GI Bill housing allowance (MHA) calculator
Estimate your Post-9/11 GI Bill Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) with the current rates: the 2026 BAH tables by school ZIP code, your eligibility percentage, and your rate of pursuit, with every step of the math shown.
Where the number comes from: your MHA is based on the BAH for an E-5 with dependents at your school's ZIP code, published by the Defense Travel Management Office and effective January 1, 2026. It is scaled by your GI Bill percentage and how close to full time you're enrolled. Want the raw BAH for any grade and ZIP? Use the BAH calculator.
Planning a whole term? The benefits budget planner takes your term dates and stacks your MHA with disability compensation and other income, month by month, including the prorated first and last months and the books stipend.
Not sure of your GI Bill percentage?
Your percentage comes from your qualifying active-duty service after September 10, 2001. Your award letter or the VA's GI Bill Statement of Benefits has the official number.
| Qualifying active service | GI Bill percentage |
|---|---|
| At least 36 months | 100% |
| Purple Heart recipient, any length of service | 100% |
| At least 30 continuous days, discharged for a service-connected disability | 100% |
| 30 to 35 months | 90% |
| 24 to 29 months | 80% |
| 18 to 23 months | 70% |
| 6 to 17 months | 60% |
| 90 days to 5 months | 50% |
There is no 40 percent tier; 50 percent is the floor. Source: va.gov, how the VA determines your percentage of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
GI Bill housing allowance questions, answered
How is the GI Bill housing allowance calculated?
The Post-9/11 GI Bill Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) starts from the military BAH rate for an E-5 with dependents at your school's ZIP code. That base is multiplied by your GI Bill eligibility percentage (100, 90, 80, 70, 60, or 50 percent) and then by your rate of pursuit (how close to full time you are enrolled). Partial first and last months are prorated by the number of days you're enrolled.
How much is the GI Bill housing allowance for online-only students?
If every class is online with no in-person attendance, the MHA is a flat national rate equal to half the national average BAH: $1,169.00 per month at the full-time, 100 percent tier through July 31, 2026, and $1,261.00 per month for the award year that begins August 1, 2026. It scales down with your eligibility percentage and rate of pursuit, and one in-person or hybrid class switches you to the full ZIP-code rate. The calculator above uses whichever rate is in effect today.
Is the GI Bill housing allowance by state?
No. The MHA is set by your school's ZIP code, not your state, because it rides on the DoD BAH tables, which are set by locality. Two schools in the same state can pay very different housing allowances. Use the calculator above with your campus ZIP code, or look up any ZIP in the BAH calculator.
Do I get the housing allowance during winter and summer breaks?
No. MHA is only paid while you are enrolled and attending. It stops at the end of each term and restarts when the next one begins, and partial months at the start and end of a term are prorated by day.
Why is my payment smaller than the calculator shows?
The usual reasons: a partial month at the start or end of a term (prorated by day), a rate of pursuit below full time, an eligibility tier below 100 percent, or no MHA at all because enrollment is 50 percent or less. Your official amount is always what the VA states and pays.
The app runs this math offline, next to your records
MusterVault has the same BAH tables and GI Bill rules built in, working with no internet at all, plus a day-prorated estimate for your exact term dates. All inside one encrypted dashboard for your whole claim file.
Informational only: published DoD BAH tables and published VA rules applied to the details you enter, computed in your browser and never stored. GI Bill housing has its own effective-date rules, and the official amount is always what the VA states and pays. MusterVault is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Sources: va.gov Post-9/11 GI Bill rates and the DTMO BAH tables.