Lackland is in the southwest corner of San Antonio. This page lists the 2026 housing allowance for that duty station and links to the calculator. It is not a VA quote.
The base and the drive
The City of San Antonio describes Lackland Air Force Base as the southwest corner of the city. The 37th Training Wing hosts the base, and basic training for new Air Force recruits runs there. The same city page lists the other Joint Base San Antonio locations: Fort Sam Houston, Randolph Air Force Base, and Camp Bullis.
Someone assigned to Lackland is not assigned to downtown. A trip into the center of the city crosses the south and west sides of San Antonio. San Antonio itself is the town. Fort Sam Houston is the other large gate in this housing area, just north of downtown, and the drive from there is a different one.
The wider San Antonio VA page is VA loans in San Antonio.
2026 BAH for this duty station
DTMO uses one Military Housing Area for San Antonio, code TX285. In the 2026 ZIP map inside the same file, 78236 (Lackland) and 78234 (Fort Sam Houston) both map to TX285. The dollars below are that San Antonio table. There is not a separate Lackland table.
| Pay grade | With dependents | Without dependents |
|---|---|---|
| E-5 (Staff Sergeant) | $1,869 | $1,500 |
| E-6 (Technical Sergeant) | $2,094 | $1,596 |
| E-7 (Master Sergeant) | $2,112 | $1,731 |
| O-3 (Captain) | $2,127 | $2,007 |
With dependents is one rate. It does not rise for each additional dependent. Without dependents is the other column. BAH follows the duty station in the DTMO file, not the ZIP code of the house you buy.
Rate protection can leave a member on an older, higher rate when the published rate falls, as long as eligibility at that location does not change. The Department of War described that rule in its December 11, 2025 release. Confirm the figure your finance office is paying before you write an offer.
These amounts are from DTMO files bahw26.dat (with dependents) and bahwo26.dat (without dependents) inside BAH-ASCII-2026.zip, downloaded November 1, 2026. For these housing areas the same pay grades in the December 2025 copies in that zip (bahw26.txt and bahwo26.txt) match the figures above. The May 2026 update in the zip is the Abilene, Texas temporary increase. It does not change these four housing areas.
Turn BAH into a home price
The table is a housing allowance, not a mortgage payment. Open the BAH calculator, enter the monthly figure for your pay grade, and add taxes and insurance if you know them. Leave them blank and the estimate says so. The result is a planning estimate, not a VA quote.
Where the loan can be written
Jeff Shin is licensed to originate residential mortgage loans in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas. Texas is on that list.
VA loan basics
A VA home loan is for eligible veterans, service members, and some surviving spouses. The VA sets eligibility, the Certificate of Eligibility, and the funding fee. Read the VA home loans page and the funding fee and residual income notes before you treat a rule as settled.
Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. (NMLS #181106) is the broker and can price one VA file across several wholesale lenders.
Sources
- Defense Travel Management Office, BAH rate lookup
- DTMO 2026 BAH ASCII file (BAH-ASCII-2026.zip)
- Department of War, 2026 BAH rates release, December 11, 2025
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA home loans
- City of San Antonio, military installations
BAH figures checked November 1, 2026 against the DTMO file linked above.
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Jeff Shin · NMLS #1041652 · Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. NMLS #181106