It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for – the day we all find out just how much money the government is going to give us for housing in 2012.
*drum roll please*
The good news! Most BAH rates are going up. The also good news! Just like every year, even folks living in places where the BAH rate is going down won’t see any decrease from their current rate unless they lose rank or no longer have dependents. The bad news: some people will be impacted by lower BAH rates — those who have yet to relocate or homeowners who are getting new-to-the-area military renters in those same places.
This is a happy day for me because my area – Fort Campbell – is on the list of places that will see the largest monthly increase next year, an average of about $110 or 8.6 percent overall. The other places experiencing the biggest jump include Washington D.C., and El Paso, Texas. But it’s the people lucky enough (ahem) to be stationed at Minot AFB who are really hitting the mother load – their rate is going up a whopping 40.9 percent.
(I couldn’t help but ask: what in the world has changed so much about Minot in the last year .. and does a 40.9 percent BAH increase really make living there with it? Find out the answer over here.)
Like I mentioned above, no one currently living in an area facing a decrease will see anything new or different in their paycheck (unless they lose rank or become single). The bad news in a decrease is for homeowners trying to get the best rental price and for servicemembers planning a PCS to a reduced location. The places facing the biggest decrease this year include Fort Irwin, Ca. (home of the Army’s National Training Center), Los Angeles, Ca. and New York City.
You can check out all the dirty little details on the BAH changes over here at Military.com and see the full list of biggest winners/losers on this handy fact sheet. … Or just skip all that and see your new BAH rate by using this handy calculator.
About Amy Bushatz
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Minot had the huge flood this last year. They were making Airmen hold off on bringing their families there. TONS of homes were destroyed. You have to figure that a lack of rental homes/properties means the existing ones can jack their rates up. Same goes for resources in the area.
Yup that's what I expected! And I actually just got off the phone with the chamber of commerce there confirming that. More info coming soon. What can I say, I'm of a curious mind,
It's probably tied in with the oil boom they've been seeing up there as well. Low unemployement and rents have gone through the roof to compensate for the flood of people coming up to work on the rigs.
Check out the story linked above for the full scoop.
I was looking at the chart and I do not see a 100$ increase for Ft Campbell… E-6 goes for 1113 to 1125 it is like 12$… Is there something I am missing?
Audrey — It's an "average" increase … so that takes into account the increase going to all ranks, E-1 to 0-7+ with dependents, and then averages it out. … about $110 is what they end up with.
Must be for the officer then because all enlisted have the same trend as I described…
Well, again, the officer rates do go up overall more because that's how that stuff works, but when you combine all of that stuff and do the math — you end up with 8-odd percent increase or about $100.
Here at Wainwright it's going up over $100 a month, but where we are headed next (Rucker) it's going down over $100. Which seems to be the the trend for that area. It seems to go up a good chunk then down for that area every other year. We just wanted it to at least cover our house payment (we bought a house) and it will do that. You have to understand how BAH is calculated for an area too. It's not based on single family homes, but rather apartment and town home costs of living, which of course are typically much smaller and cheaper to live in. We have known so many people who have sworn it was better to live off post because they 'make money' on BAH, but they also didn't need a home as large as we have always needed. For a family of 5 a 900 sq ft town home or apartment just wouldn't do. And when we had thought about renting a house in the past the neighborhoods I would live in were substantially more expensive then the BAH my husband received making it impossible for us to do so. So we have almost always lived on post. But this is our final PCS and will remain in that area for a while so buying a house was the best idea for our money. Besides, we get a larger home, with a huge fenced yard, and an in ground pool for less the the rent on post. Yes, we will have to pay utilities out of pocket, but this time it's worth it and feasible.
I agree — at Fort Lewis my husband and I (we didnt have children at the time) were able to live WAAAAAAY below BAH and bank serious quantities of money by living off post. But then we had a kid. And the two bedroom apartment no longer was working for us. And when we moved to Fort Benning what we would've spent off post, plus utilities, plus commute just about came out even with the convenience and size of the place we qualified for on base. … a no-brainer. It really just depends on the size of your family, the type of neighborhood you want/are willing to settle for/inflict yourself with and your overall perferences. Here at Fort Campbell, for example, no housing was available on base (in fact, we've been here more than 6 months and we still haven't gotten "the call") … so we live off, in a neighborhood that is not my fav at a rent rate that allows us to have enough BAH leftover to cover utilities. Not ideal, but it works.
In hawaii BAH is going up $100 for E-6 but down $150 for E-5…. why is that
?
Bob-Joe-Jim,
The BAH figures are based on target housing sizes. As the economy changes, typically one size house might increase in prices while another size house might decrease in price. An E-5 with dependents rate is based on the average cost of a 2 bedroom townhouse, while the rate for an E-6 with dependents is based on the cost of a 3 bedroom townhouse. It looks like the market for three bedroom townhouses is getting more expensive while the market for two bedroom townhouses is getting less expensive.