How Much Are BAS and BAH in 2026 — and What Are They Worth After Tax?

The 2026 rates, and what moved

BAS is the one military allowance you can print: one rate for all officers, one for all enlisted members, plus a double rate for a rare set of quarters.

BAH cannot be printed. It is 299 housing areas times two dozen pay grades times two dependency statuses, rebuilt every year from local rent data, so the only honest answer is the line on your LES or the DoD BAH Rate Lookup for your duty-station ZIP. What is publishable is the shape of the 2026 table: rates rose 4.2% on average, DoD budgeted $29.9 billion, and each rate covers about 95% of the national average housing cost for the grade. The other 5% is a deliberate member cost share of $93 to $212 a month.

The two allowances also rise for different reasons. BAS tracks the USDA food cost index, which is why it moved 2.4% while basic pay moved 3.8%. BAH tracks rents in your own market, so 4.2% is an average your station can sit well above or below.

What "not taxed" is worth in salary

Both allowances are excluded from gross income under section 134 of the tax code, and Publication 3 lists them by name. For uniformed service, Social Security and Medicare wages are basic pay only, so the allowances dodge the 7.65% payroll tax too.

To price that, ask what salary a civilian needs to end up with the same money. For a single E-5 with six years and $49,320 of basic pay in a 4% state, the next dollar loses 12% federal, 7.65% payroll and 4% state tax — 23.65 cents. So $5,723.40 of BAS a year needs $5,723.40 ÷ 0.7635 = $7,496 of salary, about $625 a month. The BAS engine runs that gross-up against your own bracket, and the answer moves a long way:

The pattern is worth internalising: a tax-free allowance is worth more the higher your tax rate. The same $476.95 is worth about $595 to a single E-5 in Texas and about $715 to a single E-7 whose pay reaches the 22% bracket. Promotions make your allowances more valuable, not less — and a no-income-tax home state makes them worth less on paper, because there is less tax for them to escape.

BAH is where the number gets big — and where the shortcut breaks

Run the same gross-up on a housing allowance and the shortcut stops working, because BAH is large enough to cross a tax bracket.

Take the one 2026 rate that is published in a primary document: the temporary Abilene / Dyess AFB increase, which set the E-5 rate at $1,872 with dependents and $1,545 without from May 16 to December 31, 2026. That is $1,872 × 12 = $22,464 a year of untaxed money. Stack it on $49,320 of basic pay for a single filer and the slice starts in the 12% band, crosses into the 22% band at $50,400 of taxable income, and finishes there. Matching it takes about $31,270 of salary, or $2,606 a month — a ratio of 1.39, not the 1.31 the flat-rate shortcut gives.

Put both allowances together and that E-5 is carrying $28,187 a year of untaxed pay, worth about $39,894 of civilian salary. That single fact is why separating service members undersell themselves: the military pay versus civilian salary engine prices a married E-5's whole package at about $90,350 of civilian salary against $49,320 of taxable basic pay.

The meal card takes most of your BAS back

BAS is paid in full even when the government feeds you. What changes is that you then owe for the meals. On Essential Station Messing — a meal card, declared by the installation commander for members in single quarters — the discount meal rate of $13.65 a day is collected day for day, whether you eat or not.

Over an average month (365 ÷ 12 days) that is $415.19, leaving you $61.76 of a $476.95 allowance. In a 31-day month the collection is $423.15 and you keep $53.80. Three points people get wrong:

• The collection is a food bill, not a cut to BAS. Your entitlement is still $476.95, and it still shows in full under Entitlements.
• It is cheaper than cash. The standard meal rate for the same three meals is $18.00 a day; $18.00 × 30 = $540 a month, more than the entire enlisted allowance.
• Missed meals are creditable. If assigned duties make you miss more than 20% of the month's meals and your commander certifies it, the collection is adjusted — worth about $83 a month at the 20% line.

Coming off the meal card is the single biggest move on the BAS engine's lever board: +$415.19 a month, more than any promotion delivers after tax.

BAH: the on-base-or-off-base decision, in one subtraction

BAH is paid to you off base and handed straight back as rent on base, so the whole question is what each choice leaves in your pocket.

Sgt. Rivera, an E-5 with dependents at Dyess, has $1,872 of BAH. An apartment off base rents for $1,400, utilities run $200, renter's insurance $14 and the extra driving $100 — $1,714 in all. Off base he keeps $1,872 − $1,714 = $158 a month, about $1,896 a year. On base, privatized housing takes the allowance as rent with utilities included, so he keeps $0. Off base wins by about $160 a month, and his break-even rent is $1,872 − $200 − $14 − $100 = $1,558. Above that rent, on base wins.

Change one thing — no dependents — and the answer flips. The rate drops to $1,545, the same apartment now costs $169 a month more than it returns, and on base wins by about $170. Add a roommate at $700 of rent and $100 of utilities and off base wins by $631 a month. The on-base versus off-base engine ranks those levers for your own rate.

Three BAH rules that settle most arguments:

1. The number of dependents does not matter. There are two rates per grade and area. One child and four children draw the same rate; going from none to one is what changes it.
2. The computation includes utilities — electricity, heat, water and sewer — but not renter's insurance and not your commute.
3. Government-owned quarters pay no BAH at all, which is a different case from privatized housing paying it and taking it straight back as rent.

FAQ

Q: How much is BAS in 2026?
$476.95 a month for every enlisted member and $328.48 for every officer, effective January 1, 2026. Both rates rose 2.4% from the 2025 figures of $465.77 and $320.78. BAS II, for enlisted members in single quarters with no cooking facilities and no mess, is $953.90.

Q: Does BAS or BAH go up if I have more children?
Neither does. BAS has one rate per category, whatever your family size. BAH has exactly two rates per grade and area, so a first dependent changes the rate and later ones do not. A marriage or first child moves you to the with-dependents rate once DEERS is updated.

Q: Are BAS and BAH taxed?
No. Both are excluded from gross income under section 134 and listed in IRS Publication 3, and neither is a Social Security or Medicare wage for uniformed service. That is why a $476.95 BAS is worth about $625 of taxable salary to a single E-5 in a 4% state, and about $715 in the 22% bracket.

Q: Why does my LES show a meal deduction when BAS is tax-free?
You are on Essential Station Messing. Full BAS is still paid; the discount meal rate of $13.65 a day is collected for every day meals are available, whether you eat them or not. That is $415.19 in an average month, leaving about $62.

Q: Can my BAH go down when new rates come out?
Not while you stay put. Individual rate protection gives you the larger of the new rate or your December 31 amount, as long as location, grade and dependency status are unchanged. A move, a grade reduction or a change in dependents resets it, and temporary increases are not protected.

Q: How do I compare all this with a civilian salary?
Add basic pay, BAH and BAS, then gross up the two allowances at your own bracket rather than a flat rate. For a married E-5 that comes to about $90,350 of civilian salary; a take-home pay calculator then shows what an offer at that level actually leaves.

Sources

• DFAS — Basic Allowance for Subsistence rate table (2026 and prior years)
• DoD Comptroller — FY2026 food service charges, discount and standard meal rates
• DTMO — Basic Allowance for Housing rate lookup and program rules
• IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide — allowances excluded from gross income