The Pentagon will pay cost of living allowances to 127,000 service members in 2026, an increase of 66,000 members over 2025, according to updated cost of living rates from the Defense Department. DOD will pay a total of $99 million for COLA compared to $51 million paid last year.
Airmen and Guardians assigned to duty stations where the non-housing cost of living is at least 7 percent above the national average are eligible for the continental United States COLA. They can calculate their COLA rate by visiting the Defense Travel Management Office’s site.
The military housing areas with the highest COLA rates in the U.S.:
- San Francisco – 8 percent
- Oakland, Calif. – 6 percent
- Santa Clara County, Calif. – 5 percent
- Staten Island, N.Y. – 5 percent
- Seatle, Wash. – 5 percent
Of the 18 areas designated to receive COLA payments, one features a sizable presence of Airmen and Guardians: Los Angeles, home of Los Angeles Air Force Base, which houses Space Systems Command. Personnel serving there are poised to receive a 3 percent COLA rate in 2026.
The supplemental allowance is intended to help offset non-housing living expenses in pricey areas, though the allowance did come under scrutiny during the recent 14th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation, which found that it is sometimes thrown off by inaccurate triennial Living Pattern Surveys. The review, finalized in early 2025, called for the Pentagon to conduct the Living Pattern Survey every year and including additional data to make them more accurate.
New Housing Allowance Rates
The Pentagon has also released 2026’s Basic Housing Allowance rates, which feature an average increase of 4.2 percent compared to the 5.4 percent boost service members averaged in 2025, according to a Dec. 11 Pentagon release.
The new rates become effective Jan. 1, 2026, and increases vary by location. BAH is paid based on the service member’s paygrade, location, and the number of dependents an individual has. Visit the Defense Department’s BAH calculator to determine your rate.
On average, the four Air Force and Space Force locations that received the highest increases at six percent or more were:
- Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.
- Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.
- Moody Air Base, Ga.
- Malmstrom Space Force Base, Mont.
Another 27 Air Force and Space Force bases ranged anywhere from increases of 5.9 percent down to minus-2.26 percent.
Airmen and Guardians who maintained BAH eligibility in locations with decreased rates will not face cuts. They will continue to receive the same BAH as 2025, ensuring that those “who have made long-term commitments in the form of a lease or contract are not penalized,” the Pentagon said in the release.
The Pentagon is slated to pay about $29.9 billion to roughly 1 million service members in 2026, according to the release. The 2026 rates continue to require service members to pay 5 percent of the national average housing cost by pay grade.
BAH is intended to cover 95 percent of housing costs, that means troops’ out-of-pocket expenses for housing range from $93 to $212 per month.
BAH rates are more generous in some areas and for some pay grades than others, which can lead to confusion and frustration when troops change stations and find themselves with less spending power. Nationwide housing trends can also lead to discrepancies, such as when three-bedroom townhouses are more expensive on average than three-bedroom single-family homes.
Troops are seeing some relief this year thanks to President Donald Trump’s Dec. 17 announcement that roughly 1.5 million service members will receive a $1,776 “warrior dividend” check. Congress appropriated $2.9 million of the Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill to supplement BAH. The Pentagon spent $2.6 billion to cover the one-time supplemental allowance—that leaves $300 million that could be used to cover additional housing costs for troops.
As a permanent fix, the military compensation system review recommended that Pentagon should replace BAH calculations with a better model that will lead to more reliable, accurate, and stable BAH rates over time. It also recommended dumping the current housing profile system—which breaks up housing into apartments, townhouses, and single-family homes with a set of number of bedrooms each—in favor for one that just focuses on the number of bedrooms, which will better keep pace with housing trends.
