Naval Station Great Lakes is on the western shore of Lake Michigan, between Chicago and Milwaukee. This page lists 2026 BAH for that housing area. It is not a VA quote.
The base and the drive
The Navy's installation page calls Great Lakes the largest military installation in Illinois and the home of Recruit Training Command, the Navy's only boot camp. It places the station on 1,628 acres on the western shore of Lake Michigan, midway between Chicago and Milwaukee.
An Army highway sheet shows the route off the station as Buckley Road west to I-94, with Chicago marked as the direction. The DTMO housing-area name is GREAT LAKES NAVTRACEN, IL. ZIP 60088 in the 2026 ZIP map is that area.
2026 BAH for this duty station
Code IL092. The names in the pay-grade column are Navy titles. Milwaukee is the city the Navy names to the north. A purchase in Wisconsin is not covered by the license line below.
| Pay grade | With dependents | Without dependents |
|---|---|---|
| E-5 (Petty Officer Second Class) | $2,427 | $1,854 |
| E-6 (Petty Officer First Class) | $2,760 | $2,067 |
| E-7 (Chief Petty Officer) | $2,853 | $2,211 |
| O-3 (Lieutenant) | $3,018 | $2,637 |
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. Illinois is on that list. Wisconsin is not.
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
- Naval Station Great Lakes, about the installation
- Army installation highway sheet, Scott AFB and Naval Station Great Lakes
BAH figures checked November 1, 2026 against the DTMO file linked above.
Sent. Check your inbox in a minute or two.
Jeff Shin · NMLS #1041652 · Barrett Financial Group, L.L.C. NMLS #181106