Ellsworth Air Force Base: BAH and housing

Ellsworth Air Force Base is an Air Force base in Box Elder, South Dakota. For an E-5 with dependents, the housing allowance comes to $1,986 a month (66th-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $126 more than the $1,860 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 57719. Homes in Rapid City have a median value of $299,400 (median rent $1,109), which makes it a mid-range market among the bases we cover (46th-highest of 114). Average daily lows of 34°F make it the 5th-coldest base by that measure (tied).

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA SD264, HUD rents for ZIP 57719, Census ACS for Rapid City city, NOAA normals at Rapid City Regional Airport, SD. Jump to sources · Methodology

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

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,545/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Ellsworth Air Force Base: $1,545

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,400/mo
BAH vs that rent: $145/mo left over

Key facts for living at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Key facts for living at Ellsworth Air Force Base
Host state	South Dakota
State income tax	None on wages (bases in no-income-tax states)
Top state income-tax rate	0.0%
Average sales tax (state + local)	6.11%
Average property tax (real estate)	1.00%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$322,999
Military housing area	SD264 — RAPID CITY/ELLSWORTH AFB, SD
Climate (annual high / low)	60° / 34°F
Annual precipitation	17.4 in
Official site	Ellsworth Air Force Base

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PCS checklist for Ellsworth Air Force Base

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (SD264).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 57706).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Meade County is $1,273/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get an SD driver license within 90 days and title the car within 90 days. See South Dakota.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Ellsworth Air Force Base site.

How Ellsworth Air Force Base compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Hanscom Air Force Base ($4,188 vs $1,986).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Ellsworth 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base (SD264). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Meade County $1,273.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 57719 (Rapid City) $1,400 / $1,860.
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 Rapid City city, South Dakota ($299,400, $1,109/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Rapid City Regional Airport, SD (USW00024090).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for South Dakota 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 South Dakota. 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 South Dakota. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. South Dakota motor-vehicle agency (license 90 days, title 90 days; title tax 4.20%). 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 South Dakota. 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 South Dakota. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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