METHODOLOGY
Where our numbers come from
Accuracy is the entire point of this site. A wrong dollar figure costs you real money at the finance office, so every number on MilPayGuide follows one rule: official government sources only, never estimates presented as fact.
Data sources
Basic Pay
Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)
2026 Military Basic Pay Tables, effective 1 January 2026, including the 3.8% across-the-board raise. Every /pay and /rank page reads directly from this table — figures are never interpolated or estimated.
BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing)
DoD Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (P&R)
2026 BAH rate tables effective 1 January 2026, covering 338 Military Housing Areas (MHAs). ZIP code lookups map to their official MHA using the DoD ZIP-to-MHA assignment.
Rank & grade structure
Service branch official rank titles
Branch-specific rank titles (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard) mapped to their DoD pay grades (E-1 through O-10).
How updates work
- Pay and BAH tables are updated when DoD publishes new rates — typically annually, effective 1 January, plus any mid-year adjustments Congress enacts.
- Data changes are made only against a cited official source, and spot-checked against published rates before they go live.
- Pay-raise legislation still moving through Congress is covered on our News page as proposals — it never changes calculator figures until enacted and published by DFAS.
What this site is not
MilPayGuide is an independent reference tool. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Department of Defense or any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and it is not financial advice. Your actual pay is determined by DFAS and your service's finance office — always verify entitlements there before making financial decisions.
Spot a number that doesn't match the official tables? We treat accuracy reports as the highest-priority fix on the site.