The Defense Department announced the 2025 BAH rates Dec. 13, 2024. The average Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, will increase by 5.4% for the second year in a row.
The Pentagon announced the 2024 BAH rates Dec. 14, 2023.
Rates go up with the start of the new calendar year. The Defense Department estimated that it will pay about 1 million service members a total of $29.2 billion in BAH in 2025.
Calculate your 2025 rate here.
The DoD calculates BAH rates based on a uniformed service member's geographic duty location, paygrade and dependency status, along with housing costs in each local market. BAH is payable only when government quarters, such as barracks, are not provided or when a service member has dependents.
Each year, the department releases new BAH tables in mid-December for rates effective Jan. 1.
2025 BAH Rates
The 5.4% average increase from 2024 to 2025 represents another larger-than-normal increase. The 2023 increase of 12.1% was up from 5.1% in 2022.
The department bases BAH on a combination of local costs for rent and utilities for various housing types. Any fluctuation of one or more of those factors affects BAH rates for that location.
Related: Learn more about BAH.
Individual Rate Protection
In locations where the BAH rate falls from one year to the next, service members already living there will have their BAH rate protected thanks to individual rate protection. The policy prevents the BAH rate from being lowered as long as the service member's status remains unchanged.
BAH Rates Below Actual Housing Cost
After a congressionally mandated change, BAH rates were slowly reduced over time to 5% below actual housing costs. That process was completed in 2019. The nearly 1 million troops who receive BAH will absorb $90 to $202 of their calculated housing costs monthly in 2025. Rates will continue to sit at 95% of actual costs going forward.
Related: How Is BAH Calculated?
BAH Does Not Cover Renter's Insurance
Another congressionally mandated change eliminated renter's insurance from the BAH calculation. That means troops are expected to pay out of pocket for such insurance. Privatized base housing companies also no longer provide that protection as part of on-base rental agreements.
Related: See your BAH rates
BAH and the GI Bill
The GI Bill Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) is generally the same as the BAH for an E-5 with dependents. MHA is based on the ZIP code for the school a service member attends. Unlike the BAH, which changes Jan. 1 of every year, the GI Bill MHA rates change Aug. 1, the beginning of the academic year. Read more about the GI Bill MHA rates.
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