Military Personnel
- Report
How the Military’s Basic Allowance for Housing Compares With Civilian Housing Costs
CBO compares the housing standards used to determine the military’s basic allowance for housing (BAH) with the housing rented by comparable civilians. CBO also compares BAH rates with the rental costs paid by those civilians.
- Report
Income of Working-Age Veterans Receiving Disability Compensation
CBO compared the earnings, personal income, and household income of working-age male veterans who received disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs with those of veterans who did not receive such payments.
- Graphic
Atlas of Military Compensation
In the President’s 2024 budget request, total military compensation is $551 billion, including veterans' benefits. That amount represents an increase of 134 percent since 1999 after removing the effects of inflation.
- Blog Post
CBO Releases an Updated Interactive Tool for Analyzing the Size and Cost of the U.S. Military
The enhanced tool lets users change the defense budget to see the possible effects on military forces, or add or subtract major units to see the effects on the budget, or explore a mix of those approaches. It includes a how-to-use tutorial.
- Interactive
CBO’s Interactive Force Structure Tool
This tool allows the user to see the effects on the Department of Defense’s total operation and support costs and on the size of the military of adding or subtracting tanks, ships, aircraft, and other units.
- Report
The U.S. Military’s Force Structure: Fiscal Year 2024 Update to Personnel Numbers and Costs
This spreadsheet provides the data that underlie CBO’s interactive force structure tool.
- Report
Long-Term Implications of the 2024 Future Years Defense Program
CBO analyzes the Department of Defense’s plans for 2024 through 2028 as presented in the 2024 Future Years Defense Program. Under those plans, CBO projects, defense costs would increase by 10 percent between 2028 and 2038.
- Report
Answers to Questions for the Record Following a Hearing on Approaches to Reducing the Department of Defense’s Compensation Costs
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel convened a hearing at which David E. Mosher, CBO’s Director of National Security Analysis, testified. This document provides CBO’s answers to questions for the record.
- Report
Purposes and Uses of Special and Incentive Pay for Military Personnel
CBO analyzes funding for special and incentive pay for active-duty service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps and explores how those types of pay have been used to address personnel shortfalls.
- Report
Testimony on Approaches to Reducing the Department of Defense’s Compensation Costs
David E. Mosher, CBO's Director of National Security Analysis, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel.