More than 60% of active-duty families who made moves in the past two years paid more than $1,000 out of pocket for expenses related to their move, according to a new survey.
“The data continue to show that military moves create disruption across nearly every aspect of life. … A military-directed move shouldn’t be creating avoidable expenses that military families must absorb,” said Shannon Razsidin, chief executive officer of the Military Family Advisory Network.
MFAN, nonprofit advocacy organization that fielded the online survey, has conducted military family surveys periodically over the past decade.
More than 10,000 people responded, and 71% were currently serving families, including 80% enlisted families.
Three out of four active-duty families who responded to the survey said they had moved in the previous two years.
The Defense Department should “completely modernize the Permanent Change of Station experience,” the MFAN researchers recommended. “The [PCS] process was designed for a different era of military service. Today it has become one of the most consistent drivers of instability for military families.”
“The data continue to demonstrate the connection between frequent relocation and negative family outcomes,” researchers stated.
Last year, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the services to review the frequency of military moves.
DoD can take steps to provide more predictability in moves, said Stephen Simmons, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military community and family policy, during a Monday event releasing the survey results. Everyone should have orders to move six months ahead of time in order to start planning their move and the many elements associated, he said.
The survey was fielded from October 2025 to February 2026. While the government shutdown and the emergency responses at that time may have influenced the results, especially regarding stress levels, that timing “added a critical layer of context to our findings,” said Shanna Smith, associate director of research for MFAN.
The MFAN findings across a wide range of issues show that families who have recently moved are more likely to experience financial strain, food insecurity, challenges accessing health care and disruptions to employment, and these effects are compounded over time.
The survey results showed some “concerning outcomes” said Razsidin.
The researchers recommended that the military begin treating military spouse well-being “as a national security imperative,” rather than a quality-of-life issue, Razsidin said.
“It is a readiness issue, a retention issue, and ultimately a national security issue,” the report concluded. Economic security “has emerged not just as a matter of household welfare, but as the foundational infrastructure for readiness.”
More than a third of active duty families — 34% — have less than $500 available in an emergency fund. Those funds are critical in a financial emergency to avoid using credit cards or loans. And half of the respondents overall reported having a financial emergency in the previous two years.
The amount of families without that buffer has increased since 2023, when 25% said they had less than $500 available for an emergency.
The survey also shows a jump in unemployment among active duty spouses — to 29.9% from the 21.8% reported in the 2023 survey. Until now, most other sources have reported the unemployment rate of military spouses hovering around 21%, about four times the national average.
Among active duty spouses who had moved within the past year, 40% were unemployed and seeking work.
Nearly 60% of active-duty family respondents reported that insufficient child care affected their employment opportunities.
In 2025, more than 89% of active duty families surveyed reported facing a burden with housing costs. Of those, nearly 59% reported facing severe housing burdens.
Nearly 60% of active-duty families reported paying more than their Basic Allowance for Housing for monthly housing and utility costs, and about 28% reported paying up to $400 per month over BAH.
Researchers found that while out-of-pocket housing costs were lower in 2025 than in 2023, the proportion of those reporting housing burdens increased.
About two-thirds of military families live in the civilian community. Simmons said he is concerned about the distance service members are choosing to live from their installation. Not only are they paying more, but they are driving more. He said officials are now working to help engage local communities to make it more feasible for service members to live closer to their installations.
Food insecurity increased from 2023 to 2025 among currently serving families, which include active duty as well as Guard and Reserve families.
In 2025, 47% of currently serving families reported low or very low security, up from 21.5% in 2023. That reflects, in part, the period of time when the survey was fielded, during the government shutdown when many members of the military community were concerned about getting their next paycheck.
Nearly 58% of the respondents in the survey reported rising grocery prices as the top barrier to saving money. Some reported using credit cards to cover food costs. Nearly half of the currently serving population who said the commissary is their primary grocery choice were identified as being food insecure.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
Read the full article here