GI Bill Housing Allowance Calculator 2026-27
Estimate your Post-9/11 GI Bill monthly housing allowance (MHA) from your campus ZIP code, benefit level and rate of pursuit. For online-only students it uses VA's published online rate of up to $1,198 a month. The ZIP lookup runs in your browser against DoD's 2026 BAH file, the same one behind the BAH calculator.
Maintained by Archie Chang · VA rules and rates checked October 25, 2026 · Methodology & sources
GI Bill housing allowance calculator
Foreign schools are not calculated here: VA pays them from the national average MHA (up to $2,396 a month), with no ZIP code.
100%: 36 or more months of active duty, a Purple Heart on or after Sept. 11, 2001, or 30+ continuous days then a service-connected disability discharge
Estimated monthly MHA
Enter the 5-digit ZIP code of your campus to see the estimate.
Not affiliated with VA. Estimates assume you first used the Post-9/11 GI Bill on or after January 1, 2018. For official figures use VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool.
How the GI Bill housing allowance works
MHA = BAH for an E-5 with dependents at the ZIP of the campus where you attend most classes × your benefit level × your rate of pursuit (credits taken ÷ credits for full time, rounded to the nearest tenth). VA uses the 2026 BAH rates for the period August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027. You must be in school more than half time, and VA does not pay MHA on active duty or during school breaks. Partial months are prorated by enrolled days.
Worked example at a San Diego ZIP (92101), where the E-5 with dependents BAH is $3,975. These are estimates from the formula above:
| Benefit level | Full time | 80% rate of pursuit |
|---|---|---|
| 100% | $3,975 | $3,180 |
| 90% | $3,578 | $2,862 |
| 80% | $3,180 | $2,544 |
| 70% | $2,783 | $2,226 |
| 60% | $2,385 | $1,908 |
| 50% | $1,988 | $1,590 |
Check the BAH side in the BAH calculator or browse BAH rates 2026 by area. If a family member uses education benefits through the VA, see Chapter 35 rates, and for other VA income see the VA disability calculator.
GI Bill housing allowance questions
How is the GI Bill housing allowance calculated?
VA bases the Post-9/11 GI Bill monthly housing allowance (MHA) on the DoD Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for an E-5 with dependents at the ZIP code of the campus where you physically attend most classes (38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)(B)). That amount is multiplied by your benefit level (50% to 100%) and by your rate of pursuit rounded to the nearest tenth. For example, a 100% student taking a full course load at a San Diego ZIP such as 92101 has an E-5 with dependents BAH of $3,975 in 2026.
What is the GI Bill housing allowance for online classes in 2026-27?
Students taking classes only online get up to $1,198 a month, half of the $2,396 national average MHA, according to VA's rates page (effective August 1, 2026). It is also scaled by your benefit level and rate of pursuit, and it does not depend on a ZIP code. VA says taking at least one in-person class alongside online classes may qualify you for the higher resident MHA.
Which ZIP code does VA use?
The campus where you physically attend most classes, not necessarily the school's main campus (Forever GI Bill, 38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)(B)). Look up that campus ZIP in the calculator. It does not use your home address.
How is the rate of pursuit rounded, and when is there no MHA?
VA divides the credits you take by the credits your school counts as full time and rounds to the nearest tenth: 9 of 12 credits is 75%, which VA's own example rounds to 80%. Eligibility uses your actual, unrounded rate of pursuit, which must be greater than 50% (38 CFR 21.9641(c)), so half time or less gets no housing allowance. The payment then uses the rounded tenth, so a 52% rate of pursuit is eligible and paid at 50%.
What are the benefit levels?
VA's tiers are 100% (36 or more months of active duty, a Purple Heart on or after September 11, 2001, or 30 or more continuous days followed by a service-connected disability discharge), 90% (30 to 35 months), 80% (24 to 29 months), 70% (18 to 23 months), 60% (6 to 17 months) and 50% (90 days to 5 months).
Who does not get MHA?
Per VA: people on active duty, spouses using transferred benefits while the Veteran is on active duty, students at half time or less, students in correspondence or flight training, and any month or part of a month on a school break (Congress barred paying MHA during breaks in 2011).
Is this the same as the BAH calculator?
They use the same DoD rate table, but military BAH depends on pay grade and duty station while GI Bill MHA always uses the E-5 with dependents rate for your school ZIP. For service-member BAH, use the BAH calculator on this site.
Does this work if I started using the GI Bill before 2018?
Not reliably. VA says students who began using the Post-9/11 GI Bill before January 1, 2018 keep a separate "VA rate" that was typically slightly higher because it was not capped like DoD's BAH. VA does not publish a formula for that rate, so this calculator estimates only the current DoD rate. Use VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool for your official amount.
What about schools in Puerto Rico, foreign schools, flight training and apprenticeships?
A ZIP with no CONUS BAH rate (such as Puerto Rico) gets no estimate here; use VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool. VA's rates page lists foreign schools at the national average MHA, up to $2,396 a month, and pays no MHA for flight or correspondence training. Apprenticeship and on-the-job training use a separate VA formula that this calculator does not compute.
When do the rates change?
VA's table covers one academic year at a time. The current one runs August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027 and uses 2026 BAH rates. The next update is expected August 1, 2027; this site does not estimate it in advance.