Dover Air Force Base: BAH and housing

Dover Air Force Base is an Air Force base in Dover, Delaware. An E-5 with dependents receives $2,277 a month in BAH here (51st-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $237 more than the $2,040 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 19903. Dover is a mid-range market among the bases we cover (62nd-highest of 114): the median home is worth $258,900 and the median rent is $1,344. Normal daily temperatures run from 48°F to 66°F on average, with 48 inches of precipitation a year.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA DE054, HUD rents for ZIP 19903, Census ACS for Dover city, NOAA normals at Dover, DE. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Dover Air Force Base?

This calculator uses 2026 DTMO (Defense Travel Management Office) rates for selected pay grade and dependent status.

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,947/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Dover Air Force Base: $1,947

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,470/mo
BAH vs that rent: $477/mo left over

Key facts for living at Dover Air Force Base

Key facts for living at Dover Air Force Base
Host state	Delaware
State income tax	Top listed rate 6.6%
Top state income-tax rate	6.6%
Average sales tax (state + local)	0.00%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.54%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$410,545
Military housing area	DE054 — DOVER AFB/REHOBOTH, DE
Climate (annual high / low)	66° / 48°F
Annual precipitation	47.6 in
Official site	Dover Air Force Base

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PCS checklist for Dover Air Force Base

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (DE054).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 19902).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Kent County is $1,470/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get a DE driver license within 60 days and title the car within 60 days. See Delaware.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Dover Air Force Base site.

How Dover Air Force Base compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Hanscom Air Force Base ($4,188 vs $2,277).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Dover Air Force Base are listed here.

Sources

Housing figures below are for the installation (MHA, HUD rent, climate). Host-state tax rates are statewide averages — not a tax return. County add-ons can differ, and wage tax on military pay follows legal residence, not the duty station.

BAH (with and without dependents). DTMO CY2026 BAH tables for Dover Air Force Base (DE054). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Kent County $1,470.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 19903 (Dover) $1,470 / $2,040.
Off-base city home value and rent. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year 2020–2024 tables B25077 (median value of owner-occupied homes) and B25064 (median gross rent) for Dover city, Delaware ($258,900, $1,344/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Dover, DE (USC00072730).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Delaware from the Tax Foundation 2026 individual income-tax tables. On this page they describe the host state, not automatically the tax on a military LES (legal residence can stay put). BAH is untaxed.
Combined sales tax near the installation. Tax Foundation January 2026 state-and-local sales-tax averages for Delaware. Used as an off-base shopping stand-in; city and county add-ons vary.
Effective property tax if you buy off-base. Tax Foundation 2026 property taxes by state for Delaware. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Delaware motor-vehicle agency (license 60 days, title 60 days; title tax 4.25%). These are host-state motor-vehicle rules, not BAH.
Vehicle personal-property tax on the host-state snapshot. WalletHub 2026 vehicle property-tax table for Delaware. This is a statewide car-tax flag, not real-estate tax and not BAH.
Statewide median home value on the host-state snapshot. Experian / Zillow March 2026 state medians for Delaware. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

Data last updated: September 2026. How the data is compiled