Your 2026 housing budget at MCAS Beaufort is $2,403 a month for an E-5 with dependents and $2,811 a month for an E-6 with dependents. Treat that check as the monthly housing budget.
The housing area is Beaufort/Parris Island, MHA SC258. The Defense Travel Management Office file names it BEAUFORT/PARRIS ISLAND, SC. We read the dollars in DTMO's 2026 ASCII file, BAH-ASCII-2026.zip, from the Internet Archive capture on June 9, 2026. The with-dependents file is bahw26.txt and the without-dependents file is bahwo26.txt, both dated December 9, 2025. The May 13, 2026 data files in that zip show the same SC258 row. The DTMO BAH page says members are entitled to the rates published January 1. The rate lookup lists one 2026 temporary increase, for Abilene, Texas, effective May 16, 2026. Beaufort is not that area. Confirm the ZIP on your orders in the lookup. Your finance office is who pays you.
The air station check-in address is the Visitor's Center, 859 Geiger Blvd, Building 2077, Beaufort, SC 29904 (Military OneSource, read October 7, 2026). The 2026 ZIP-to-MHA file maps 29904 to SC258. BAH follows that duty ZIP, your grade, and whether you have dependents. It does not follow the house. The same file maps 29902 and 29905 to SC258.
Drive times and town sale prices are in Homes Near MCAS Beaufort. Schools and the first month are in the PCS to Beaufort guide. This post is the rate table and the payment.
What is 2026 BAH at MCAS Beaufort?
Monthly rates from bahw26.txt and bahwo26.txt. DTMO's format lists E-1 through E-9, then W-1 through W-5, then O-1E through O-3E, then O-1 through O-7. In this housing area, E-1 through E-4 are the same dollar, so they share a row. Other grades are in the lookup.
| Pay grade | With dependents | Without dependents |
|---|
| E-1 to E-4 | $2,319 | $1,875 |
| E-5 | $2,403 | $2,103 |
| E-6 | $2,811 | $2,235 |
| E-7 | $2,835 | $2,319 |
| O-1 | $2,457 | $2,232 |
| O-2 | $2,808 | $2,379 |
| O-3 | $2,856 | $2,661 |
DoD pays one with-dependents rate and one without. The number of dependents does not change it. If you are already drawing BAH here and your status stays the same, you get the rate published January 1 or the amount you were paid on December 31, whichever is larger. A PCS, a drop in grade, or a change in dependents ends that protection. A 2026 arrival gets this table.
DoD also says the allowance is not meant to cover every housing dollar. What you spend depends on the house you choose.
How does that BAH compare with a Burton payment?
The local price is Burton's. Redfin puts the median sale price for all home types at $353,765 over the three months ending August 2026, up 2.5% from a year earlier. This is the median we set next to the allowance. Redfin shows 18 homes sold in Burton in August 2026. The median is the three-month figure, so August's 18 sales are not the whole sample, and the next median can move. Page read October 7, 2026.
The interest rate is not a VA quote. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the U.S. 30-year fixed average at 7.28% as of October 1, 2026. That is a national average of conventional purchase applications. A VA lender can be higher or lower. We used 7.28% because it has a name and a date. This was still the latest weekly release on October 7.
The payment is principal and interest only.
- Price: $353,765.
- Down payment: $0. A VA-backed purchase loan can be no money down when the price does not exceed the VA appraisal (VA.gov purchase loan, updated January 7, 2026). No private mortgage insurance.
- Funding fee, first use, less than 5% down: 2.15% of the base loan, financed. $353,765 × 0.0215 = $7,605.95. Loan = $361,370.95. The chart is effective April 7, 2023 (VA.gov funding fee, updated October 5, 2026). You skip the fee if you receive VA disability compensation, or if you are on active duty and received a Purple Heart, plus the other exemptions on that page. A later use under 5% down is 3.3%. We did not run that case.
- Term: 30 years, fixed. Monthly rate = 0.0728 / 12, not rounded. Payment = loan × r × (1+r)^360 / ((1+r)^360 − 1), then rounded to the cent.
- Property tax, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, HOA dues, and closing costs are extra. They are not in the payment below.
That payment is $2,472.54.
| Grade, with dependents | 2026 BAH | BAH minus this payment |
|---|
| E-5 | $2,403 | $69.54 short |
| E-6 | $2,811 | $338.46 left |
If the funding fee is waived, the loan is the $353,765 price and the same formula gives $2,420.50. That is $17.50 over the E-5 with-dependents rate and $390.50 under the E-6 rate. Taxes and insurance are still extra.
Without dependents, E-5 BAH is $2,103 and E-6 is $2,235. Both fall short of $2,472.54.
The city of Beaufort median for the same Redfin window was $465,692 (Redfin, Beaufort, read October 7, 2026). Same loan assumptions: fee $10,012.38, loan $475,704.38, principal and interest $3,254.83. That is $851.83 over E-5 with dependents and $443.83 over E-6 with dependents, before taxes and insurance. The other town prices, without this math, are in the homes post.
What would we do with these two checks?
On an E-5 with-dependents allowance, we would shop under $353,765, or wait for a written lender rate better than this 7.28% average. Principal and interest already misses the check by $69.54, and taxes and insurance are still extra. Search Burton is the live list.
On an E-6 with-dependents allowance, we would get a tax bill and an insurance quote before treating the Burton median as a fit. The $338.46 left after principal and interest is the whole cushion for property tax, homeowners insurance, and flood insurance. We would leave the $465,692 city median for a larger allowance.
Without dependents, we would rent or shop a lower price. Both grades fall short of this principal and interest.
VA loans is where we sort the financing before the house. Price the house from the full monthly cost, then see if the allowance covers it.
Where is the PCS Move Pack?
The free PCS Move Pack for this station is on the MCAS Beaufort page. The military page has it too, if the orders might be Parris Island or the naval hospital. The specialist form on those pages submits with "Connect With a Military Specialist."
Hamza Faris leads The Faris Group. He is a Marine veteran. Use that form if you want this math on a specific house. Search is there if you would rather look first.
Sources
Read October 7, 2026, unless a figure names its own date.
- DTMO, Basic Allowance for Housing — what BAH covers, and individual rate protection. Rates published January 1.
- DTMO BAH rate lookup — official calculator. The 2026 temporary increase listed there is Abilene, Texas (effective May 16, 2026).
- BAH-ASCII-2026.zip — Internet Archive capture, June 9, 2026, of the file on travel.dod.mil. Includes mhanames26.txt (SC258, BEAUFORT/PARRIS ISLAND, SC), sorted_zipmha26.txt (29904, 29902, and 29905 map to SC258), bahw26.txt, and bahwo26.txt, file-dated December 9, 2025. The May 13, 2026 .dat files in the zip match the SC258 row. Column order is DTMO's ASCII format sheet in that zip.
- Military OneSource, MCAS Beaufort check-in — Visitor's Center, 859 Geiger Blvd, Building 2077, Beaufort, SC 29904.
- Redfin, Burton housing market — median sale price $353,765, three months ending August 2026. 18 homes sold in August 2026.
- Redfin, Beaufort housing market — median sale price $465,692, three months ending August 2026.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey — 30-year fixed-rate average 7.28% as of October 1, 2026.
- VA.gov purchase loan — no down payment when the price is within the appraisal; no PMI. Updated January 7, 2026.
- VA.gov funding fee and closing costs — 2.15% on a first use with less than 5% down. Chart effective April 7, 2023. Updated October 5, 2026.
