Military pay calculator 2026: base pay, BAS, and BAH in one number
Basic pay: DFAS 2026 pay tables (enlisted, warrant, officer), effective January 1, 2026, as carried on the StandWatch 2026 pay chart. BAS: DFAS BAS table, January 1, 2026 (checked October 25, 2026). BAH: look yours up at the DTMO BAH Rate Lookup by ZIP code and type it in; BAH is set by location and StandWatch does not carry the location table.
What the number leaves out
- Special and incentive pays (flight, sea, hazardous duty, hostile fire, language, bonuses) are on top of this. See the Deployment Money Guide for the deployment ones.
- Taxes and deductions. Basic pay is taxed federally and, depending on your state of legal residence, by your state; BAH and BAS are not taxed. TSP, SGLI, and dental come out after. The state residency page covers which state can tax you.
- Guard and Reserve drill pay is one thirtieth of monthly basic pay per drill period, four periods per drill weekend. The grade and years math is the same; use the basic pay figure above and divide by 30.
- The civilian comparison. Because BAH and BAS are untaxed, a civilian salary would have to be higher than this total to leave the same take-home. The gap depends on your tax bracket; this page does not estimate it.
BAH: the situations that trip people up
BAH is the part of pay people fight finance about. The rules live in DoD Financial Management Regulation Volume 7A, Chapter 26 (116 pages); the Defense Travel Management Office publishes the plain-language version and names a BAH representative for every service. What DTMO states, and where each recurring case goes.
| The situation | What DTMO states | Where it gets fixed |
|---|---|---|
| Rates dropped at my duty station | Individual rate protection: you get the rate published January 1 or the amount you received December 31, whichever is larger, as long as your status is unchanged. Protection ends with a PCS, a reduction in grade, or a change in dependency status. | Finance, with the December LES in hand. |
| I have three kids, my buddy has one, same BAH | BAH distinguishes with-dependents and without-dependents, not the number of dependents. | Nothing to fix; that is the design. |
| Divorced or unmarried, I pay child support, I live in the barracks | A member in single-type quarters who pays child support is authorized BAH-Differential, the 1997 table updated with the pay raise each year; not authorized if the monthly child support is less than the BAH-DIFF amount. A member paying child support who lives off base gets the with-dependent rate for the locality. | Finance, with the support order or agreement. DTMO cites FMR paragraphs 260301 and 260504. |
| Reservist on short orders | Active duty for less than 30 days pays the non-locality BAH rate, not the duty-station rate. | Your orders length decides it before you report. |
| In transit, new station has no rate yet | Non-locality BAH applies to members in transit from areas with no prior BAH rate. | Finance at the gaining station. |
| Dual military, custody splits, boot camp timing, Guard schools over 30 days, a foreign spouse with no SSN | These are Chapter 26 cases the DTMO page does not summarize; the answer depends on whether the member has a dependent who is recognized in DEERS and on which member is the sponsor for BAH purposes. | Finance first, in writing. If finance says no, DTMO's rule: contact your service's BAH representative, with the written response from your chain of command attached. The representatives are listed on the DTMO BAH page. |
Source: Defense Travel Management Office, Basic Allowance for Housing (rate protection, non-locality rates, BAH-Differential, entitlement questions and service representatives), read October 25, 2026; DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 26, Housing Allowances. The last row states where the rule lives, not the rule itself.
What a civilian job would have to pay: Regular Military Compensation
The Department of Defense answers the "what is my E-6 pay worth on the outside" question with one defined number, Regular Military Compensation (RMC): basic pay, plus the average BAH for your grade and dependency status, plus BAS, plus the federal income tax you do not pay because the two allowances are untaxed. DoD calls RMC "the approximate amount of an equivalent civilian salary." The total this page computes is RMC without the tax advantage; the tax piece depends on your filing status and family size, so DoD's own calculator asks for both.
- Run it at the source. The DoD RMC Calculator takes grade, years of service, filing status, and family size and returns RMC with the tax advantage included. No identifying data is requested or kept.
- What RMC leaves out. Special and incentive pays, bonuses, the retirement pension after 20 years, the TSP match, TRICARE, and the commissary are not in RMC. A civilian offer has to be compared with all of those on the table, which is why the retired pay estimator and the TSP calculator sit next to this one.
- How to read a civilian offer. Compare the offer's salary with RMC, then subtract what the offer makes you pay for that the service covered: health insurance premiums, retirement contributions without a pension behind them, and state income tax if your military state of legal residence had none. The residency page explains that last one.
Source: Department of Defense, Military Compensation, Regular Military Compensation (RMC) Calculator, read October 25, 2026. StandWatch does not estimate the tax advantage; the figure depends on facts only you have.
Quick answers
Is BAH included in my base pay?
No. Basic pay is the taxable part set by grade and time in service. BAH is a separate, tax-free housing allowance set by duty station ZIP code, and BAS is a separate, tax-free food allowance.
Why does my LES not match?
The LES shows the month's entitlements, deductions, and allotments, and pays twice a month. Mid-month pay covers the 1st through the 15th. The pay dates page has the calendar; the Budget Builder is built around the two-check month.
What about warrant officers and O-1E to O-3E?
They are in the grade list. The O-E grades need more than four years of prior enlisted or warrant service; the table shows n/a below that.
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