Trends in Total Costs of Military Compensation : Congressional Budget Office (CBO) , September 25 , 2026
Trends in Total Costs of Military Compensation : Congressional Budget Office (CBO) , September 25 , 2026
From the document: "▪ The total cost of military personnel is an important consideration in DoD’s planning for the size and composition of the total force. Currently, a substantial component of cost for military personnel lies outside DoD’s budget, not captured by total force planning.
▪ In DoD’s budget, costs for military compensation span multiple appropriation accounts. Most DoD costs are in the appropriations for military personnel, but some costs are found in appropriations for operations and maintenance and for military housing.
▪ Significant costs lie outside DoD in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and those costs are rising rapidly. The cost of providing disability compensation, health care, and other benefits to veterans exceeds the cost of compensation for the current force.
▪ To estimate the entire government cost of military personnel, CBO applied accrual accounting to the cost of deferred VA benefits. CBO estimates that a yearly accrual cost of $86,000 per active-duty service member is needed to cover the future cost of their Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) benefits."
Authors - Woodward, F.M.Related Resources
