CONUS COLA — The Allowance You Didn't Know You Had (or Lost)
Most service members in CONUS never see CONUS COLA. Roughly a dozen high-cost areas qualify — and the qualifying list changes when Congress moves the threshold. In April 2024 the FY24 NDAA dropped that threshold from 108% to 107%, added five new locations, and bumped payments at existing ones. If you PCS'd to West Point, Boston, Sacramento, Boulder, or Seattle in the last two years and never noticed an extra line on your LES, you owe it to your paycheck to check.
A location qualifies for CONUS COLA when its non-housing cost-of-living index is at or above 107% of the CONUS average (down from 108% before April 1, 2024). The statutory floor on this threshold is 5% — the Secretary of Defense, with the other administering Secretaries, sets it, and Congress authorizes the floor. CONUS COLA is also unusual among military allowances in being taxable. Source: DTMO CONUS COLA program page; DFAS MPA 05-24; FY24 NDAA; DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 67.
CONUS COLA Is Not BAH (and Nobody Explains This Clearly)
BAH and CONUS COLA cover different things. BAH covers housing. CONUS COLA covers everything else that costs more in San Francisco than in Fort Sill — groceries, gas, car insurance, haircuts, restaurants, services. They are independent allowances that happen to both show up on LES lines.
| Feature | BAH | CONUS COLA |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Housing only (rent + utilities) | Non-housing costs (food, transport, services, clothing) |
| Available at | Every CONUS duty station | A small list of designated high-cost CONUS sites |
| Taxable? | No | Yes — included in W-2 wages |
| Trigger | Always paid based on local rental market | Location must be ≥107% of CONUS average non-housing cost |
| Scales by | Grade + dependency status | Grade + YOS + dependency status |
| Update cadence | Annually (Jan 1) | Annually, adjusted as LPS / RPS data refresh |
How It's Calculated — Two Surveys Stacked
CONUS COLA does not survey service members' spending directly. It builds a price index from two pieces of fieldwork at every candidate location:
Conducted approximately every three years per location. Asks members where they actually shop for each category — commissary, exchange, local stores, online retailers. The answer determines which stores the contractor walks into to collect prices. If members do not respond, DTMO uses stale data — and the resulting CONUS COLA may be inaccurate for years.
Annual price collection at the LPS-identified stores. A DoD contractor prices a standard list of approximately 120 goods and services across categories like food, transportation, household goods, personal care, and recreation. The contractor builds a location index and compares it to the CONUS average. If location ≥ 107% of average, the location qualifies; CONUS COLA scales the spread.
Source: DTMO CONUS COLA "Living Pattern Survey" program page; DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 67. The 120-item list and category structure are standardized across all CONUS locations so the comparison is apples-to-apples.
The Taxability Surprise
Almost every allowance you see on an LES line is non-taxable. BAH, BAS, OHA, OCONUS COLA, family separation allowance, hardship duty pay-location — all non-taxable under 26 U.S.C. § 134 as qualified military benefits.
CONUS COLA is the exception. It is taxable income, included in your W-2 wages, and subject to federal income tax (state too, depending on the state). The policy rationale: CONUS COLA is treated structurally similar to the General Schedule locality pay that civilian federal employees receive — and locality pay is taxable. So CONUS COLA is too.
Practical consequence: the headline CONUS COLA number on DTMO's rate lookup is gross. The actual after-tax amount in your pocket depends on your marginal rate. A $200/month CONUS COLA at a 22% federal rate puts about $156 in your pocket — not $200.
The Qualifying Areas — A Moving Target
The qualifying list is small (typically around a dozen locations) and it changes year to year. The April 2024 threshold drop from 108% to 107% — implemented in DFAS MPA 05-24 — added these as new qualifying locations:
- • West Point, NY — USMA + nearby installations
- • Boston, MA — Hanscom AFB, Coast Guard 1st District
- • Sacramento, CA — Beale AFB region, Travis adjacency
- • Boulder, CO — NIST, NOAA, Buckley adjacency
- • Seattle, WA — JBLM region, USCG 13th District, Naval Base Kitsap area
Long-standing CONUS COLA locations have historically included San Francisco, San Diego, Honolulu (Hawaii is technically separately administered as a non-foreign OCONUS COLA location, not CONUS COLA), New York City metro, and a handful of others. For the current authoritative list and your exact rate, use the DTMO rate lookup — the published list moves more often than this page can.
Source: DFAS MPA 05-24 (April 1, 2024 threshold change); DTMO CONUS COLA Rate Lookup. Hawaii is administered under OCONUS COLA in non-foreign-area policy, not CONUS COLA — easy to confuse, materially different program.
What to Do With This
- • If you PCS to a qualifying area: verify the CONUS COLA line is on your first full LES. If it's missing, your finance office can correct it retroactively to the report date.
- • If you live in a high-cost area not on the list: check the rate lookup again every NDAA cycle. The threshold floor is 5% — future legislation could lower it further and pull your area in.
- • Fill out the LPS if your installation runs a cycle. Low response rates lock in stale data and can suppress your area's rate for three years.
- • Plan for the tax: if you're budgeting on a gross CONUS COLA number, you're budgeting wrong by roughly your marginal rate.
The Questions People Actually Ask
Is CONUS COLA the same as BAH?
No — and conflating the two is the most common mistake. BAH covers housing only at every duty station. CONUS COLA covers non-housing cost-of-living differences (food, transportation, services, clothing, personal care) and only exists at a small number of designated high-cost CONUS sites. You can get BAH without CONUS COLA. You cannot get CONUS COLA without also being eligible for BAH at that location.
Is CONUS COLA taxable?
Yes. CONUS COLA is taxable income — this is one of the only military allowances that gets taxed at all. Most allowances (BAH, BAS, OHA, OCONUS COLA) are non-taxable under 26 U.S.C. § 134 as qualified military benefits. CONUS COLA is the exception by design: it shows up on your LES as an allowance but is included in your W-2 wages.
What is the threshold to qualify for CONUS COLA?
Effective April 1, 2024, the threshold is 107% of the CONUS average for non-housing costs — meaning a location must measure at least 7% more expensive than the national average. The FY24 NDAA lowered the previous 108% threshold, which added West Point NY, Boston MA, Sacramento CA, Boulder CO, and Seattle WA to the qualifying list and raised payments at existing CONUS COLA locations. The statute floor on the threshold is 5%, so future NDAAs could lower it further.
How is CONUS COLA calculated?
Two surveys feed it. The Living Pattern Survey (LPS) — conducted every three years per location — asks members where they shop (commissary, exchange, local stores, online). The Retail Price Schedule (RPS) is an annual price collection at those stores, by a DoD contractor, for a standard list of approximately 120 goods and services. DTMO compares the price index for each location against the CONUS average. If the index is at or above the threshold, CONUS COLA pays the spread, scaled by paygrade, years of service, and dependency status.
Why did my CONUS COLA drop or disappear?
Locations move in and out of the qualifying list as their cost index shifts. If your area’s non-housing prices fell relative to the national average — or the national average rose faster than your area — the index drops. Once it falls below the threshold, your CONUS COLA goes to zero. This is also why the FY24 NDAA threshold change matters: a 1-percentage-point drop in the threshold pulled new areas onto the list. A future increase in the threshold would push areas back off.
Does CONUS COLA pay more with dependents?
Yes. The amount scales by paygrade, years of service, and dependency status — with-dependents rates are higher than without-dependents at the same grade and YOS. The logic: a household of more people buys more non-housing items, so the dollar cost of the same percentage gap is larger. The CONUS COLA Rate Lookup at DTMO returns your exact monthly amount.
Is the LPS optional? Does it matter if I fill it out?
It is voluntary, and yes, it materially affects your CONUS COLA. The LPS determines which stores get priced. If most members at your installation shop online and you tell DTMO you only shop at the commissary, the contractor prices the wrong stores and the index does not match your actual costs. Low LPS response rates lock in stale shopping patterns, which can keep an over-priced index too high or an under-priced index too low. If your installation runs an LPS cycle, fill it out.
- • DTMO CONUS Cost-of-Living Allowance program page — travel.dod.mil / CONUS-Cost-of-Living-Allowance
- • DTMO Living Pattern Survey methodology — travel.dod.mil / Living-Pattern-Survey
- • DTMO CONUS COLA Rate Lookup — travel.dod.mil / CONUS-COLA-Rate-Lookup
- • DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 67 (CONUS COLA policy) — comptroller.defense.gov / fmr / 07a_67.pdf
- • MyNavyHR MPA 05-24 — CONUS COLA New Minimum Threshold Effective April 1, 2024 — mynavyhr.navy.mil / MPA 05-24
- • FY24 NDAA (H.R. 2670, 118th Congress) — threshold floor authority — congress.gov / H.R. 2670
- • 26 U.S. Code § 134 — Qualified military benefits (allowance taxability framework) — uscode.house.gov / 26 USC 134