BAH rates for 2021 were originally released on December 19, 2020, with a second update to the BAH rate tables processes on June 19, 2020.
Basic Allowance for Housing, commonly referred to as BAH, is an allowance awarded to service members based on their geographical duty location, pay grade, and whether or not they have dependents. In other words, your Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, rate is determined by the zip code of your duty station, your rank, and whether or not you have a spouse, children, or other dependent adults listed in your service record.
Service members living in provided housing, such as the barracks or on-base military housing, are paid BAH at a lower rate or have the BAH deducted from their pay, but service members authorized to live off-base alone or with dependents receive BAH along with their Basic Pay and other entitlements dispersed on the 1st and 15th of every month.
Finding 2021 BAH Rates for your duty station
In order to see the 2021 BAH Rates for your location and pay grade, click on this link to visit the Defense Department’s Basic Allowance for Housing calculator.
When you get to the 2021 BAH Rates calculator, leave the year selector on 2021, then type in the zip code of your duty station. It’s important to remember that your Basic Allowance for Housing is calculated based on the zip code of the duty station itself, and not of the town you choose to live in while residing off base. For some installations, like Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, the zip code on base and off base are different by one digit (92277 versus 92278) as one example. Be sure to use the zip code from the installation itself.
From there, enter your current pay grade in the third selector and click on calculate. It will then take you to a list of the 2021 BAH Rates for that zip code, both with or without dependents.
Non-Locality 2021 BAH Rates
Service members with no assigned duty station, such as those transferring between duty stations or on active duty orders for under 30 days, receive a non-locality BAH rate assessed by the federal government.
Unlike normal 2021 BAH Rates, non-locality rates are universal for all service members in transit. However, the amount a service member rates changes based on pay grade and dependency status.
Officers
Enlisted
