Army · Sparta, WI

Fort McCoy: BAH and housing

Fort McCoy is an Army post in Sparta, Wisconsin. E-5 BAH with dependents is $1,395 a month, the 7th-lowest of the 119 bases we track, $35 less than the $1,430 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 54656. In Sparta, the median home value is $180,600 and the median rent is $861, a lower-cost market among the bases we cover (17th-lowest of 114). Average daily lows of 34°F make it the 5th-coldest base by that measure (tied).

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA WI318, HUD rents for ZIP 54656, Census ACS for Sparta city, NOAA normals at Sparta, WI. Jump to sources · Methodology

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

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,290/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Fort McCoy: $1,290

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,080/mo
BAH vs that rent: $210/mo left over

Key facts for living at Fort McCoy

Key facts for living at Fort McCoy
Host state	Wisconsin
State income tax	Top listed rate 7.65%
Top state income-tax rate	7.65%
Average sales tax (state + local)	5.72%
Average property tax (real estate)	1.32%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$338,665
Military housing area	WI318 — SPARTA/FORT MCCOY, WI
Climate (annual high / low)	55° / 34°F
Annual precipitation	35.6 in
Official site	Fort McCoy

More about living in Wisconsin

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 McCoy

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (WI318).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 54656).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Monroe County is $1,036/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get a WI driver license within 60 days and title the car within 30 days. See Wisconsin.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Fort McCoy site.

How Fort McCoy compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Fort Hamilton ($5,070 vs $1,395).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Fort McCoy 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 McCoy (WI318). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Monroe County $1,036.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 54656 (Sparta) $1,080 / $1,430.
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 Sparta city, Wisconsin ($180,600, $861/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Sparta, WI (USC00477997).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Wisconsin motor-vehicle agency (license 60 days, title 30 days; title tax 5.00%). 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 Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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