Military 2009 BAH Rates Available

[creditcardfree]

The 2009 Basic Allowance for Housing Rates were posted today. Here is the link to look yours up.

BAH is for US soldiers who work full time and do not live on base or post. This is a non taxable allowance.

Ours is increasing by $100 per month! Yipee!!

[kork13]

wow... that's some good news! mine is going up by $134. ....yikes. that's an increase by more than 12%. in fact, for 2004-2009 (assuming the same rank/location), it's gone up by about 10-13% (or more) each year...

I know inflation hasn't been that bad, so it's kind of interesting that the housing allowance would be such a steadily significant increase. Base pay is going up by about 3.9% (from 2008 to 2009), which I believe is one of the larger annual increases they've given for a while... so I'm not really sure what the deal is with the housing allowance...

EDIT: I should note that the % increase seems to vary significantly by where across the nation you are.... Plugging in different locations, the rate hasn't been so dramatic... as low as a 3-5% increase over the last few years... so I guess maybe my location has just consistently seen skyrocketing housing costs?

[creditcardfree]

Our BAH was an increase of 7.5%. I was only expecting 4-5%!!

I'm also pleased with the base pay increase, too! We are getting an additional $215 a month there. Of course, that is taxable and our TSP will take a portion out, too.