Marine Corps · San Diego, CA

MCRD San Diego: BAH and housing

MCRD San Diego is a Marine Corps recruit depot in San Diego, California. E-5 BAH with dependents is $3,975 a month, tied for the 3rd-highest of the 119 bases we track, $625 less than the $4,600 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 92110. In San Diego, the median home value is $906,700 and the median rent is $2,313, one of the pricier markets on the list (3rd-highest of 114). Normal daily temperatures run from 58°F to 71°F on average, with 10 inches of precipitation a year.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA CA038, HUD rents for ZIP 92110, Census ACS for San Diego city, NOAA normals at San Diego Lindbergh Field, CA. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at MCRD San Diego?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$3,147/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

MCRD San Diego: $3,147

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $3,450/mo
BAH vs that rent: $303/mo short

Key facts for living at MCRD San Diego

Key facts for living at MCRD San Diego
Host state	California
State income tax	1%–12.3%, plus 1% over $1M (13.3% top)
Top state income-tax rate	13.3%
Average sales tax (state + local)	8.99%
Average property tax (real estate)	0.70%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	Yes — 0.65% effective
Median home value	$778,217
Military housing area	CA038 — SAN DIEGO, CA
Climate (annual high / low)	71° / 58°F
Annual precipitation	9.8 in
Official site	MCRD San Diego

More about living in California

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

PCS checklist for MCRD San Diego

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (CA038).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 92140).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in San Diego County is $3,001/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get a CA driver license within 10 days and title the car within 20 days. See California.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official MCRD San Diego site.

How MCRD San Diego compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is lower at Camp Lejeune ($1,584 vs $3,975).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include MCRD San Diego 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 MCRD San Diego (CA038). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — San Diego County $3,001.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 92110 (San Diego) $3,450 / $4,600.
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 Diego city, California ($906,700, $2,313/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — San Diego Lindbergh Field, CA (USW00023188).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for California 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 California. 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 California. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. California motor-vehicle agency (license 10 days, title 20 days; title tax 7.25%). 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 California. 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 California. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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