How military pay is structured

Military compensation is a set of statutory tables rather than a wage, and most of it is not called pay. The 2026 DFAS tables are on this site; this page describes what they contain and what sits alongside them.

Pay grades

Every service member holds a pay grade that is the same across the services even where rank titles differ. Enlisted grades run E-1 through E-9, warrant officer grades W-1 through W-5, and commissioned officer grades O-1 through O-10. A sergeant in the Army, a staff sergeant in the Air Force and a petty officer second class in the Navy are all E-5 and draw the same basic pay for the same years of service. Officers with prior enlisted service have separate rows (O-1E to O-3E) at higher rates.

Basic pay

Basic pay is the one taxable cash component everyone receives. Section 203 of title 37 establishes a table of monthly rates by pay grade and years of service, with steps at 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 years. A member’s rate changes on promotion and on reaching each years-of-service step. Unlike the General Schedule, there is no performance step within a grade; the only variables are grade and longevity. The table is published monthly, and the annual figure is twelve times the monthly cell.

Section 1009 adjusts the table each January 1 by the percentage increase in the Employment Cost Index for private-industry wages and salaries, unless the President or Congress sets a different figure; both have done so in several years. The 2026 increase was 3.8 percent, effective January 1, 2026. The ECI is explained in wage growth and the ECI.

Allowances

Two allowances make up a large share of cash compensation and are not taxed. The basic allowance for housing is paid to members not provided government quarters, at a rate set by pay grade, dependency status and the duty station’s housing costs, revised annually from local rental data. The basic allowance for subsistence is a flat monthly food allowance, with one rate for officers and one for enlisted members. Because these allowances are untaxed, the Defense Department publishes a “regular military compensation” figure that adds basic pay, both allowances and the tax advantage, as the amount comparable to a civilian salary.

This site will publish the basic pay tables and describe the allowances with links to DFAS; it will not build housing allowance lookups by ZIP code, which DFAS already provides.

Drill pay

Members of the National Guard and Reserve are paid for inactive duty training at one day’s basic pay (one-thirtieth of the monthly rate) for each drill period, typically four periods in a weekend, and at full active-duty rates when on active duty. The drill pay table is the basic pay table divided accordingly.

Special and incentive pays

Dozens of additional pays exist for particular duties, skills and conditions: hazardous duty, aviation, submarine and sea duty, hostile fire, medical and dental professional pays, and enlistment and reenlistment bonuses among them. Each has its own statute in title 37 and its own eligibility. They are paid in addition to basic pay and are generally taxable.

Retirement and benefits

Retired pay under the blended retirement system combines a defined benefit based on years of service and the highest 36 months of basic pay with government contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan. Health care, commissary access and education benefits are provided in kind. None of these appear in a pay table, and comparisons of military and civilian pay that omit them understate the former.

Comparing with civilian wages

Basic pay for a grade and years of service is a fixed rate for a fixed employer; the occupation tables here are distributions of what all employers pay for a kind of work. The two meet in regular military compensation, which the Defense Department publishes for that purpose, and in the state wage tables for the metro around a duty station. The sister site FastCalc has military retired pay and severance pay calculators; this site computes nothing.