BAH IN 2026
Basic Allowance for Housing: what drives it, what breaks it, and how to verify yours in one minute.
Three inputs decide your BAH
- Your duty station ZIP code. Not your home address. The system field is called VHA ZIP on your LES.
- Your pay grade.
- Dependent status. With dependents or without. The count does not matter for BAH, only whether you have any.
Look up your 2026 rate
Straight from the Department of Defense 2026 rate tables: 338 housing areas, every pay grade, both dependency statuses. Nothing you enter is stored.
Use your duty station ZIP, not your home address. On your LES this is the VHA ZIP field.
The three classic BAH errors
- Stale ZIP after a PCS. You moved, the system did not. Every month at the old rate builds a debt or shorts you.
- Stale dependent status. Marriage, divorce, or a dependent change must move your rate the same month.
- An unexplained decrease. Rate protection means annual rate drops do not cut your BAH while you stay put. If yours went down and you did not move or change status, ask why.