VA Loan GuideFree educational tool
What’s your military pay?
Your grade, your years of service, and your duty station set your monthly pay: taxable , plus tax-free and . Estimate the total from the 2026 tables, then see the home price it supports with no money down.
Sets your BAH. Uses your duty station, not where you live.
Affects BAH only. One or ten: same rate.
+ Add special or incentive pay (optional)
Flight, sea, hazardous-duty, etc. Treated as taxable.
Estimated monthly pay · E-5
$4,587
$4,110 taxable + $477 tax-free (BAS) a month
- Base pay (taxable)
- $4,110 / mo
- BAS (tax-free)
- $477 / mo
- BAH (tax-free)
- —
Enter your duty-station ZIP to add BAH.
Carries your pay into the calculator to see the home price it supports.
Estimates only, using 2026DoD base-pay and BAS tables and the DoD BAH rates. Not pay advice; your finance office is the final word. Special/incentive pays are treated as taxable and don’t model combat-zone exclusions.
How military pay counts in a VA loan
A lender qualifies you on your total stable income. Base pay is the taxable core; BAS and BAH are allowances that pay out tax-free and count alongside it.
Because BAS and BAH are tax-free, many lenders gross them up: they count a tax-free dollar as worth more in the debt-ratio math, commonly 15 to 25% more. The buying-power calculator runs that treatment for you, with a conservative face-value number alongside it.
Not sure of your BAH? The BAH tool looks it up from the official DoD tables. This calculator pulls the same rates in for you once you enter a duty-station ZIP.
Common questions
Military pay questions, answered.
- How much is military base pay in 2026?
- The 2026 active-duty tables took effect January 1 with a 3.8% raise. Your number depends on grade and years of service: an E-1 starts at $2,407 a month, an O-1 at $4,150, and each grade steps up on a DFAS schedule. The calculator above reads the full table.
- Does the calculator include BAH and BAS?
- Yes. BAS fills in automatically from the 2026 rates, $476.95 a month enlisted and $328.48 for officers, and BAH comes from DoD's published tables once you enter a duty-station ZIP. Both are paid on top of base pay. The BAH tool →
- Is military pay taxable?
- Base pay and special pays are taxable. BAH and BAS are tax-free, which is why many lenders gross them up: a tax-free dollar can count as 15 to 25% more in the debt-ratio math, though the exact treatment is each lender's own underwriting call, not a number this calculator sets or guarantees. The calculator shows your taxable and tax-free totals separately so you can see both. Carry it into the affordability calculator →
- Does military pay count for a VA loan?
- Yes. A lender qualifies you on total stable income, and for a service member that means the whole paycheck: base pay, BAS, BAH, and special pays expected to continue. Not just the taxable part.
- Does this work for Guard and Reserve drill pay?
- This tool models active-duty monthly pay. Drill pay runs on a different schedule it does not estimate. Guard and Reserve members can be VA-eligible, though. The eligibility page covers how. Check your eligibility →
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