DSSR · Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)

Beijing, China COLA (Post Allowance) Rate (DSSR)

Effective date: July 12, 2026 Last updated: July 12, 2026
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)
35%
% of spendable income

Historical rate trend

Beijing rate history — COLA (Post Allowance) (%). Query any past effective date directly via the API.

Effective date COLA (Post Allowance) (%)
Jul 12, 2026 35%
Apr 19, 2026 35%
Apr 5, 2026 30%
Mar 8, 2026 35%
Feb 8, 2026 30%
Sep 7, 2025 42%
Dec 1, 2024 35%
Aug 25, 2024 42%
Jan 28, 2024 35%
Dec 3, 2023 42%
Nov 19, 2023 35%
Jun 4, 2023 42%
Dec 18, 2022 50%
Sep 25, 2022 42%
May 8, 2022 50%
Nov 7, 2021 60%
Jan 31, 2021 50%
Oct 11, 2020 42%
Sep 13, 2020 25%
May 26, 2019 20%
Jan 20, 2019 25%
Sep 30, 2018 20%
Jul 8, 2018 25%
Jan 21, 2018 30%
Jun 11, 2017 25%
Nov 27, 2016 20%
Jul 10, 2016 25%
Nov 29, 2015 30%
Nov 15, 2015 35%
Aug 23, 2015 30%
Mar 9, 2014 35%
Jan 12, 2014 42%
Page of · 32 rows

How this rate is used

The post (cost-of-living) allowance offsets higher overseas costs of goods and services for U.S. government civilian employees assigned to Beijing. It is expressed as a percentage of spendable income and is used by mobility, HR and payroll teams to compute overseas compensation.

Get this data from the API

The exact request that returns this page's data. Change the date parameter to query any historical effective date, or pull it straight into your ERP, payroll, or expense system.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.allowancesapi.com/v1/dssr/allowances/CN?type=cola"
Sample response
{
  "effective_date": "2026-07-12",
  "results": [
    {
      "cola": {
        "effective_date": "2026-07-12",
        "rate": 35
      },
      "iso_code": "CN",
      "location": "Beijing",
      "postcode": "10254"
    }
  ],
  "verification_url": "https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=184\u0026menu_id=78"
}

Beijing rate FAQ

What is the COLA (Post Allowance) rate for Beijing, China?

The current DSSR COLA (Post Allowance) rate for Beijing, China is 35%, effective Jul 12, 2026.

How has the Beijing COLA (Post Allowance) rate changed?

In Apr 19, 2026 the COLA (Post Allowance) rate was 35%. The full history is shown in the table above and is queryable by effective date via the API.

Source & methodology

Effective period
Effective Jul 12, 2026
Last updated
July 12, 2026

Allowances API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any U.S. Government agency. All rate data is sourced from official public rate tables and re-published in a normalized format.