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Careers & Benefits
Compensation looks different in the Military. Active Duty service members earn basic pay and additional allowances for housing and subsistence. And, depending on your role, you may be eligible for additional types of pay. Read on to learn more and explore the Compensation Estimator.
Thanks to supplemental allowance for housing, food, insurance, and other expenses, you can retain more of what you earn.
This tool will give you a rough estimate of how much your military salary will be. This estimate is based on a few factors, such as:
This is your base salary as an active-duty service member. While you’re on active duty, you will receive your salary biweekly.
This is a monthly allowance given to a service member to help them cover the cost of housing. A service member’s BAH is based on an area’s cost of living, as well as a service member’s pay grade and the number of people who live in their household.
This is a monthly allowance to help provide for meals. As a service member, you have options for dining on the military installation, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of discounted grocery prices at your duty station’s commissary and post exchange (PX).
Keep in mind this is just an estimate. Your actual salary will be determined by a multitude of factors, including your rate/rank, time in service and even the location of your duty station.
Military salaries come from two sources: base pay and special pays. Base pay is the same across all Service branches, and increases are based on rank and time in Service.
Special pays are provided for some service members based on occupational specialty or specific tasks performed. For example, hazardous duty earns an extra $150 per month for Flying Duty, Non Crew Members, while aviation officers earn an additional $125–$840 per month. Service members may earn no more than two special pays simultaneously.
Unlike their active-duty counterparts, members of the Reserve and National Guard serve part time. Therefore, they are compensated differently.
After you complete Basic Training, where you are paid as an active-duty service member, you will join your Reserve or National Guard unit. From this point on, you will receive drill pay. Drills are monthly training periods that typically last two to four days. The amount you’re paid during a drill will be determined by the length of the training period, your rank and your job.
As a member of the Reserve or National Guard, you might also be placed on active duty for training or deployment. If you’re a Reserve or National Guard member serving on active duty, you will be compensated as such.
Some Guard and Reserve branches offer calculators that provide more detailed information about the type of pay you can expect.
See a breakdown of your potential pay according to your pay grade and whether you plan to be enlisted or an officer.
Toggle the “Full-Time/Part-Time” tab to see a breakdown of your potential compensation range according to pay grade and years of service.
Use the calculator to see your total potential pay according to pay grade and years of service.