Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: BAH and housing

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is a joint base shared by the Air Force and Army in Anchorage, Alaska. An E-5 with dependents receives $2,874 a month in BAH here (22nd-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $414 more than the $2,460 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 99502. Anchorage is a higher-cost market among the bases we cover (31st-highest of 114): the median home is worth $395,900 and the median rent is $1,489. Average daily lows of 30°F make it the 3rd-coldest base by that measure.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA AK404, HUD rents for ZIP 99502, Census ACS for Anchorage municipality, NOAA normals at Anchorage Merrill Field, AK. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$2,157/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: $2,157

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,770/mo
BAH vs that rent: $387/mo left over

Key facts for living at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

Key facts for living at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
Host state	Alaska
State income tax	None on wages (bases in no-income-tax states)
Top state income-tax rate	0.0%
Average sales tax (state + local)	1.82%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.94%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$391,973
Military housing area	AK404 — ANCHORAGE, AK
Climate (annual high / low)	45° / 30°F
Annual precipitation	14.2 in
Official site	Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

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PCS checklist for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (AK404).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 99506).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Anchorage Municipality is $1,631/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get an AK driver license within 90 days and title the car within 10 days. See Alaska.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson site.

How Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Fort Hamilton ($5,070 vs $2,874).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson 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 Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (AK404). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Anchorage Municipality $1,631.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 99502 (Anchorage) $1,770 / $2,460.
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 Anchorage municipality, Alaska ($395,900, $1,489/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Anchorage Merrill Field, AK (USW00026409).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Alaska 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 Alaska. 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 Alaska. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Alaska motor-vehicle agency (license 90 days, title 10 days; title tax 0.00%). 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 Alaska. 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 Alaska. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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