Also written as:
BAH
A monthly, non-taxable allowance paid to service members for housing, set by pay grade, dependents, and duty-station location.
Basic Allowance for Housing is a monthly, non-taxable allowance paid to U.S. service members to offset housing costs when government quarters are not provided. Rates are set by the Department of Defense based on pay grade, dependency status, and the Military Housing Area of the member's duty station, and are updated each January.
BAH counts as effective income for VA loan qualification, and because it is non-taxable, lenders may gross it up when calculating qualifying ratios — making it a powerful homebuying tool for service members.
Example
An E-5 with dependents in a medium-cost area might receive roughly $1,800–$2,000 per month in BAH, which can be applied toward a VA loan payment.
Also known as
housing allowance, military housing allowance