Maxwell Air Force Base: BAH and housing

Maxwell Air Force Base is an Air Force base in Montgomery, Alabama. For an E-5 with dependents, the housing allowance comes to $1,683 a month (89th-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $553 more than the $1,130 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 36104. Homes in Montgomery have a median value of $161,900 (median rent $1,089), which makes it one of the most affordable markets on the list (12th-lowest of 114). Normal daily temperatures run from 54°F to 78°F on average, with 51 inches of precipitation a year.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA AL005, HUD rents for ZIP 36104, Census ACS for Montgomery city, NOAA normals at Montgomery Airport, AL. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Maxwell Air Force Base?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,431/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Maxwell Air Force Base: $1,431

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $900/mo
BAH vs that rent: $531/mo left over

Key facts for living at Maxwell Air Force Base

Key facts for living at Maxwell Air Force Base
Host state	Alabama
State income tax	Top listed rate 5.0%
Top state income-tax rate	5.0%
Average sales tax (state + local)	9.46%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.37%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	Yes — 0.70% effective
Median home value	$238,703
Military housing area	AL005 — MONTGOMERY, AL
Climate (annual high / low)	78° / 54°F
Annual precipitation	51.2 in
Official site	Maxwell Air Force Base

More about living in Alabama

Compare these bases

I am leaving

I am going to

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

PCS checklist for Maxwell Air Force Base

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (AL005).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 36112).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Montgomery County is $1,016/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get an AL driver license within 30 days and title the car within 20 days. See Alabama.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Maxwell Air Force Base site.

How Maxwell Air Force Base compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Hanscom Air Force Base ($4,188 vs $1,683).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Maxwell Air Force Base 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 Maxwell Air Force Base (AL005). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Montgomery County $1,016.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 36104 (Montgomery) $900 / $1,130.
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 Montgomery city, Alabama ($161,900, $1,089/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Montgomery Airport, AL (USW00013895).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Alabama 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 Alabama. 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 Alabama. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Alabama motor-vehicle agency (license 30 days, title 20 days; title tax 4.00%). 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 Alabama. 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 Alabama. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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