Welcome to PCS Week, a weeklong series of guides and resources for the 2025 PCS season.
As a new Navy ensign moving from Texas to San Diego, Brian Luther rented a house on the beach that he thought he could afford but "went into an immediate deficit," he recalled. Costs, including taxes, were a lot higher in his new home state.
Today, as a retired rear admiral and the president and chief executive officer of Navy Mutual, he encourages military families to have a better plan for their permanent change of station (PCS) -- a plan that addresses not only the move itself but also the potentially surprising costs associated with living somewhere new.
Read More: 6 Deals to Remember When PCSing
Luther suggested service members consider the following while making their plan:
Dislocation Allowance
The military's Dislocation Allowance (DLA) helps cover relocation expenses once a fiscal year, but you have to request it. Service members with no dependents who are assigned to government quarters can't get the allowance, but those who do qualify can receive it ahead of time.
The DLA rate ranges from $1,802.10 to $6,151.81 in 2025 and depends on service members' rank and whether they have dependents.
Luther said the Dislocation Allowance can especially help with the upfront costs of moving into a new place, such as security deposits.
Taxes
Taxes may factor into a PCS financial plan both when building a budget ahead of time and filing your next tax returns.
Luther didn't realize how much California's income taxes would take out of his Navy paycheck when he moved there from Texas, which has no state income tax, so he recommends estimating, when budgeting, the effect your new state's tax rates will have, including other taxes besides income taxes, such as sales and property taxes.
During the move, keep track of all your expenses, because you may be able to deduct moving costs that the military didn't already reimburse on your next federal tax return. Some of the costs eligible for the federal deduction include packing materials, shipping of vehicles, transporting pets, stopping and starting utilities, storage fees, a night's lodging each at your old and new locations, and unreimbursed costs associated with the shipping of household goods.
Contracts and Subscriptions
New provisions of Servicemembers Civil Relief Act that began in 2023 allow service members to cancel certain contracts if the cancellation relates to a PCS move and the contract or service isn't available at the new location. That includes gym memberships, fitness programs and home security contracts.
The SCRA also allows troops to cancel telecommunications contracts such as phone, internet and cable if the providers don't offer coverage at the new location.
And even if the SCRA doesn't cover a service or subscription, such as an entertainment streaming service, a PCS move is as good a time as any to evaluate it.
"If you use the move as a time to do an assessment of your entire budget, then you can say, 'Do I really need to spend this much money on streaming services?'" Luther said.
Transportation
Unless you signed a car lease before joining the military and have orders to PCS outside the continental U.S., a PCS move won't entitle you to get out of an automobile lease. Maintenance, on the other hand -- and whether you even need a car -- might factor into your PCS financial plan, Luther said.
"It was always a good thing to redo your car before you started the big journey," Luther recalled from a career's worth of PCSing. "Make sure you're properly serviced -- alignments, wheels."
At one base, he and his wife decided they didn't need one of their cars. "I looked for a house that was very close to the base. I could ride my bike to work," Luther said. "We reduced expenses -- insurance and ownership and all that -- for that tour because we didn't need two cars."
Housing Survey
Whether moving into rental housing in the community or privatized housing on base, families need to carefully document the condition of the home as soon as they arrive and over the first few weeks of living there.
Some families have moved out of military privatized housing only to face surprise bills of hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Note all the maintenance requests throughout your occupancy so you don't "get mugged" on your way out, Luther said, and "maintain a record of that."
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