DoD describes warrant officers as specialists and experts in particular military technologies or capabilities who hold a warrant from their service secretary. On promotion to chief warrant officer 2 they receive a commission from the president, but they remain specialists, where commissioned officers are generalists.
W-3 basic pay a month in 2026 at over 14 years of service, the step in the worked example below. Across W-1 to W-5 it runs from $4,056.60 (W-1, lowest step) to $13,308.30 (W-5, top step).
DFAS pay table, effective January 1, 2026Monthly BAH for a W-3 with dependents, Minneapolis/St. Paul, 2026 ($2,667 without).
DoD BAH rate data, MHA MN159Minnesota median annual wage, all occupations, May 2025.
BLS OEWS, May 2025The rank, by service
The pay grade is the same across the services; the title is not. These are the titles on DoD's rank chart.
| Grade | Title | Services (DoD rank chart) |
|---|---|---|
| W-1 | Warrant Officer 1 | Army, Marine Corps and Navy |
| W-2 | Chief Warrant Officer 2 | Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard |
| W-3 | Chief Warrant Officer 3 | Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard |
| W-4 | Chief Warrant Officer 4 | Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard |
| W-5 | Chief Warrant Officer 5 | Army, Marine Corps and Navy |
What W-1 to W-5 mean in civilian terms
LockLeed's military résumé decoder, written for employers reading service records, reads W-1 to W-5 this way:
The single-domain expert track. Most arrive with years deep in one technical field (maintenance, intel, supply), though Army aviators can enter direct. By CW3 to CW5, read them as principal engineer / master technician: often the most purely technical hire.
What civilians in the matching jobs earn
A warrant officer's civilian title follows the specialty (maintenance, intelligence, supply, aviation and more), so no single occupation fits the grade. Here is the median across all occupations as a reference point; the salary lookup has figures by field.
| Occupation | Minnesota | United States |
|---|---|---|
| All Occupations | $56,920 | $50,980 |
Median annual wage, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026). Half the workers in the occupation earned more and half earned less.
For pay in a specific civilian field, use the military-to-civilian salary lookup, which pulls BLS wages for the jobs each MOS, rating or AFSC feeds.
2026 basic pay for W-1 to W-5
Basic pay is set by grade and years of service. Each row is a step: the rate applies from that point until the next row. These are the DFAS rates effective January 1, 2026.
W-1
| Years of service | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or less | $4,056.60 | $48,679.20 |
| Over 2 | $4,493.70 | $53,924.40 |
| Over 3 | $4,611.00 | $55,332.00 |
| Over 4 | $4,859.10 | $58,309.20 |
| Over 6 | $5,152.20 | $61,826.40 |
| Over 8 | $5,584.20 | $67,010.40 |
| Over 10 | $5,786.10 | $69,433.20 |
| Over 12 | $6,069.30 | $72,831.60 |
| Over 14 | $6,346.50 | $76,158.00 |
| Over 16 | $6,564.90 | $78,778.80 |
| Over 18 | $6,766.20 | $81,194.40 |
| Over 20 | $7,010.10 | $84,121.20 |
Per year is 12 times the monthly rate.
W-2
| Years of service | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or less | $4,621.80 | $55,461.60 |
| Over 2 | $5,058.90 | $60,706.80 |
| Over 3 | $5,193.30 | $62,319.60 |
| Over 4 | $5,286.00 | $63,432.00 |
| Over 6 | $5,585.40 | $67,024.80 |
| Over 8 | $6,051.00 | $72,612.00 |
| Over 10 | $6,282.60 | $75,391.20 |
| Over 12 | $6,509.40 | $78,112.80 |
| Over 14 | $6,787.50 | $81,450.00 |
| Over 16 | $7,005.00 | $84,060.00 |
| Over 18 | $7,201.50 | $86,418.00 |
| Over 20 | $7,437.00 | $89,244.00 |
| Over 22 | $7,591.50 | $91,098.00 |
| Over 24 | $7,714.20 | $92,570.40 |
Per year is 12 times the monthly rate.
W-3
| Years of service | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or less | $5,223.30 | $62,679.60 |
| Over 2 | $5,440.50 | $65,286.00 |
| Over 3 | $5,664.30 | $67,971.60 |
| Over 4 | $5,736.90 | $68,842.80 |
| Over 6 | $5,970.90 | $71,650.80 |
| Over 8 | $6,431.10 | $77,173.20 |
| Over 10 | $6,910.50 | $82,926.00 |
| Over 12 | $7,136.40 | $85,636.80 |
| Over 14 | $7,397.70 | $88,772.40 |
| Over 16 | $7,665.90 | $91,990.80 |
| Over 18 | $8,150.40 | $97,804.80 |
| Over 20 | $8,476.50 | $101,718.00 |
| Over 22 | $8,671.80 | $104,061.60 |
| Over 24 | $8,879.70 | $106,556.40 |
| Over 26 | $9,162.60 | $109,951.20 |
Per year is 12 times the monthly rate.
W-4
| Years of service | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 2 or less | $5,719.80 | $68,637.60 |
| Over 2 | $6,152.10 | $73,825.20 |
| Over 3 | $6,328.50 | $75,942.00 |
| Over 4 | $6,502.20 | $78,026.40 |
| Over 6 | $6,801.90 | $81,622.80 |
| Over 8 | $7,098.00 | $85,176.00 |
| Over 10 | $7,398.00 | $88,776.00 |
| Over 12 | $7,848.30 | $94,179.60 |
| Over 14 | $8,243.70 | $98,924.40 |
| Over 16 | $8,619.90 | $103,438.80 |
| Over 18 | $8,928.60 | $107,143.20 |
| Over 20 | $9,228.90 | $110,746.80 |
| Over 22 | $9,669.60 | $116,035.20 |
| Over 24 | $10,032.00 | $120,384.00 |
| Over 26 | $10,445.40 | $125,344.80 |
| Over 30 | $10,653.60 | $127,843.20 |
Per year is 12 times the monthly rate.
W-5
| Years of service | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Over 20 | $10,169.70 | $122,036.40 |
| Over 22 | $10,685.70 | $128,228.40 |
| Over 24 | $11,070.30 | $132,843.60 |
| Over 26 | $11,495.10 | $137,941.20 |
| Over 30 | $12,070.80 | $144,849.60 |
| Over 34 | $12,673.50 | $152,082.00 |
| Over 38 | $13,308.30 | $159,699.60 |
The DFAS table starts W-5 pay at over 20 years of service. Per year is 12 times the monthly rate.
2026 BAH in Minneapolis/St. Paul
The Basic Allowance for Housing depends on grade, dependency status and the ZIP code of the permanent duty station. The Defense Travel Management Office states that a member on permanent duty in the 50 states who is not furnished government housing is eligible, so someone living in government quarters does not receive it. These are the 2026 monthly rates for the Minneapolis/St. Paul military housing area (MN159), which covers Minneapolis ZIP codes such as 55401.
| Grade | With dependents | Without dependents |
|---|---|---|
| W-1 | $2,796 | $2,154 |
| W-2 | $2,847 | $2,592 |
| W-3 | $2,913 | $2,667 |
| W-4 | $3,015 | $2,784 |
| W-5 | $3,144 | $2,835 |
BAH changes with the duty station. Another city's rates can be far higher or lower, so look up the ZIP code that applies to you.
Why this is not a salary comparison
Basic pay is only part of military pay, and a civilian salary is a different kind of number. Two allowances sit on top of basic pay. BAS, the food allowance, is $476.95 a month for enlisted members and $328.48 for officers in 2026. Warrant officers draw the officer BAS rate: Title 37, the military pay title of the U.S. Code, defines an officer as a commissioned or warrant officer. BAH covers housing for members who are not in government quarters. Both are excluded from federal gross income, as IRS Publication 3 lists them among pay items that are not taxed, so a dollar of BAH is worth more than a dollar of salary.
Federal law's own yardstick, Regular Military Compensation, adds up basic pay, BAH, BAS and the federal tax advantage of those allowances. Health care, retirement and leave sit outside even that figure.
One worked example
Take a W-3 with over 14 years of service, with dependents, in the Minneapolis/St. Paul housing area, using only the published 2026 rates (BAS at the officer rate):
| Item | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay (taxable) | $7,397.70 | $88,772.40 |
| BAH (tax-free) | $2,913 | $34,956 |
| BAS (tax-free) | $328.48 | $3,941.76 |
| Total cash | $10,639.18 | $127,670.16 |
That is $127,670.16 in cash, $38,897.76 of it tax-free. The example assumes the member is not furnished government housing: a member living in government quarters draws no BAH. It cannot be set against a civilian salary as it stands. A salary is taxable and comes before an employer's health plan or retirement match, and the civilian title for this grade follows the specialty, so the fair benchmark is the median for that field, not the all-occupations figure. The military figure is one person's cash before its tax advantage, and before health care, retirement and leave are counted. BAH is also tied to the duty station, so it does not carry over to a civilian job.
To turn a military package into a salary target, read our guide to converting military pay to a civilian salary. It walks through grossing up the allowances and the Defense Department's Regular Military Compensation calculator.
Putting it to work
If you served at W-1 to W-5: a civilian reader may not know what the grade means. Write the scope instead: how many people you led, what equipment or budget you answered for, and what changed because of your work. Pay in your field depends on your MOS, rating or AFSC as much as your grade, so check the salary lookup for the jobs you are targeting, and build the résumé in our free résumé builder.
If you are hiring: the military résumé decoder reads every grade in one table, with the acronyms that show up next to it. When you are ready to meet candidates, tell us about the role.
Other grades
Sources
Pay, allowance and wage figures on this page were pulled by script from the official sources below on September 23, 2026. The tax and legal points cite the IRS and the U.S. Code. These are 2026 rates: check the live tables before relying on a number in a later year.
- DFAS: Basic Pay, Warrant Officers, effective January 1, 2026
- DFAS: Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) table, 2026 rates
- Defense Travel Management Office: BAH rate lookup and the 2026 all-locations rate file (Military Housing Area MN159, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2025 (USDL-26-0725, released May 15, 2026)
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables (median annual wages by state and nationally, May 2025; values pulled through the BLS public data API)
- U.S. Department of Defense: military rank insignia and pay grades
- IRS Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide (Table 2: pay items excluded from gross income)
- 37 U.S. Code § 101: definitions, including officer and Regular Military Compensation