See JFTR, Chapter 10 for detailed BAH information.

Q1: Who is eligible for BAH?

Q2: Where can I look up my rates and learn more about Basic Allowance for Housing?

Q3: I looked up the current year BAH amount for my grade and ZIP Code and it's less than I was getting last year.  Am I going to lose money?

Q4: Can I ever lose rate protection?

Q5: If, in a given year, I lose rate protection, am I protected from further decreases in the following year(s)?

Q6: Does rate protection keep me from getting rate increases?

Q7: If I get promoted, do I get the "protected" BAH amount for my new pay grade?

Q8: Do I see big changes in housing allowances on January 1?

Q9: I still have some out-of-pocket expenses!

Q10: The BAH for my grade doesn't begin to cover my mortgage payment!

Q11: What is the source of BAH rental data?

Q12: How do you know the current method of measuring housing cost is more accurate?

Q13: What steps do you take to ensure reliability and accuracy of the data?

Q14: What is included in median housing costs?

Q15: How often do you collect housing data?

Q16: What types of residences do you include in your data collection?

Q17: Does family size make a difference?

Q18: In determining the income of comparable civilians do you consider military family income which includes the income of the working spouse (if any)?

Q19: Does BAH guarantee that my residence matches what I could get if I lived in government quarters?

Q20: Exactly what are the civilian housing standards you use?

Q21: Why do you base BAH on my duty location? Why not use my residence location?

Q22: If people choose to live further away to reduce their housing expense, does that lower BAH for everyone else?

Q23: Why does someone living in another city get more BAH than I do, when it seems to me that housing is more expensive here?

Q24: The cost of living here is high; I have no commissary, exchange, or hospital--I need more BAH!

Q25: How do you geographically define a locality?

Q26: What method do you use to calculate BAH in places without Runzheimer cost data?

Q27: Who actually collects your data for you?

Q28: My wife and I are both service members and we have two children. Why is it that only one of us can collect full rate BAH and the other single BAH? Why couldn't we each claim one child and collect full with-dependent BAH?

Q29: What is BAH-Diff?

Q30: I've noticed that the BAH rates have only dollars and no cents. What happened to the cents?

 

Q1: Who is eligible for BAH? ANSWER: A member assigned to permanent duty within the 50 United States, who is not furnished government housing, is eligible for a Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), based on the member's dependency status at the permanent duty station ZIP Code. A member stationed overseas (except in Hawai’i and Alaska), including U.S. territories and possessions, who is not furnished government housing, is eligible for an Overseas Housing Allowance (OHA) based on the member's dependency status. If a member (except for a member paying child support) is serving an UNACCOMPANIED overseas tour, the member is eligible for BAH at the ‘with-dependent’ rate, based on the dependent's U.S. residence ZIP Code, plus FSH at the OCONUS PDS, if the member is not furnished government housing overseas.

Q2: Where can I look up my rates and learn more about Basic Allowance for Housing? ANSWER: Go to http://perdiem.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html

Q3: I looked up the current year BAH amount for my grade and ZIP Code and it's less than I was getting last year.  Am I going to lose money? ANSWER: No. BAH rate protection keeps an individual from having a reduction in BAH as long as the individual maintains "uninterrupted eligibility" [see below] for BAH. This means an individual is authorized the 1 January rate for the individual’s grade and location or the housing allowance being paid on 31 December of the previous year, whichever is larger.

Q4: Can I ever lose rate protection? ANSWER: Three separate circumstances may lead to a change in your status that "interrupts your eligibility" for the allowance, and then, only if the published allowance for your grade and location is less than what you are getting now. First, and most common, a decrease occurs when you PCS to a location at which the housing cost is less than at your current duty station. At the new duty station you get a lower housing allowance, but you should be no worse off, because the allowance is driven by the housing costs there. Second, if you are demoted, your housing allowance reverts to the then-current published table of allowances for your lower grade. Promotions do not lower your housing allowance. Third, if your dependency status changes (from with-dependent to without-dependent, or vice versa), your housing allowance is determined by your new dependency status and the then-current published table of allowances for your grade.

Q5: If, in a given year, I lose rate protection, am I protected from further decreases in the following year(s)? ANSWER: Yes. An individual is authorized the larger of: (a) the January 1 published BAH for grade and location; or (b) the housing allowance being paid on December 31.

Q6: Does rate protection keep me from getting rate increases? ANSWER: No. An individual is authorized the larger of: (a) the January 1 published BAH for grade and location; or (b) the housing allowance being paid on December 31.

Q7: If I get promoted, do I get the "protected" BAH amount for my new pay grade? ANSWER: No. If you are promoted, your BAH rate is the then-current published BAH for your new (higher) grade, with the following exception. If you get promoted, and are in a location where the current published BAH for your new grade is lower than the BAH amount you were receiving before, you continue to receive the higher BAH amount.

Q8: Do I see big changes in housing allowances on January 1? ANSWER: Typically changes in housing allowances are modest. Allowances reflect the costs associated with household rental. Generally, rental prices change between 2%-5% from year to year, with "hot" markets changing 5%-10%. Housing allowances typically change accordingly.

Q9: I still have some out-of-pocket expenses! ANSWER: Yes, some members at a location may have out-of-pocket expenses. BAH rates are set at the median for each grade and housing profile. For a given individual, actual out-of-pocket expense is higher or lower based on the actual housing choice. If a member rents above the median rate for the grade/profile, that member incurs out-of-pocket expenses.  For example, if a member lives in a 3-bedroom townhouse with lease and utilities that cost $1,200, and the median cost for that dwelling in the area is $1,100 that member has out-of-pocket expenses that are $100 more than the typical out-of-pocket expense for that grade. The opposite is true for an individual who chooses to occupy a less expensive residence. Only for the member whose housing costs are exactly at the median are out-of-pocket expenses the same for a given pay grade and dependency status in any location in the United States.

Q10: The BAH for my grade doesn't begin to cover my mortgage payment! ANSWER: BAH is based on rental data. A homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment is not used in the computation because the monthly cash outlay of a homeowner is not a good indicator of the economic costs of home ownership. The variables needed to compute this include such difficult to measure factors as the expected appreciation in the value of the residence, the amount of down payment, the opportunity costs of interest from down payments, settlement costs, and the tax savings due to the interest and tax payments deduction. Therefore, BAH reflects the current rental market conditions not the historical circumstances surrounding various mortgage loans.

Q11: What is the source of BAH rental data? ANSWER: Current data is obtained from multiple sources, employing a "checks and balances" approach to ensure reliability and accuracy of data. Current residential vacancies, identified in local newspapers and real estate rental listings, are an important, but not our only, source of data. Vacancies are selected at random, and subjected to a multi-tiered screening process to ensure accuracy and reliability. Telephone interviews establish the availability and exact location of each residential unit sampled. The sample is designed to obtain a statistical confidence level of 95% or higher. Yellow page listings of apartments and real estate management companies are employed to identify units for rental pricing. It is also common to consult real estate professionals in a locality to obtain important confirmation and additional sources of data. When available, fort/post/base housing referral offices are contacted to tap local military expertise and gain insights into the local concerns of uniformed members. Finally, DOD and the Services conduct on-site evaluations at various locations to confirm and ensure reliability and accuracy of the cost data. Future enhancements include examining potential Internet uses as well as housing data available from other government agencies.

Q12: How do you know the current method of measuring housing cost is more accurate? ANSWER: The BAH employs a civilian-based method of measuring comparable housing costs that is superior to the old VHA housing survey that measured members' spending on housing. First, members don't have to put up with the hassle of the annual VHA surveys. More importantly, BAH eliminates the so-called, “DeathSpiral." Under VHA/BAQ, members who scrimped on housing, and then reported low housing expenditures, only reinforced, or drove down, already low allowances. This mainly occurred among the most junior members, whose limited disposable income may have forced them to accept inadequate housing and then report low costs on the member survey. The Services also recognized that the VHA/BAQ created a similar, but opposite, bias for some senior officer/enlisted grades. Under the old system, if a member opted to use a greater share of disposable income for bigger or more expensive housing, relative to the local market, and reported this expenditure on the VHA survey, it tended to "inflate" reported costs and thus allowances. BAH eliminates both these low-end and high-end biases.

Q13: What steps do you take to ensure reliability and accuracy of the data? ANSWER: In selecting specific units to measure, a multi-tiered screening process is employed to ensure that the units and neighborhoods selected are appropriate. The first screen considers reasonable commuting criteria, generally defined as 20 miles or 1 hour during rush hour, eliminating units that fall outside these limits. Next the selected unit is checked to see that it is in a neighborhood in which our members would choose to reside. Using the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) data, as a key to where members live, focus in on those neighborhoods in which the majority of our members live. The idea here is to avoid sampling high-crime or undesirable neighborhoods that members have already avoided. Finally, an income screening process, to identify appropriate neighborhoods is used. For example, in pricing 3- and 4-bedroom single-family units, (senior enlisted/officers) member income in these grades is between $60 and $100 thousand is known, so 3- and 4-bedroom single family units are selected in neighborhoods where the typical civilian income is in this range. When 1-bedroom apartments (junior single enlisted) neighborhoods are priced, focus is on where the typical civilian income is consistent with the $20 to $30 thousand income level that is typical for these grades. For comparison purposes, civilian salary equals the sum of military basic pay, average BAH, BAS, plus the tax advantage of the untaxed allowances. Under investigation also is how best to incorporate specific school/education and crime measures in the selection of appropriate neighborhoods.

Q14: What is included in median housing costs? ANSWER: Current market rent, average utilities and renters insurance.

Q15: How often do you collect housing data? ANSWER: The data is collected annually, in the spring and summer when housing markets are most active.

Q16: What types of residences do you include in your data collection? ANSWER: The data include apartments, town homes/duplexes, as well as single-family rental units of various bedroom sizes.

Q17: Does family size make a difference? ANSWER: No. Although BAH distinguishes between with-dependent and without-dependent, the with-dependent compensation is based on comparable civilians using average family size.

Q18: In determining the income of comparable civilians do you consider military family income which includes the income of the working spouse (if any)? ANSWER: No. A military member should not be put into a situation in which a spouse is required to work, so in considering the military, the Regular Military Compensation (RMC) is used. RMC equals the sum of military basic pay, BAH, BAS, plus the tax advantage of the untaxed allowances.

Q19: Does BAH guarantee that my residence matches what I could get if I lived in government quarters? ANSWER: No. BAH is based on civilian standards, considering the housing choices made by civilians of comparable income.

Q20: Exactly what are the civilian housing standards you use? ANSWER: These are income-based, minimum housing standards used to establish the link between housing cost and pay grade. Of course, members are not limited to the standard, and are free to choose where and how they will live. Actual member choices, however, no longer influence the rate calculation.

Q21: Why do you base BAH on my duty location? Why not use my residence location? ANSWER: The policy decision to use duty location as a basis for BAH is based on the desire to compensate members for the typical housing cost within a "reasonable commuting distance" from the member's duty location. Once the duty station is known, the BAH compensation is fixed, regardless of where the member lives. Were the member's residence location to be used as a basis for the allowance, there is the concern that this would cause a member to choose the residence location based on BAH. In some cases, this may lead to a member choosing to live further from the duty station, simply to receive higher BAH. In other cases, when a member commutes from/to a lower cost area, the members would find the BAH to be lower, even though the commuting expenses are higher. The Services decided to base the allowance on the duty location with the full knowledge that members would still be free to live where they choose, but that this decision would not affect the BAH amount. Geographically separated families (geographic bachelors) are normally eligible for BAH based on the member’s duty station. Each Service budgets for support of a certain number of members and families at each location. If a growing number of people decide to leave their families in Washington, or Tampa while the member PCSs to Mt Home or Ft. Hood that could skew the budget and service support planning for these locations. Also, a fundamental philosophy of military service is that members, with their families, create a better work environment and esprit de corps when they can be active participants in the local base and community. In certain circumstances, with specific approval of the Secretary of the Service concerned, a member may be granted an exception to receive BAH based on the dependent's location. For example if a member has a sick child that requires medical attention only available in a certain location (say Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC), and the member receives a PCS order, the member might leave the family in Washington and request BAH eligibility for that location. Such exceptions do not ordinarily apply to spousal employment or other personal choices.

Q22: If people choose to live further away to reduce their housing expense, does that lower BAH for everyone else? ANSWER: No. A member’s expenses are no longer used to calculate BAH.

Q23: Why does someone living in another city get more BAH than I do, when it seems to me that housing is more expensive here? ANSWER: Accurately determining if one location has more expensive rental markets than another is a scientific and statistical exercise. Sometimes, individuals rely on limited personal experience or newspaper and magazine articles to make that judgment. The Services have concurred that Runzheimer International will be relied upon to collect statistically valid housing cost data that will be used to compute BAH. Founded in 1933, Runzheimer is a recognized leader in the field of collecting cost of living data in the United States and around the world. Currently Runzheimer serves over 2,000 businesses and governments worldwide and is renowned for its accurate and reliable research.

Q24: The cost of living here is high; I have no commissary, exchange, or hospital--I need more BAH! ANSWER: BAH is designed to address the cost of housing in each area. The CONUS COLA program addresses non-housing costs of living. The fundamental goal of CONUS COLA is to compensate for high cost of living and is payable to Uniformed Service members based on duty stations in the Continental U.S (i.e., the 48 contiguous states and DC). CONUS COLA is based on grade and dependency status (with or without), and specifically considers the availability of commissary, exchange, and hospital facilities, because a member without this infrastructure tends to have a higher cost of living. It should be noted, however, that lack of such infrastructure does not, by itself, qualify an area for CONUS COLA.

Q25: How do you geographically define a locality? ANSWER: For the purpose of defining the term, "locality," used as the basis for calculating local housing costs, the Uniformed Services have concurred in aggregating individual ZIP Codes into groups called Military Housing Areas (MHAs). An MHA includes rental markets, generally within twenty miles or one hour's drive in rush hour traffic, surrounding a duty station or a metropolitan area. The principal goal of defining an MHA based on reasonable commuting distance is that members ought to receive a BAH sufficient to permit the typical member to live a reasonable distance from his or her duty station. Of course, each member is free to choose a neighborhood that suits the individual’s needs, e.g., amenities, schools, and public transportation. Operationally, a MHA is defined as a collection of ZIP Codes. There are about 350 geographic MHAs in the United States, named for the installation or the nearest city (e.g., Fort Hood, Castle AFB, Washington, DC, and Denver).

Q26: What method do you use to calculate BAH in places without Runzheimer cost data? ANSWER: BAH is defined for every location in the United States, even though some locations may have no military population. This is because BAH rates must be available should a member or dependent ever establish eligibility in that location. It is not cost effective to collect Runzheimer data for all such locations. To handle this situation, these areas are combined with other areas of similar cost for which Runzheimer cost data is available. Pooling the data in this manner gives us sufficient data necessary to attain statistically reliable housing costs and BAH rates. Comparable housing costs are determined using Fair Market Rents (FMRs) published annually for all counties by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After grouping or pooling the data, the result is a set of counties with comparable housing costs and BAH rates called a County Cost Group (CCG). There are approximately 30 separate CCGs, each with similar housing cost. Each group includes a statistically sufficient quantity of Runzheimer cost data to calculate average housing costs by size and type of dwelling for that group of counties. Although half the U.S. counties (about 1,500) are in County Cost Groups, these counties contain less than two percent of the Uniformed Services' population eligible to receive BAH.

Q27: Who actually collects your data for you? ANSWER: Runzheimer International is employed to collect the nation-wide housing cost data that are used to compute BAH. Founded in 1933, Runzheimer is a recognized leader in the field of collecting cost of living data in the United States and around the world. Currently Runzheimer serves over 2,000 businesses and governments worldwide and is renowned for its accurate and reliable research. Runzheimer's private sector clients include over 60 percent of the Fortune 500 companies. Runzheimer's government clients include the Department of Defense (DOD); the General Services Administrations (GSA); the Department of State; the Office of Personnel Management (OPM); the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Please note: Runzheimer International does not determine BAH policy, nor is it authorized to release any data or answer written, email, or phone questions. All inquiries should be directed, via your chain of command, to the Compensation Director of your Service.

Q28: My wife and I are both service members and we have two children. Why is it that only one of us can collect full rate BAH and the other single BAH? Why couldn't we each claim one child and collect full with-dependent BAH? ANSWER: The rules governing allocation of dependents for BAH are specified in the JFTR, Chapter 10. The rules reflect the law and the policy of the Services.

Q29: What is BAH-Diff? ANSWER: BAH-DIFF is the housing allowance amount for a member who is assigned to single-type quarters and who is authorized a BAH solely by reason of the member's payment of child support. A member is not authorized BAH-DIFF if the monthly rate of that child support is less than the BAH-DIFF amount. The BAH-DIFF amounts, originally calculated in 1997, are updated annually based on changes in the Basic Pay tables. For more information contact your servicing finance office or consult JFTR, par. U10008.

Q30: I've noticed that the BAH rates have only dollars and no cents. What happened to the cents? ANSWER: Beginning in 2000, BAH rates are rounded to the nearest dollar.