Not all military housing markets are created equal. For those service men and women who opt for off-base housing in the states, where you are stationed can be the difference between peace and prosperity or financial battles.
Today’s military members move, on average, every 2 to 3 years from one base to another and frequently get deployed away from base. This instability makes homeownership tough for active duty military members and is a big reason why they frequently resort to renting rather than buying a home. Active military and veterans can use this link to be connected to a Veterans Administration lender.
Nationwide, 64% of American households were home buyers/owners, but only 34% of military households were home buyers/owners. Also, 34% of households led by those working in Armed Forces moved in the past 5 years, which is much higher than the national average of 13% as estimated using 5-year 2014 U.S. Census American Community Survey data.
In honor of Military Appreciation Month in May, Trulia looked at which Military Housing Areas, or MHAs, are most and least affordable for active duty military members. We compared military housing stipend — which vary by housing area, rank and whether or not you have dependents — with local rental costs in order to estimate how affordable each military housing area is. We found:
- For U.S.-stationed active duty service members, small rural towns offer the best value to live off base with their housing stipend, while rentals around bases in the Florida Keys, Fla., Chicago and New Orleans is in short supply and expensive.
- Bigger cities and top travel destinations tended to have the lowest share of affordable rentals for these entry level enlistees without dependents. For instance, areas well-known to be expensive such as San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Austin, Texas; and Cape Cod, Mass., had housing allowances that are only $100 to $200 higher than those in inexpensive places such as Huntsville, Ala., and Beaumont, Texas.
- Overall, military personnel in pay grades E01-E04 without dependents should not have a tough time finding an affordable home. Even in the least affordable military housing area for entry-level enlistees, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 8.4% of the listings are affordable.
- Higher pay grade military members will have no trouble finding an affordable home. Even in the least affordable military housing area for the third highest pay-grade (E07) without dependents, Chicago, 38.4% of listings were affordable.
Having a dependent generally decreases affordability and also changes which military housing areas are affordable or unaffordable in relation to one another. We will go into further detail about this later in the report. We ranked military housing areas by how affordable they were (as measured by the percentage of rental listings on Trulia that have rents lower than 75% of the housing stipend) for entry-level enlistees in paygrades E01-E04, which comprise the majority of enlisted workforce. For those without dependents, you can search by all military housing codes by following this link. The following tables only show the 10 most and least affordable housing areas for those without dependents in pay grades E01-E04.
| Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno, CA | CA022 | $1,173 | 95.3% | 113.3% | $623 |
| Beaumont, TX | TX273 | $1,065 | 95.0% | 102.9% | $540 |
| Albany, GA | GA072 | $663 | 94.9% | 89.4% | $313 |
| Fort Hood, TX | TX286 | $954 | 93.5% | 138.5% | $554 |
| Huntsville, AL | AL003 | $1,008 | 93.0% | 134.4% | $578 |
| Toledo, OH | OH232 | $870 | 91.2% | 83.2% | $395 |
| El Paso, TX | TX279 | $927 | 91.2% | 68.5% | $377 |
| Lemoore NAS, CA | CA023 | $951 | 90.5% | 72.9% | $401 |
| Abilene/Dyess AFB, TX | TX270 | $804 | 89.9% | 76.7% | $349 |
| Terre Haute, IN | IN338 | $765 | 89.9% | 75.9% | $330 |
| Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Luis Obispo, CA | CA392 | $1,194 | 8.4% | -0.5% | -$6 |
| Cheyenne, WY | WY324 | $714 | 9.3% | 14.2% | $89 |
| Bangor, ME | ME390 | $777 | 12.0% | 19.5% | $127 |
| Twenty Nine Palms MCB, CA | CA032 | $633 | 12.4% | 15.1% | $83 |
| Grand Rapids, MI | MI154 | $756 | 13.9% | 8.8% | $61 |
| Maui County, HI | HI407 | $1,563 | 14.5% | -2.3% | -$37 |
| Austin, TX | TX272 | $1,137 | 15.6% | -1.1% | -$13 |
| San Francisco, CA | CA019 | $3,048 | 16.0% | -4.8% | -$152 |
| Santa Fe, Los Alamos, NM | NM210 | $981 | 16.1% | -0.7% | -$6.5 |
| Cape Cod, MA | MA121 | $1,158 | 17.1% | 10.3% | $108 |
Best and Worst Rental Markets for Service Members in Pay Grades E01-E04 with Dependents
The equation changes drastically for service members with dependents – who need more bedrooms and space and have to deal with another government-calculated housing stipend. In other words whether or not you have a dependent impacts affordability differently for each military housing area.[1] Note: the number of dependents you have does not have any effect on how much stipend you receive. Those living with 4 dependents receive just as much of a stipend as those living with just 1 dependent.
Affordability is lower in many housing areas for those with dependents than those without dependents, even though having a dependent increases the allowance amount. To gauge affordability, we looked for listings with four bedrooms or less in our calculations for those with dependents and one bedroom and studio listings for our calculations for those without dependents.
- The median rent for listings with four bedrooms or less is 162% higher on average than the median rent for one bedroom and studio listings nationwide. However, for those in paygrades E01 through E04, the housing stipend only increases 31% on average nationwide when you go from not having a dependent to having one, thus decreasing affordability.
- Again, smaller rural towns such as Saginaw, Mich. and Terre Haute, Ind. tend to be the more affordable than expensive cities and luxury vacation enclaves such as Florida Keys, Fla. and Cape Cod, Mass.
For those with dependents, you can search by all military housing codes by following this link. The following tables only show the 10 most and least affordable housing areas for those with dependents in pay grades E01-E04.
| Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus to Median Rent ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *- County cost groups include zip codes from around the country. | |||||
| New Haven, Fairfield, CT | CT051 | $3,000 | 79.5% | 100.0% | $1,500 |
| Saginaw, MI | MI156 | $1,002 | 79.4% | 67.0% | $402 |
| Rock Island, IL | IL089 | $1,350 | 77.4% | 68.8% | $550 |
| Terre Haute, IN | IN338 | $981 | 73.2% | 63.5% | $381 |
| Hanscom AFB, MA | MA377 | $2,643 | 72.9% | 65.2% | $1,043 |
| Cincinnati, OH | OH228 | $1,470 | 71.6% | 68.0% | $595 |
| Staten Island, NY | NY413 | $2,340 | 67.4% | 56.0% | $840 |
| Buffalo, NY | NY216 | $1,461 | 67.4% | 67.0% | $586 |
| County Cost Group 550* | ZZ550 | $966 | 67.0% | 61.0% | $366 |
| Youngstown, OH | OH233 | $888 | 66.8% | 54.4% | $313 |
| 10 Least Affordable Military Housing Areas for Those with Dependents for Pay Grades E01-E04 | ||||||
| Rank | Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent ($) |
| 1 | Fayetteville, AR | AR411 | $855 | 9.2% | -18.6% | -$195 |
| 2 | Florida Keys, FL | FL069 | $2,232 | 9.3% | -17.3% | -$468 |
| 3 | Quantico/Woodbridge, VA | VA296 | $1,680 | 11.7% | -1.2% | -$20 |
| 4 | Whidbey Island, WA | WA312 | $1,110 | 12.0% | -11.2% | -$140 |
| 5 | Ventura, CA | CA025 | $2,145 | 13.9% | -12.4% | -$305 |
| 6 | Boise, ID | ID084 | $927 | 14.3% | -6.8% | -$68 |
| 7 | San Luis Obispo, CA | CA392 | $1,590 | 14.6% | -11.7% | -$210 |
| 8 | Cape Cod, MA | MA121 | $1,545 | 15.7% | -9.1% | -$155 |
| 9 | Maui County, HI | HI407 | $2,082 | 16.1% | -9.5% | -$218 |
| 10 | Twenty Nine Palms MCB, CA | CA032 | $807 | 16.4% | -5.1% | -$43 |
Best and Worst Rental Markets for Service Members in Pay Grade E07
- For those belonging to this higher pay grade, affordable housing is plentiful. Even in the least affordable housing areas such as Chicago; Florida Keys, FL; and New Orleans, roughly 40% of listings were affordable for those without dependents. In the most affordable places such as Albany, Ga.; Minot AFB, N.D.; and Cannon AFB/Clovis, N.M., virtually all of the listings were affordable.
- Affordability generally decreases when you have dependents. Same reasoning that applied for pay grades E01-E04 applies for this pay grade too: Rents for listings with four bedrooms or less are, on average, 161% higher than rents for one bedroom and studio listings nationwide, but the housing stipend only increases 28% on average when you go from not having a dependent to having one.
| 10 Most Affordable Military Housing Areas for Singles in Pay Grades E07 | ||||||
| Rank | Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent ($) |
| 1 | Albany, GA | GA072 | $885 | 100.0% | 152.9% | $535 |
| 1 | Minot AFB, ND | ND191 | $1,653 | 100.0% | 177.8% | $1,058 |
| 1 | Cannon AFB/Clovis, NM | NM207 | $1,104 | 100.0% | 145.3% | $654 |
| 4 | Dyess AFB/Abilene, TX | TX270 | $1,074 | 99.2% | 136.0% | $619 |
| 4 | Beaumont, TX | TX273 | $1,350 | 99.2% | 157.1% | $825 |
| 6 | Saginaw, MI | MI156 | $1,008 | 98.7% | 114.5% | $538 |
| 7 | Marquette, MI | MI143 | $1,068 | 98.0% | 82.6% | $483 |
| 7 | Rock Island, IL | IL089 | $1,590 | 98.0% | 189.1% | $1,040 |
| 9 | El Paso, TX | TX279 | $1,197 | 97.9% | 117.6% | $647 |
| 10 | Fort Hood, TX | TX286 | $1,137 | 97.8% | 184.3% | $737 |
| 10 Least Affordable Military Housing Areas for Singles in Pay Grades E07 | ||||||
| Rank | Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent ($) |
| 1 | Chicago, IL | IL325 | $1,881 | 38.4% | 12.9% | $215 |
| 2 | Florida Keys, FL | FL069 | $2,310 | 42.9% | 28.3% | $510 |
| 3 | New Orleans, LA | LA116 | $1,347 | 45.2% | 22.5% | $247 |
| 4 | Atlanta, GA | GA071 | $1,377 | 45.6% | 25.2% | $277 |
| 5 | San Francisco, CA | CA019 | $4,011 | 45.9% | 25.3% | $811 |
| 6 | Austin, TX | TX272 | $1,527 | 49.0% | 32.8% | $377 |
| 7 | Nashville, TN | TN269 | $1,638 | 49.4% | 31.0% | $388 |
| 8 | Santa Fe/Los Alamos, NM | NM210 | $1,305 | 50.0% | 32.2% | $318 |
| 9 | Portland, OR | OR243 | $1,692 | 50.6% | 35.4% | $442 |
| 10 | Charleston, SC | SC259 | $1,542 | 51.2% | 34.1% | $392 |
| 10 Most Affordable Military Housing Areas for Those with Dependents in Pay Grades E07 | ||||||
| Rank | Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent ($) |
| 1 | Rock Island, IL | IL089 | $2,121 | 94.5% | 165.1% | $1,321 |
| 2 | Saginaw, MI | MI156 | $1,266 | 90.7% | 111.0% | $666 |
| 3 | Terre Haute, IN | IN338 | $1,350 | 90.1% | 125.0% | $750 |
| 4 | Minot AFB, ND | ND191 | $2,202 | 89.6% | 133.0% | $1,257 |
| 5 | COUNTY COST GROUP 580* | ZZ580 | $1,350 | 86.8% | 100.0% | $675 |
| 6 | Hanscomb AFB, MA | MA377 | $3,333 | 86.6% | 108.3% | $1,733 |
| 7 | COUNTY COST GROUP 550* | ZZ550 | $1,281 | 86.4% | 113.5% | $681 |
| 8 | Brunswick, ME | ME136 | $1,833 | 86.1% | 129.1% | $1,033 |
| 9 | Cincinnati, OH | OH228 | $1,944 | 85.7% | 122.2% | $1,069 |
| 10 | Youngstown, OH | OH233 | $1,101 | 85.6% | 91.5% | $526 |
| *- County cost groups include zip codes from around the country. | ||||||
| 10 Least Affordable Military Housing Areas for Those with Dependents in Pay Grades E07 | ||||||
| Rank | Military Housing Area | MHA Code | Housing Stipend | % of Listings Below 75% of Stipend | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent (%) | Stipend Surplus Over Median Rent ($) |
| 1 | Quantico/Woodbridge, VA | VA296 | $1,842 | 18.0% | 8.4% | $142 |
| 2 | Ventura, CA | CA025 | $2,562 | 24.7% | 4.6% | $112 |
| 3 | Warrenton, VA | VA302 | $2,334 | 31.3% | 17.0% | $339 |
| 4 | San Francisco, CA | CA019 | $4,488 | 32.4% | 15.1% | $588 |
| 5 | Stockton, CA | CA035 | $1,413 | 32.4% | 9.1% | $118 |
| 6 | Edwards Air Force Base, CA | CA457 | $1,629 | 35.7% | 20.7% | $279 |
| 7 | Santa Clara County, CA | CA044 | $3,714 | 35.9% | 16.1% | $515 |
| 8 | Florida Keys, FL | FL069 | $3,084 | 37.1% | 14.2% | $384 |
| 9 | Fayetteville, AR | AR411 | $1,251 | 37.4% | 19.1% | $201 |
| 10 | Santa Fe/Los Alamos, NM | NM210 | $1,716 | 37.9% | 15.2% | $226 |
If you would like to see sortable affordability rankings for all pay grades and military housing areas, please use the following links: For those without dependents click here. For those with dependents, click here.
Despite the usual housing stipend being fairly generous, affordability can vary quite dramatically depending on where you are based, what pay grade you are in, and whether or not you have dependents. No two military housing areas are created equally when it comes to affordability, and military members should pay close attention to how much money they could receive and where they should live.
In addition to this analysis, we also built an interactive map-based tool that illustrates which military housing areas are the most affordable as you can see below. Link to this interactive map-based tool can be found here.
Methodology:
Military members receive a monthly housing stipend called the Basic Allowance for Housing, also known as BAH. Each year, the U.S. Department of Defense determines BAH rates based on which base a military member is stationed in, the service member’s government pay grade, and whether or not he or she has dependents. These three factors uniquely determine the amount of the monthly stipend. BAH is tax-free and recipients get the full amount in cash as long as they do not live on base. These stipends are wholly separate from and additional to your base salary. Government sources and interviews with former and current military members conducted by Trulia found that in general 75% of BAH goes towards paying rent, while the remaining 25% goes towards paying utility costs. Military members do have some say in where they get to be stationed in, so understanding which bases have affordable housing and which don’t can be useful knowledge. U.S. Department of Defense maintains a data set that maps zip codes to Military Housing Areas, or MHAs. Trulia Rentals listings within zip codes that belong to each MHAs were used to calculate affordability metrics for each MHA. For calculations for those without dependents, one bedroom and studio listings were used. For calculations for those with dependents, listings with four bedrooms or less were used. The median number of bedrooms when using listings with four bedrooms or less is two bedrooms, which is the most cost-effective living set-up for those with a spouse and one child. Those MHAs that do not have enough listing sample size were excluded from our analysis. We decided to rank Military Housing Areas, or MHAs, based on the share of listings found on the Trulia Rental listings whose rents are listed at or below 75% of BAH, which can serve as an affordability metric. First, we decided to focus on entry level enlistees, airmen, and seamen from pay grades E01 through E04. These are the 4 lowest paygrades for those enlisted in the US Military. Those in pay grades E01 through E04 comprise 53% of total enlistees according to February 2016 data released by the Department of Defense. Ranks in this pay grade include, but aren’t limited to – Army: Private, Private First Class, Specialist; Marine Corps: Private, Private First Class, Lance Corporal, Corporal; Navy: Seaman Recruit, Seaman Apprentice, Seaman, Petty Officer Third Class; Air Force: Airman Basic, Airman, Airman First Class, Senior Airman. Coast Guard: Seaman Recruit, Seaman/Fireman/Airman Apprentice, Seaman, Fireman, Airman, Petty Officer 3rd Class. The housing stipend for these 4 paygrades are the same amount. We repeated this exercise for pay grade E07, which is the third highest pay grade for enlistees, and roughly 8% of enlistees are in this pay grade. Ranks in this pay grade include, but aren’t limited to – Army: Sergeant First Class; Marine Corps: Gunnery Sergeant; Navy: Senior Chief Petty Officer; Air Force: Master Sergeant. Coast Guard: Chief Petty Officer. Migration and homeownership statistics for those who work in Armed Forces versus the overall national population were estimated using the 5 Year 2014 U.S. Census American Community Survey data. Heads of households that report household income and are at least 18 years old were used.
[1] See Answers 16, 17, and 18 of the following: http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/faqbah.cfm#Q1 and also view the following document for more information: http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/Docs/perdiem/BAH-Primer.pdf.
