Military families lose about $5K every move

More than two-thirds of new duty station moves in the past three years resulted in loss or damage of property. (Sue Sapp/Air Force)

Military families are coughing up about $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for each permanent change of station move, a new survey revealed.

The data, recently reported by Military Times’ Karen Jowers, includes “an average of $1,913 in moving expenses that aren’t reimbursed by the military, and an average of $2,920 over and above claims paid for loss and damage to their belongings.”

The findings from the Military Family Advisory Network survey, which was conducted online with more than 8,000 respondents in the fall of 2019, were released at the end of June.

More than two-thirds of new duty station moves in the past three years resulted in loss or damage of property, according to Military Times.

Other survey findings included trends in child care availability (more than 3/4 of respondents said finding child care has been difficult), child care cost (78 percent of survey respondents had not used a military child care subsidy program), kids’ education (3/4 of parents said their child’s school experience has been positive or very positive), and financial issues (27 percent of military families surveyed have less than $500 in emergency savings).

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