Army · Colorado Springs, CO

Fort Carson: BAH and housing

Fort Carson is an Army post in Colorado Springs, Colorado. For an E-5 with dependents, the housing allowance comes to $2,358 a month (tied for 45th-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $162 less than the $2,520 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 80911. Homes in Colorado Springs have a median value of $452,600 (median rent $1,648), which makes it a higher-cost market among the bases we cover (23rd-highest of 114). Average daily lows of 37°F make it the 11th-coldest base by that measure (tied).

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA CO046, HUD rents for ZIP 80911, Census ACS for Colorado Springs city, NOAA normals at Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, CO. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Fort Carson?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,860/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Fort Carson: $1,860

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,810/mo
BAH vs that rent: $50/mo left over

Key facts for living at Fort Carson

Key facts for living at Fort Carson
Host state	Colorado
State income tax	Flat 4.4%
Top state income-tax rate	4.4%
Average sales tax (state + local)	7.89%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.50%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	Yes — 1.79% effective
Median home value	$548,480
Military housing area	CO046 — COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
Climate (annual high / low)	64° / 37°F
Annual precipitation	15.9 in
Official site	Fort Carson

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PCS checklist for Fort Carson

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (CO046).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 80913).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in El Paso County is $1,735/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get a CO driver license within 30 days and title the car within 90 days. See Colorado.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Fort Carson site.

How Fort Carson compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Fort Hamilton ($5,070 vs $2,358).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Fort Carson are listed here.

JBLM → CarsonJoint Base Lewis-McChord to Fort Carson

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 Fort Carson (CO046). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — El Paso County $1,735.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 80911 (Colorado Springs) $1,810 / $2,520.
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 Colorado Springs city, Colorado ($452,600, $1,648/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, CO (USW00093037).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Colorado 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 Colorado. 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 Colorado. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Colorado motor-vehicle agency (license 30 days, title 90 days; title tax 2.90%). 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 Colorado. 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 Colorado. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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