This BAH calculator looks up your exact 2026 Basic Allowance for Housing by ZIP code or duty station, pay grade and dependency status, from DoD's rate files for all 299 Military Housing Areas and 39 rural county cost groups. Rates rose an average of 4.2% on January 1, 2026, and the allowance is paid monthly and tax free to active duty members living off base. Under your rate, see the home price your BAH covers on a $0 down VA home loan, plus 2026 rates at nine Texas bases.
Annual nontaxable housing allowance: $22,428/yr
Estimated purchase price whose 30-year VA payment equals $1,869/mo.
Example rate. Change it to match your quote; your APR will differ.
Bexar County average
Equals $200/mo in escrow.
Exempt applies to veterans receiving VA disability compensation at any rating, active-duty Purple Heart recipients, pre-closing memorandum ratings, and eligible surviving spouses on DIC.
Sets homestead property tax to $0/mo and VA funding fee to 0% for 100% VA disability or TDIU.
Results are estimates for illustration. Prefilled rates are examples based on national averages as of September 28, 2026, not offers. Your rate and APR depend on your credit, loan and property, and come from a Loan Estimate. Get started for a quote.
Want your full VA qualifying limit with base pay?
This panel shows what your BAH covers on its own. For full debt-to-income and residual income qualifying with your base pay, open the VA loan affordability calculator.
The buying-power panel works backward from your monthly BAH until principal, interest, the financed funding fee, property taxes and insurance add up to your allowance. DoD also builds in a member cost share: 5% of the national average housing cost for your grade, which came to $93 to $212 a month in 2026. So BAH is meant to cover most of a typical rental, not all of it.
For veterans that have full VA entitlement and are eligible for a VA loan, there really isn't a loan limit with zero down on your first purchase. County limits only apply when there's partial entitlement remaining, however, there is bonus entitlement that gives you an unlimited amount on your purchase above the conforming limit.
There's no monthly mortgage insurance on a VA loan, no PMI and no FHA-style MIP. The BAH that would have paid for it goes toward the house instead.
First time using the benefit with nothing down? The VA funding feeis 2.15%, or 3.3% if you've used it before. You can roll it into the loan, and anyone drawing VA disability pay, even at 10%, skips it.
Property tax is one of the biggest costs in a Texas payment after the loan itself, so this one matters. Rated 100% or individually unemployable? Your homestead owes no property tax at all under Tax Code 11.131. Lower ratings take $5,000 to $12,000 off the taxable value under Section 11.22.
Three sample moves, an E-5 to JBSA, an E-6 to Fort Cavazos, and an E-7 with a 100% rating to Fort Bliss, each load into the calculator in one click.
Monthly 2026 BAH rates at the nine major Texas duty stations, with dependents and without. Select Load on any installation to apply its Military Housing Area and county property tax rate in the calculator above.
TX285 (San Antonio, TX)
| Installation & MHA | County Tax | E-4With / W/o | E-5With / W/o | E-6With / W/o | E-7With / W/o | O-3With / W/o | Calculator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JBSA (Lackland, Randolph, Fort Sam Houston) TX285 (San Antonio, TX) | 2.29%Bexar County | $1,728$1,359 | $1,869$1,500 | $2,094$1,596 | $2,112$1,731 | $2,127$2,007 | Active |
Fort Cavazos (Killeen) TX286 (Killeen, TX) | 1.98%Bell County | $1,662$1,374 | $1,695$1,530 | $1,920$1,626 | $2,070$1,668 | $2,340$1,833 | Load |
Fort Bliss (El Paso) TX279 (El Paso, TX) | 2.5%El Paso County | $1,665$1,302 | $1,809$1,437 | $2,148$1,611 | $2,172$1,668 | $2,202$2,022 | Load |
NAS Corpus Christi TX275 (Corpus Christi, TX) | 2.15%Nueces County | $1,644$1,278 | $1,788$1,413 | $2,217$1,662 | $2,310$1,734 | $2,475$2,061 | Load |
NAS JRB Fort Worth TX356 (Fort Worth, TX) | 2.16%Tarrant County | $1,938$1,494 | $2,118$1,656 | $2,424$1,815 | $2,445$1,941 | $2,460$2,310 | Load |
Dyess AFB (Abilene) TX270 (Abilene, TX) * | 1.92%Taylor County | $1,761$1,380 | $1,872$1,545 | $2,820$2,115 | $2,844$2,133 | $2,859$2,475 | Load |
Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls) TX288 (Wichita Falls, TX) | 2.15%Wichita County | $1,392$1,044 | $1,491$1,182 | $2,112$1,584 | $2,190$1,644 | $2,325$1,887 | Load |
Goodfellow AFB (San Angelo) TX284 (San Angelo, TX) | 1.85%Tom Green County | $1,455$1,092 | $1,578$1,230 | $1,836$1,374 | $1,965$1,473 | $2,193$1,740 | Load |
Laughlin AFB (Del Rio) TX278 (Del Rio, TX) | 1.95%Val Verde County | $1,371$1,110 | $1,470$1,209 | $1,704$1,275 | $1,854$1,392 | $2,121$1,686 | Load |
Source: Defense Travel Management Office, from 2026BAH rate files. *Dyess AFB reflects DoD's increase of 24%, effective from May of 2026 through the end of the year. County tax rates are going to be estimated on local averages prior to homestead or other exemptions.
Got PCS orders to a Texas base?
You can line up a $0-down VA loanbefore you get there, priced on the BAH at your new duty station and that county's property tax rate.
DoD prices BAH each year from local housing costs in 299 Military Housing Areas, then sets a rate for every pay grade, with dependents and without.
It starts with what renting really costs where you're stationed: median market rents, plus electricity, heat, and water and sewer. DoD gets those numbers from Census surveys and the Consumer Price Index, rental listing sites, and the housing office on base.
Housing costs are set for six profiles by dwelling type and bedroom count, from apartments to detached homes. Each pay grade is matched to what civilians with comparable incomes rent, with one rate for members with dependents and one without.
New tables land in mid-December and kick in January 1 (the 2026 rates came out December 11, 2025). If rents in your area fall, you're covered. Stay at the same duty station with no break in BAH eligibility and your rate can't go down.
Your BAH counts as income on a VA loan, right next to base pay and BAS. Then the underwriter runs the file through two tests, your debt-to-income ratio and VA's residual income table for your region.
Buying near the base you're at now is the simple case. The lender reads your BAH off your latest Leave and Earnings Statement and pairs it with your statement of service.
The underwriter will always qualify the PCS buyer on the station that they have orders in and the BAH posted amounts to determine the eligibility and income even if they haven't reported yet. Orders typically have to be confirmed from the station and have to be within 30 days to count it.
Answers on 2026 BAH rates, taxes, rate protection, and using your allowance to buy a home with a VA loan.
Tell us where you're headed and we'll build a real $0-down VA estimate around your credit, your entitlement, and the property taxes in the county you're moving to.