situations, for example certain evacuations or local moves directed by the government. It is less common, but worth asking your finance office about if your situation is unusual.

How to actually use it

Because DLA is meant for the unglamorous resettlement costs, the people who feel like they "made money" on it are usually the ones who kept those costs down. The allowance is fixed, so anything you do not spend on deposits, setup, and the move-in scramble, you keep. Treat it like the buffer it is, and do not let it disappear into the general post-move spending fog.

One more thing: DLA is separate from your PPM payment, your per diem, and your mileage. When someone tells you they "made thousands" on a move, DLA is often a big part of the number they are quoting. It is great money, but it is not PPM profit, and the two should not be lumped together when you are deciding whether to self-move.

The bottom line

DLA is flat, tax-free, move-in money that you rate for most PCS moves on orders. The amount is set by your rank and dependency status, you do not submit receipts, and you can usually get it advanced so the cash is there for deposits. Know your number before the move, file it (and if you are mil-to-mil, file both), and keep your setup costs lean so more of it stays in your pocket.

Pull your exact 2026 figure with the DLA Calculator, and if you are weighing a self-move, run it through the PPM Profit Calculator so you can see DLA and PPM profit as the separate things they are.