Military Personnel
- Report
How CBO Projects the Long-Term Costs of the Department of Defense’s Future Years Defense Program
Since 2003, CBO has projected the Department of Defense’s costs for the 10 to 15 years beyond those covered in the Future Years Defense Program’s five-year plan. This report describes some of the methods CBO uses to make those projections.
- Report
Long-Term Implications of the 2025 Future Years Defense Program
CBO analyzes the Department of Defense’s plans for 2025 to 2029 as presented in the 2025 Future Years Defense Program. Under those plans, CBO projects, defense costs would increase by 11 percent between 2029 and 2039.
- Presentation
How the Military’s Basic Allowance for Housing Compares With Civilian Housing Costs
Presentation by David Mosher, CBO’s Director of National Security, at the 2024 Conference of the Western Economic Association International.
- Cost Estimate
H.R. 8070, Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025
As reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on
May 31, 2024 - 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.