Naval Station Great Lakes: BAH and housing

Naval Station Great Lakes is a naval station in Great Lakes, Illinois. An E-5 with dependents receives $2,427 a month in BAH here (39th-highest of 119 among the bases we track), $583 less than the $3,010 HUD fair-market rent for a 3-bedroom in ZIP 60088. Nearby North Chicago is one of the most affordable markets on the list (10th-lowest of 114): the median home is worth $159,600 and the median rent is $1,426. Normal daily temperatures run from 39°F to 57°F on average, with 35 inches of precipitation a year.

Data: DTMO 2026 BAH for MHA IL092, HUD rents for ZIP 60088, Census ACS for North Chicago city, NOAA normals at Chicago Waukegan Regional Airport, IL. Jump to sources · Methodology

What is my BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) at Naval Station Great Lakes?

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

Pay grade

Dependents

$1,854/mo

Monthly BAH at E-5 pay grade without dependents.

Naval Station Great Lakes: $1,854

Typical 2-bedroom rent nearby: $2,340/mo
BAH vs that rent: $486/mo short

Key facts for living at Naval Station Great Lakes

Key facts for living at Naval Station Great Lakes
Host state	Illinois
State income tax	Flat 4.95%
Top state income-tax rate	4.95%
Average sales tax (state + local)	8.96%
Average property tax (real estate)	1.88%
Personal property tax (vehicles)	No
Median home value	$292,979
Military housing area	IL092 — GREAT LAKES NAVTRACEN, IL
Climate (annual high / low)	57° / 39°F
Annual precipitation	35.3 in
Official site	Naval Station Great Lakes

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PCS checklist for Naval Station Great Lakes

Update DEERS and your page-2 / dependency status before BAH starts at the new MHA (IL092).
Look up your exact BAH for rank and dependents on the DTMO BAH lookup (ZIP 60088).
Off-base 2-bedroom HUD FMR in Lake County is $1,781/mo. On-base housing is separate.
Get an IL driver license within 90 days and title the car within 30 days. See Illinois.
Confirm reporting instructions on the official Naval Station Great Lakes site.

How Naval Station Great Lakes compares

E-5 with-dependents BAH is higher at Naval Base San Diego ($3,975 vs $2,427).

Use the picker above for any other compatible installation. Published PCS pages that include Naval Station Great Lakes 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 Naval Station Great Lakes (IL092). Confirm current rates on the DTMO BAH lookup.
2-bedroom Fair Market Rent. HUD FY2026 FMR — Lake County $1,781.
Off-base ZIP rent (HUD Small Area FMR). FY2026 ZIP 2- and 3-bedroom 40th-percentile rents from the HUD Small Area FMR tables: 60088 (North Chicago) $2,340 / $3,010.
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 North Chicago city, Illinois ($159,600, $1,426/mo). Owner-reported values, not transaction prices.
Climate normals (1991–2020). NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — Chicago Waukegan Regional Airport, IL (USW00014880).
Host-state wage tax. Statewide listed rates for Illinois 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 Illinois. 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 Illinois. On-base housing is not in this figure.
Vehicle title tax and new-resident clocks. Illinois 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 Illinois. 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 Illinois. Backdrop for off-base purchase prices; on-base housing and BAH are separate.

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