Joint Base San Antonio: BAH and housing

Joint Base San Antonio is a joint base shared by the Army and Air Force in San Antonio, Texas. An E-5 with dependents receives $1,869 a month in BAH here (72nd-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $59 more than the $1,810 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 78288. San Antonio is a mid-range market among the bases we cover (73rd-highest of 114): the median home is worth $235,700 and the median rent is $1,324. Texas does not tax wage income, which can matter for a working spouse; see all bases in no-income-tax states.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA TX285, HUD rents for ZIP 78288, Census ACS for San Antonio city, NOAA normals at San Antonio Incarnate Word, TX. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Joint Base San Antonio?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,500/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Joint Base San Antonio: $1,500

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $1,410/mo
BAH vs that rent: $90/mo left over

Key facts for living at Joint Base San Antonio

Key facts for living at Joint Base San Antonio
Host state	Texas
State income tax	None on wages (bases in no-income-tax states)
Top state income-tax rate	0.0%
Average sales tax (state + local)	8.20%
Average property tax (real estate)	1.40%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$304,099
Military housing area	TX285 — SAN ANTONIO, TX
Climate (annual high / low)	80° / 58°F
Annual precipitation	34.0 in
Official site	Joint Base San Antonio

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PCS checklist for Joint Base San Antonio

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (TX285).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 78234).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Bexar County is $1,426/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get a TX driver license within 90 days and title the car within 30 days. See Texas.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Joint Base San Antonio site.

How Joint Base San Antonio compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Fort Hamilton ($5,070 vs $1,869).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Joint Base San Antonio are listed here.

JBSA → HoodJoint Base San Antonio to Fort Hood

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 San Antonio (TX285). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Bexar County $1,426.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 78288 (San Antonio) $1,410 / $1,810.
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 San Antonio city, Texas ($235,700, $1,324/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — San Antonio Incarnate Word, TX (USC00417947).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Texas 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 Texas. 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 Texas. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Texas motor-vehicle agency (license 90 days, title 30 days; title tax 6.25%). 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 Texas. 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 Texas. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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