Our Data Methodology and Sources
The short version
EveryCalc is built and maintained by a small independent team. Every rate, pay table, and benefit figure on this site traces back to a published source, usually the federal agency that sets the number: the Defense Travel Management Office for housing allowances, DFAS for military pay, the Department of Veterans Affairs for disability compensation, the General Services Administration for per diem, and the IRS and state revenue departments for tax math. When an agency publishes new figures, we update ours, and this page records what we use and when it changes.
Last updated: October 2026
Who operates EveryCalc
EveryCalc is edited by Tom Beckett, the editor responsible for the numbers on the site. EveryCalc is operated by the EveryCalc team: a small, independent group of builders and writers, not a bank, lender, or lead generator. We make money from advertising and reader support, never from selling your data or steering you to a financial product. Nobody pays to be featured in our calculators or guides. You can reach the team any time through our contact page or at hello@everycalc.xyz, and error reports go to the top of our queue.
Where the numbers come from
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). Our BAH rates for all 338 military housing areas come from the official rate files published by the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO), the Department of Defense office that sets the allowance. We load the published tables directly rather than retyping them, and each area page shows the with-dependents and without-dependents rates by pay grade exactly as published for the current rate year.
Military basic pay. Pay tables are the official Department of Defense military pay charts published through DFAS, by pay grade and years of service. When a new pay chart takes effect, normally each January, we replace the full table and re-check the grade pages against it.
VA disability compensation. Monthly compensation figures come from the Department of Veterans Affairs' published compensation rate tables, including dependent add-ons. The 2026 figures on this site include the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment announced for 2026. Combined-rating explanations follow the VA's own published method: each rating applies to the remaining efficiency, and the combined value is rounded to the nearest 10%.
Per diem. Lodging and meals rates are the General Services Administration (GSA) per diem rates for the current federal fiscal year, including the standard CONUS rate that applies to destinations without their own locality rate, and the locality rates for non-standard areas.
Taxes and take-home pay. Federal figures use the IRS's published tax brackets, standard deductions, and payroll tax rates for the current tax year. State figures use the brackets and rules published by each state's revenue or taxation department. Where a state has no income tax, the page says so and the math reflects it.
Social Security and cost of living. Benefit estimates use figures published by the Social Security Administration, including the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) when it is announced each fall.
Finance calculators. Mortgage, loan, and savings tools use the standard published formulas for amortization and compound growth, the same mathematics lenders use, with the formula shown on each page. Market figures quoted in our blog and guides are cited to the release they came from, for example a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, with the release named on the page.
Our update schedule
Official numbers change on the agencies' calendars, and ours follow them:
- Each October: new GSA per diem rates for the federal fiscal year that starts October 1.
- Each December: new VA disability compensation tables when the VA publishes rates reflecting the annual COLA.
- Each January: new BAH rates and military pay charts for the new rate year, and new federal and state tax brackets for the new tax year.
- Year round: corrections and clarifications whenever we find an error or a reader reports one, and new calculators and guides as they are finished.
Pages that carry annual figures show the rate year in their title and headings, so you can always tell which year's numbers you are looking at.
How we verify before we publish
Every calculator page shows its formula and at least one worked example with real numbers. Before a calculator or data page ships, we recompute its worked examples independently from the published source figures and check the page's output against them. Data pages are generated from the source dataset itself, not transcribed by hand, which removes the most common source of rate errors: typos. When the agencies publish corrections or revised tables, we reload from the revised source rather than patching individual numbers.
Corrections
If you spot a figure that disagrees with the official source, tell us through the contact page and name the page and the source you are comparing against. We check every report against the published table, fix confirmed errors, and note significant corrections on the page. Accuracy is the entire product here; a calculator that is wrong is worse than no calculator at all.
What our numbers are not
Our results are estimates for planning and education. A lender, the VA, or a payroll department can reach a slightly different figure because of fees, rounding conventions, individual circumstances, or rules a simplified model does not capture. Nothing on EveryCalc is financial, tax, or legal advice, and for a decision that matters, the official source and a qualified professional outrank any calculator, including ours.