The average military family moves every 2 to 3 years — three times more oftenthan their civilian counterpart.
— AASA The School Superintendents Association
The typical child of an active-duty service member moves 6 to 9 times between kindergarten and high-school graduation
— National Child Traumatic
Stress Network, NCTSN
- The average PCS per-move cost, after accounting for inflation, increased by 28 percent from FY2001 to FY2014.
- While the number of PCS moves dropped by 12 percent from 2001 to 2014, the costs rose from $3.8 billion to $4.3 billion.
- In FY2014, DOD obligated $4.3 billion for approximately 650,000 service member PCS moves.
- The average cost difference of moving an officer from all services during FY2010 through FY2014 versus moving an enlisted service member during the same time period
— From a September 2015 GAO report to Congress on Military Compensation (GAO-15-713)
- Effects of Repeated PCS Moves on Earnings Growth over Time Each area depicts the growth in earnings relative to year –1
- The red area shows the case for an individual with PCS moves in years 0 and 3
- The blue area shows the case for an individual with no PCS moves over the five-year period
— From the 2016 RAND Research Brief: The Effects of Military Change-of-Station Moves on Spousal Earnings, courtesy of the RAND Corporation
