Know what your PCS move really costs — before orders drop.

PCS orders trigger a set of government travel entitlements designed — but often failing — to make you financially whole for the cost of a military move.

DLA (Dislocation Allowance) is a flat-rate payment based on rank and dependency status, paid once per PCS. It is not a reimbursement — no receipts required, no tie to actual expenses.

• Without dependents: $2,389.42 (E-6) — ranges from ~$1,871 (E-1) to ~$5,187 (O-7+)
• With dependents: $3,548.02 (E-1–E-6) — ranges up to ~$6,386 (O-7+)

MALT (Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation) is a flat travel allowance of $0.205/mile based on the official DoD distance, not your actual route. A cross-country move from Virginia to California (~2,700 miles) yields $553.50 — meaningfully less than actual fuel and vehicle costs.

Per diem covers lodging and meals during travel days, at 1 authorized day per 350 miles of official distance. Keep all receipts.

TLE (Temporary Lodging Expense) covers temporary lodging near your old and/or new duty station — up to 21 days combined at actual cost up to the per diem rate. This is separate from travel-day per diem.

Government contracted move: The government contracts a moving company that packs, ships, and delivers your goods. Simple — but you lose control, and damage or missing items are common.

PPM (Personally Procured Move): You manage your own move and the government reimburses you 95% of what a contracted move would have cost them. When you can move for less than that, the difference is your net proceeds.

Typical PPM net proceeds range from $1,000–$8,000 depending on distance and how efficiently you move. Self-packing and using a rented truck increases it; hiring a full-service mover reduces it.

Tax note: PPM net proceeds are taxable income. The government will report it — plan for a tax payment in the year of the move.

When you check into your new duty station, BAH resets to the current rate for your new Military Housing Area (MHA), grade, and dependency status. Your old rate does not carry over.

Rate protection only applies within the same duty station, year-over-year. It protects you from DTMO reducing rates for your MHA in a new calendar year — as long as your grade and dependency status haven't changed. Once you PCS, you start fresh at the new location's current rate.

• Moving from San Diego to Fort Bragg could reduce BAH by $1,000–$2,000/month
• Moving from rural Georgia to Northern Virginia could increase it by the same
• Neither situation involves rate protection

Practical tip: look up BAH at your gaining station before signing a lease or accepting orders. A $1,500/month BAH drop you didn't budget for will hurt far more than the move itself.

BAH is the most visible variable, but a complete comparison includes four factors:

State income tax: Nine states have no income tax (FL, TX, NV, WA, WY, SD, AK, TN, NH). Several others — including Virginia, Maryland, and California — have rates of 5–13%. For an O-3 earning $74,000 in base pay, the difference between a zero-tax state and California is roughly $6,700/year — often more than the BAH difference.

CONUS COLA eligibility: A small number of high-cost CONUS stations receive supplemental COLA in addition to BAH. Add it to the total when it applies.

Local cost of living: BAH covers housing, but groceries, transportation, childcare, and utilities vary significantly. The DTMO's official cost-of-living data provides a baseline.

Career factors: Some assignments are worth a financial trade-off for promotion visibility or joint billet access. Don't ignore the career calculus.

Overseas tours come with OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance), Overseas COLA, and MIHA that look like a significant raise on paper. And sometimes they are. But frequently, service members return from OCONUS tours with less saved than they expected.

The trap: OHA covers housing, but OCONUS living costs — restaurants, transportation, entertainment, travel home — are typically higher than CONUS. Overseas COLA is calculated on standardized spending patterns that may not match yours.

A common approach: treat OCONUS allowances as offsetting the higher cost of living, not as a windfall. Directing any surplus to TSP or savings — rather than absorbing it through higher lifestyle spending — is the strategy most often cited by those who actually built savings overseas.

A PCS move has financial implications across a 6-month window.

• Orders drop: Research BAH at gaining station. Decide PPM vs government move. Start tracking financial exposure.
• 30–60 days before departure: Submit PPM paperwork if doing DITY. Schedule pre-move weight ticket. Track all moving expenses.
• Travel days: Keep every lodging and meal receipt. Per diem is claims-based — documentation required.
• Arrival: Sign in as early as possible — BAH at the new rate starts at report date. Claim TLE immediately for any temporary lodging.
• 30–60 days after arrival: File travel voucher (DD Form 1351-2) for DLA, MALT, per diem, and TLE. Don't delay past 90 days.
• 90–180 days after arrival: Finalize PPM reimbursement with post-move weight ticket submitted to the Transportation Office.

Dual military couples face unique PCS complexity that doesn't apply to single-income military families.

Joint domicile: DoD policy encourages but cannot guarantee joint assignments. Approval depends on manpower requirements for both career fields.

BAH when stationed separately: Each service member claims BAH at the without-dependents rate for their own location — unless children are present, in which case the parent the children live with claims the with-dependents rate.

Separation allowance: Service members geographically separated from dependents due to military assignment (not voluntarily) may qualify for Family Separation Allowance of $300/month.

BAH is paid regardless of your actual housing cost. If you live in housing that costs less than your BAH, you keep the difference. The strategy used most often by military families who build significant wealth: buy a home with a VA loan where the mortgage payment runs below BAH.

When the mortgage payment is below BAH, the excess covers ownership costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance). Meanwhile, principal paydown and appreciation are equity that accumulates outside your military compensation. When you PCS, you sell or rent the property and realize that equity.

This is not guaranteed — markets vary, and some service members who bought at the wrong time and PCS'd quickly took losses. It is a long-term strategy, not a short-term one.