Ellsworth AFB BAH 2026: what it buys off base

Monthly, effective January 1, 2026.

Source: Defense Travel Management Office 2026 BAH rate files for MHA SD264. Your LES and the DTMO BAH calculator are the final word for your grade.

Two rules worth knowing before you plan around the table. BAH only splits on with or without dependents, so the number of dependents does not change the rate. And rate protection means that once you are drawing BAH here, your rate does not go down while you stay eligible at Ellsworth, even if a later year's table drops.

The Department of War sets BAH off median market rent plus electricity, heat and water and sewer. It is a rent number. It was never sized to carry a mortgage, property tax and a hail-country insurance policy on a median house, and DTMO says plainly that it is not meant to cover every housing cost.

That matters most right now because of where rates sit. Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed average at 7.18 percent on November 5, 2026, up from 6.22 percent a year earlier.

Here is a median house in each town run at Freddie Mac's November 5, 2026 average of 7.18 percent: 30 years, zero down, and the 2.15 percent VA funding fee rolled into the loan, which is what a first-time VA buyer with less than 5 percent down pays. Insurance is NerdWallet's Rapid City average of $4,550 a year, about $379 a month. Property tax is Pennington County's average effective rate of 1.00 percent.

Prices are the Black Hills MLS single-family figures for the trailing twelve months, from each town page here, pulled November 2026. Rapid Valley publishes an average sold price, not a median. Summerset's tax depends on which county and school district the parcel falls in, so pull the actual bill for the address.

Put that next to the table. An E-6 with dependents draws $2,211, which leaves about $1,036 a month to cover on the Box Elder median. An O-3 with dependents draws $2,475, about $772 short. An O-4 draws $2,691, about $556 short.

Turned around, here is roughly what BAH with dependents carries on its own at the same rate, fee, tax and insurance:

• E-4: about $183,000
• E-5: about $207,000
• E-6: about $236,000
• E-7: about $249,000
• O-1: about $212,000
• O-2: about $236,000
• O-3: about $270,000
• O-4: about $298,000
• O-5: about $319,000
• O-6: about $321,000

Freddie Mac's average is for conventional loans with 20 percent down. A VA quote is its own number, and only a lender can give you yours. Get one, then rerun the math on my mortgage calculator. Whatever sits above your BAH comes out of base pay, so decide how much of that you are willing to carry before you tour anything.

If renting first makes more sense, the numbers are friendlier. Box Elder's median gross rent is about $1,491 per the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey, under the E-4 with dependents rate. The town by town breakdown, with drive times to the Liberty Gate, is in my Ellsworth off-base housing guide.

• No down payment when the sales price is not higher than the appraised value.
• No private mortgage insurance, which is the line item that makes a low down payment expensive on a conventional loan.
• The funding fee is 2.15 percent of the loan on first use with less than 5 percent down, 1.5 percent at 5 percent down, and 1.25 percent at 10 percent down. After first use it is 3.3 percent with less than 5 percent down. It can be rolled into the loan, and it is the only closing cost that can be.
• Exempt from the fee: anyone receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, active duty members with a proposed or memorandum rating issued before closing, and Purple Heart recipients on active duty, among others on the VA's list.
• Seller concessions are capped at 4 percent of the home's reasonable value. Seller-paid closing costs are not limited.
• You have to live in it. The VA loan is for the home you occupy.

South Dakota adds one more for disabled veterans: a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability can exempt the first $200,000 of a home's assessed value from property tax. Apply with the county by November 1.

I'm not a lender. The VA loan officers I work with close VA loans here regularly, and buying with PCS orders walks through the remote purchase from pre-approval to closing.

What is the BAH code for Ellsworth AFB?

SD264, the Rapid City/Ellsworth AFB military housing area.

When do 2027 BAH rates come out?

In December, effective January 1, 2027. The 2026 rates were released December 11, 2025. This page gets the 2027 table the week it posts.

Does BAH go up if I have more dependents?

No. BAH pays one rate with dependents and one without, regardless of how many.

Can my BAH go down while I'm stationed here?

No. Rate protection keeps your rate from dropping as long as your eligibility at Ellsworth is uninterrupted.

Does BAH cover a mortgage near Ellsworth?

At Freddie Mac's November 5, 2026 average rate it covers the payment on a house up to roughly $183,000 for an E-4 and roughly $321,000 for an O-6, with taxes and insurance included. Every town median near the base is above that, so plan on covering the difference or getting a VA quote that changes the math.

Is the VA funding fee paid up front?

It can be paid at closing or rolled into the loan. Buyers receiving VA disability compensation do not pay it.