BAH vs. Mortgage Affordability
See if your BAH covers this mortgage — and how much more you'd pay out of pocket if you get PCS orders.
Your BAH
Your Mortgage
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PCS Affordability Cliff
How BAH affordability is modeled
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is the housing stipend paid to service members living in private housing. This calculator compares your BAH rate — based on your pay grade, dependency status, and duty station — against your estimated monthly PITI (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) to show whether your housing allowance covers the mortgage and by how much.
The key inputs are your loan amount, interest rate, loan term, estimated property tax rate, and homeowners insurance. The calculator builds a full PITI figure by adding principal and interest (from standard amortization) to annual taxes and insurance divided by 12. VA credit underwriting guidance in M26-7 Ch. 4 also requires lenders to compute residual income — the amount left after all monthly obligations — and compare it to VA's regional residual income thresholds based on family size and geography.
The result shows the monthly gap between your BAH and your PITI. A positive gap means your housing allowance exceeds the mortgage cost; a negative gap means out-of-pocket housing expense. This is particularly useful when evaluating whether to buy before a PCS move, since BAH follows you to the new duty station while the mortgage stays behind.
Source: VA Lender's Handbook M26-7, Ch. 4 — Credit Underwriting