Start with the right number
Your BAH under the San Antonio Military Housing Area, MHA TX285, depends on your rank and dependent status, and rates refresh each January. Get the current figure from the DoD BAH calculator. We deliberately do not publish rate tables here, because an allowance figure that goes stale is exactly the sort of undated number this site exists to avoid.
What we do publish is the other side of the equation: what apartments in each San Antonio submarket actually cost, all in. That is the half nobody gives you, and it is where BAH budgets go wrong. The service context is on military and PCS relocation.
The mistake that costs people money
Budgeting against base rent.
Across San Antonio, the mandatory monthly stack, valet trash, pest control, RUBS water and sewer, billing admin, and a tech or amenity package, adds 7-15% over base rent. Then CPS Energy on top, billed separately, with a South Texas summer that runs June through September.
A worked example on a $1,394 two-bedroom, the July 2026 metro average:
| Line | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Base rent | $1,394 |
| Valet trash | $28 |
| Pest control | $5 |
| RUBS water & sewer | $58 |
| Billing admin | $8 |
| Tech / amenity | $35 |
| All-in rent obligation | $1,528 |
| Plus CPS Energy (summer peak) | Budget separately |
That $134 gap is the difference between an allowance that covers your housing and one that does not. The full breakdown by property class is on what San Antonio apartments actually cost per month.
Submarket rent bands, so you can map your own rate
Two-bedroom ranges across the communities we work with, confirmed July 2026. Add 7-15% for the stack.
| Submarket | 2BR range | Nearest installation |
|---|---|---|
| Lackland & Southwest | $1,000-$1,400 | Lackland, 5-15 min |
| South San Antonio | $1,050-$1,550 | Lackland / Fort Sam |
| Leon Valley | $1,050-$1,450 | Lackland, 20-30 min |
| Northeast | $1,200-$1,700 | Randolph, 5-15 min |
| East / Schertz-Cibolo | $1,250-$1,750 | Randolph, 8-18 min |
| West San Antonio | $1,350-$1,850 | Lackland, 15-25 min |
| Alamo Heights & North Central | $1,500-$2,300 | Fort Sam, 10-15 min |
| Stone Oak | $1,550-$2,300 | Camp Bullis, 15-25 min |
| Central San Antonio | $1,700-$2,800 | Fort Sam, 10-15 min |
Leave headroom
BAH is meant to cover housing costs including utilities. Spending the whole allowance on the all-in rent figure leaves nothing for a summer CPS Energy bill, and August is when that decision gets tested. We build searches with room, not to the ceiling.
Rank, unit type and the trade you are actually making
The practical question is usually not “what fits my BAH” but “what fits my BAH and the commute I can live with and the unit type I need”.
Junior enlisted with no dependents at Lackland has a genuinely comfortable set of options in the Southwest corridor. The same rate at Fort Sam is tighter, because Central and Alamo Heights price higher, which pushes you toward the Northeast or accepting a longer drive.
Mid-rank with dependents needing three bedrooms changes the map again: the strongest 3BR supply sits in Stone Oak and the West side, both of which price above the corridors closest to Lackland and Randolph.
Those trade-offs are worth working through explicitly rather than discovering after signing. It is what the intake call is for. Gate-by-gate commute and submarket detail sits in renting near JBSA, and the clauses to check before you sign are in SCRA and military lease clauses.
What we do
We take your rate, rank, dependent status, base and report date, and produce a shortlist where the all-in monthly figure sits inside your allowance with headroom, not a list of sticker prices that technically fit.
Every rent, fee and concession on that list carries a confirmation date. It is free at every stage, including if orders change. Start here.
