Army · Columbia, SC

Fort Jackson: BAH and housing

Fort Jackson is an Army post in Columbia, South Carolina. For an E-5 with dependents, the housing allowance comes to $1,878 a month (70th-highest of 119 among the bases we track), roughly equal to the $1,900 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 29206. Homes in Columbia have a median value of $264,300 (median rent $1,204), which makes it a mid-range market among the bases we cover (59th-highest of 114). Normal daily temperatures run from 55°F to 76°F on average, with 44 inches of precipitation a year.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA SC260, HUD rents for ZIP 29206, Census ACS for Columbia city, NOAA normals at Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, SC. Jump to sources · Methodology

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

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,647/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Fort Jackson: $1,647

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,490/mo
BAH vs that rent: $157/mo left over

Key facts for living at Fort Jackson

Key facts for living at Fort Jackson
Host state	South Carolina
State income tax	Top listed rate 6.0%
Top state income-tax rate	6.0%
Average sales tax (state + local)	7.49%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.49%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	Yes — 2.33% effective
Median home value	$307,843
Military housing area	SC260 — COLUMBIA/FORT JACKSON, SC
Climate (annual high / low)	76° / 55°F
Annual precipitation	43.7 in
Official site	Fort Jackson

More about living in South Carolina

Compare these bases

I am leaving

I am going to

Only destinations that share a service with the origin are listed.

PCS checklist for Fort Jackson

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (SC260).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 29207).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Richland County is $1,276/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get an SC driver license within 90 days and title the car within 45 days. See South Carolina.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Fort Jackson site.

How Fort Jackson compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Fort Hamilton ($5,070 vs $1,878).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Fort Jackson 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 Fort Jackson (SC260). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Richland County $1,276.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 29206 (Columbia) $1,490 / $1,900.
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 Columbia city, South Carolina ($264,300, $1,204/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, SC (USW00053867).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for South Carolina 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 Carolina. 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 Carolina. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. South Carolina motor-vehicle agency (license 90 days, title 45 days; title tax 6.00%). 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 Carolina. 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 Carolina. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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