The cost-of-living allowance given to U.S. troops in nearly every European location will stand at current levels through at least the first two weeks of March.

In Portugal’s Azores, however, the COLA jumped to a record Saturday, due to new retail price survey data.

The rise, roughly 40 percent, will increase COLA for an E-6 with six years’ service and two dependents to $15.33 per day, up from $10.73 a day during the previous two weeks.

Among European locations with significant numbers of U.S. troops, the Azores’ COLA rate has had the greatest increase, in terms of a percentage, in the past year.

Retail price surveys, which are conducted by the military annually, are used to compare prices at a particular location to prices in the States. The surveys, along with living pattern surveys and exchange rates, are used to compute bimonthly COLA rates.

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