Military Pay Charts

What is Basic Pay?

Basic Pay is by far the primary component of the military pay compensation package. The basic pay rate is computed by the service member’s rank and length of service. All service members received an across the board increase of 3.1 percent on January 1, 2006. In addition to targeted raises for senior enlisted service members and warrant officers, the Pentagon’s goal for 2007 is another across the board increase of 2.2 percent.

Military basic pay has a wide range. For example, the most senior officers such as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs basic pay is limited to a maximum of $12,666.60 a month while an enlisted service member with less than four months of service earns $1,178.10 a month. Military Annual Pay is capped by law at Level III of the Executive Pay Schedule at $152,000 annually.

There are several factors that have been responsible for narrowing the gap between military pay and compensation for civilians with comparable education and experience. One factor that significantly contributed is in 1999 when Congress enacted a pay raise formula that mandated annual military pay raises be set 0.5 percentage points above average annual hikes in civilian wages noted by the Labor Department’s Employment Cost Index. Another factor narrowing this gap has been five years of targeted raises.

2017 Military Basic Pay Charts

The pay scales reflect a 2.1% increase in military pay for 2017 per the approved National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017 signed into law by President Obama

2017 Active Duty Enlisted Basic Military Pay Chart (2.1%)

Monthly basic pay amounts are rounded to the nearest U.S. dollar and are for the active components of the Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Enlisted pay chart for less than 2 to over 6 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Less than 2	Over 2	Over 3	Over 4	Over 6
E-7	2875	3138	3258	3418	3542
E-6	2487	2736	2857	2975	3097
E-5	2278	2431	2549	2669	2857
E-4	2089	2196	2315	2432	2536
E-3	1886	2004	2126	2126	2126
E-2	1793	1793	1793	1793	1793
E-1	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600
E-1 Less than 4 months	1480

Enlisted pay chart for 8 to over 16 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 8	Over 10	Over 12	Over 14	Over 16
E-9		5053	5167	5311	5481
E-8	4136	4319	4432	4568	4715
E-7	3755	3875	4089	4266	4387
E-6	3373	3480	3688	3751	3798
E-5	3053	3213	3233	3233	3233
E-4	2536	2536	2536	2536	2536
E-3	2126	2126	2126	2126	2126
E-2	1793	1793	1793	1793	1793
E-1	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600

Enlisted pay chart for 18 to over 26 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 18	Over 20	Over 22	Over 24	Over 26
E-9	5652	5927	6159	6403	6776
E-8	4980	5115	5344	5470	5783
E-7	4517	4567	4734	4825	5167
E-6	3852	3852	3852	3852	3852
E-5	3233	3233	3233	3233	3233
E-4	2536	2536	2536	2536	2536
E-3	2126	2126	2126	2126	2126
E-2	1793	1793	1793	1793	1793
E-1	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600

Enlisted pay chart for over 30 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 30	Over 34	Over 38	Over 40
E-9	7115	7471	7845	–
E-8	5899	5899	5899	–

2017 Active Duty Officer Basic Military Pay Chart

Monthly basic pay amounts are rounded to the nearest U.S. dollar and are for the active components of the Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

Officer pay chart for under 2 years to 6 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Under 2	Over 2	Over 3	Over 4	Over 6
O-8	10287	10624	10848	10910	11189
O-7	8548	8945	9129	9275	9539
O-6	6399	7030	7491	7491	7520
O-5	5334	6009	6425	6504	6763
O-4	4603	5328	5683	5763	6093
O-3	4047	4587	4951	5398	5657
O-2	3496	3982	4586	4741	4839
O-1	3035	3159	3818	3818	3818
Commissioned Officer With Over 4 Years of Active Service as an Enlisted Member or Warrant Officer
O-3E				5398	5657
O-2E				4741	4839
O-1E				3818	4077
Warrant Officers
	Under 2	Over 2	Over 3	Over 4	Over 6
W-4	4182	4499	4628	4755	4973
W-3	3819	3978	4141	4195	4366
W-2	3379	3699	3797	3865	4084
W-1	2966	3285	3371	3553	3768

Officer pay chart for 8 years to 16 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 8	Over 10	Over 12	Over 14	Over 16
O-8	11655	11764	12206	12333	12715
O-7	9800	10103	10404	10706	11655
O-6	7842	7885	7885	8333	9125
O-5	6918	7260	7510	7834	8330
O-4	6446	6887	7230	7469	7606
O-3	5941	6124	6426	6583	6583
O-2	4839	4839	4839	4839	4839
O-1	3818	3818	3818	3818	3818
Commissioned Officer With Over 4 Years of Active Service as an Enlisted Member or Warrant Officer
O-3E	5941	6124	6426	6681	6827
O-2E	4993	5253	5454	5604	5604
O-1E	4228	4383	4534	4741	4741
Warrant Officers
	Over 8	Over 10	Over 12	Over 14	Over 16
W-4	5190	5409	5739	6028	6303
W-3	4703	5053	5218	5409	5606
W-2	4425	4594	4760	4963	5122
W-1	4084	4231	4437	4641	4800

Officer pay chart for 18 years to 26 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 18	Over 20	Over 22	Over 24	Over 26
O-10 See Note 1		16623	16704	17052	17657
O-9		14539	14748	15051	15579
O-8	13267	13775	14115	14115	14115
O-7	12457	12457	12457	12457	12520
O-6 See Note 2	9590	10055	10319	10587	11106
O-5	8565	8798	9063	9063	9063
O-4	7685	7685	7685	7685	7685
O-3	6583	6583	6583	6583	6583
O-2	4839	4839	4839	4839	4839
O-1	3818	3818	3818	3818	3818
Commissioned Officer With Over 4 Years of Active Service as an Enlisted Member or Warrant Officer
O-3E	7026	7026	7026	7026	7026
O-2E	5604	5604	5604	5604	5604
O-1E	4741	4741	4741	4741	4741
Warrant Officers
	Over 18	Over 20	Over 22	Over 24	Over 26
W-5		7436	7813	8094	8405
W-4	6528	6748	7070	7335	7637
W-3	5959	6198	6341	6493	6699
W-2	5266	5438	5551	5641	5641
W-1	4947	5126	5126	5126	5126

Officer pay chart for over 30 years of service.
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 30	Over 34	Over 38	Over 40
O-10	18539	19466	20440	–
O-9	16358	17176	18035	–
O-8	14468	14830	14830	–
O-7	12771	12771	12771	–
O-6	11328	11328	11328	–
Warrant Officers Over 30 Years of Service
Pay Grade	Years of Service
Pay Grade	Over 30	Over 34	Over 38	Over 40
W-5	8826	9267	9731	–
W-4	7790	7790	7790	–