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2026 BAH at Patrick SFB vs. a Real Brevard Mortgage Payment, by Rank

By John Kleopoulos, Mortgage Loan Originator, NMLS #2686219 | Loan Factory, Inc., NMLS #320841 | Last reviewed October 14, 2026

The short answer: 2026 BAH at Patrick SFB runs from $2,502 a month for an E-5 with dependents to $3,267 for an O-5. At today’s rates, with Brevard taxes and insurance included, that covers a zero-down VA purchase of roughly $275,000 at E-5, $320,000 at E-6/E-7, $350,000 at O-4 and $370,000 at O-5. The median Brevard single-family home is $376,018 — so BAH alone doesn’t reach the median at most ranks. Here’s the full math, rank by rank, and what it means for your orders.

Every BAH article I’ve seen for Patrick stops at the BAH table. That’s the easy part. The hard part is that a Space Coast mortgage payment isn’t just principal and interest — it’s taxes on the purchase price, Florida homeowners insurance, sometimes flood insurance, and sometimes an HOA. Leave those out and you’ll think you can afford $50,000 more house than you can. I’d rather you know now than at the closing table.

Key numbers (as of October 14, 2026)

  • 2026 BAH, Patrick SFB housing area, with dependents: E-4 $2,325 · E-5 $2,502 · E-6 $2,883 · E-7 $2,907 · O-3 $2,922 · O-4 $3,108 · O-5 $3,267. Effective January 1, 2026. — DoD Defense Travel Management Office BAH tables
  • 2026 BAH, without dependents: E-5 $2,037 · E-7 $2,331 · O-3 $2,742 · O-4 $2,883 · O-5 $2,892. — DTMO
  • Year-over-year: Patrick SFB BAH rose about 7.3% for 2026, well above the national average increase. — DTMO 2025 vs. 2026 tables
  • 30-year fixed, national average: 7.40% (October 8, 2026). This is a conventional-loan survey; VA rates are priced separately and often come in lower. I use 7.40% below as a conservative reference. — Freddie Mac PMMS
  • VA funding fee, first use, zero down: 2.15% of the loan amount, financed. Waived for veterans receiving VA disability compensation. — VA.gov
  • Brevard median single-family price: $376,018 (August 2026). — Space Coast Association of REALTORS data
  • Brevard homeowners insurance: county average roughly $2,800–$3,200 a year, excluding flood. I use $3,000 below. — Citizens Property Insurance county data and Florida OIR

How I built the payment (so you can check my work)

For every rank below, I assumed a zero-down VA purchase with the 2.15% funding fee rolled into the loan, a 30-year fixed at 7.40%, property taxes at about 1.35% of the purchase price (what a lender will estimate before your homestead exemption kicks in), $3,000 a year for homeowners insurance, and no HOA, no flood insurance and no mortgage insurance (VA doesn’t have any). That’s a conservative setup on purpose. If your VA rate comes in below 7.40%, your insurance quote comes in under $3,000, or you have the funding fee waived, you’ll do better than these numbers.

On that basis, each $100,000 of purchase price costs about $820 a month in full PITI, plus a flat $250 a month for insurance regardless of price.

What BAH buys at each rank (full PITI, zero down VA)

E-5 with dependents, $2,502/mo BAH: about $275,000. P&I roughly $1,945, taxes $310, insurance $250. Total about $2,505.

E-6 with dependents, $2,883/mo: about $320,000. P&I roughly $2,265, taxes $360, insurance $250. Total about $2,875.

E-7 with dependents, $2,907/mo: about $325,000. P&I roughly $2,300, taxes $365, insurance $250. Total about $2,915.

O-3 with dependents, $2,922/mo: about $325,000. Same math as E-7 — the BAH is nearly identical.

O-4 with dependents, $3,108/mo: about $350,000. P&I roughly $2,475, taxes $395, insurance $250. Total about $3,120.

O-5 with dependents, $3,267/mo: about $370,000. P&I roughly $2,615, taxes $415, insurance $250. Total about $3,280.

Without dependents: E-5 at $2,037 covers about $220,000; E-7 at $2,331 about $255,000; O-3 at $2,742 about $305,000; O-4 at $2,883 about $320,000.

And the median Brevard home, $376,018: P&I roughly $2,660, taxes $425, insurance $250. Total about $3,335 a month — above BAH at every rank through O-5.

That last line is the one nobody puts in the BAH articles. On BAH alone, at today’s rates and today’s prices, the median Space Coast single-family home is out of reach for most of the base. That doesn’t mean you can’t buy it. It means BAH isn’t the whole picture, which brings me to the next part.

BAH is not your budget — and lenders don’t treat it that way

Two things people get wrong about BAH and mortgages.

First, no lender caps your payment at your BAH. VA loans are underwritten on your total income — base pay, BAH, BAS and any other verifiable allowances — against your total debts, using a debt-to-income ratio and a residual income test. BAH is one line of income. An E-6 with dependents at Patrick has around $2,883 in BAH plus base pay plus BAS, and the lender looks at all of it. Plenty of my military clients buy above their BAH because the rest of the payment comes out of base pay, same as rent would.

Second, BAH is tax-free, and many lenders will count that. Because BAH isn’t federally taxed, a lot of lenders will “gross up” non-taxable income — typically by 15% to 25% — when calculating your qualifying ratios. That means $2,502 in BAH can count as $2,877 to $3,127 of qualifying income. Not every lender does this, and not every lender does it the same way. This is one of the specific things I compare across lenders on a military file, because it can change what you qualify for by tens of thousands of dollars.

So the real question isn’t “what does BAH buy.” It’s “what payment fits comfortably in the household budget, with BAH covering most of it.” A good rule I’ve seen work for Patrick families: keep the full PITI at or under BAH plus whatever you’d be willing to add from base pay if you were renting a nicer place. If the math only works by stretching, the Space Coast’s insurance and tax surprises will find you.

The three Space Coast line items that break the BAH math

  1. Property taxes reset when you buy. The seller’s tax bill on the listing was built on their Save Our Homes-capped assessment, possibly from a decade ago. Yours gets set at the purchase price. Always run taxes on what you’re paying, not what they were paying. After you file homestead by March 1, the exemption and the 3% cap kick in and your bill improves — but year one is full price. (And if you keep your home-state residency for tax purposes, you may not qualify for Florida homestead at all. Check with the Brevard Property Appraiser.)
  2. Insurance varies more than price does. The county average is around $3,000 a year, but the same $320,000 home can quote $2,200 with a new roof and wind-mitigation credits, or $4,500 with a 2005 roof near the beach. Get a real insurance quote on any house before you write the offer. If you’re comparing Satellite Beach to West Melbourne, the insurance gap may matter more than the price gap.
  3. Flood insurance is a separate policy. Barrier-island and riverfront homes near Patrick — Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, parts of Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach — are often in AE or VE flood zones where the lender will require flood coverage. Budget another $100 to $250 a month if so. Zone X, which covers most of Palm Bay, West Melbourne, Viera and Suntree, typically doesn’t require it.

What this looks like in practice: three Patrick families

E-5 with dependents, $2,502 BAH, two kids, wants a yard. At $275,000 you’re looking at three-bedroom homes in Palm Bay, parts of Melbourne and Cocoa, and some of Titusville. The barrier island is mostly out of reach at this price. Rent for a three-bedroom in those areas is often $2,000 to $2,300, so the BAH covers either. The question is whether you’ll be here long enough for buying to make sense — and whether you’d keep the house as a rental on your next PCS, which is a conversation I have with almost every E-5 and E-6 who calls me.

E-7 with dependents, $2,907 BAH, 14 years in, wants to be near the beach. At $325,000, Satellite Beach and Indian Harbour Beach single-family homes are tight but possible, and condos are more realistic. Insurance and flood on the island will push the payment above BAH, so this is a base-pay-contributes decision. The alternative most E-7s I work with choose: Viera or Suntree, 20 minutes from the gate, newer construction, lower insurance, and a house that rents easily when they leave.

O-4 with dependents, $3,108 BAH, dual income. The median home is within reach once spouse income is in the file, and BAH covers the bulk of the payment. At this level the buying decision is less about affordability and more about resale and rentability in three years, which means Viera, Suntree, Rockledge and Melbourne Beach tend to be the conversations.

Frequently asked questions

Will BAH cover a mortgage in Satellite Beach?
For single-family homes at 2026 prices, usually not on BAH alone below O-4, once insurance and flood are included. Condos and townhomes can work. Palm Bay, Melbourne, Viera and Rockledge are where BAH-only budgets most often fit.

Does BAH go up if I buy a more expensive house?
No. BAH is set by your pay grade, dependency status and duty station, not by your housing cost. It doesn’t change whether you rent, buy, or live in a more expensive home.

Can I use BAH to qualify for a VA loan?
Yes. BAH is counted as income on a VA loan as long as it’s expected to continue. Many lenders also gross it up because it’s non-taxable, which increases your qualifying income.

What if I’m only at Patrick for three years?
Buying can still work if you plan to keep the house as a rental after PCS, which VA allows under the occupancy rules as long as you lived in it first. Brevard rents are strong, and Space Coast hiring keeps tenant demand steady. The alternative is renting and keeping your VA entitlement free for your next station. I’ll run both for you honestly; the right answer depends on your orders and your timeline.

I’m rated 30% disabled. Does that change the math?
Yes, meaningfully. The funding fee is waived for veterans receiving VA disability compensation, which drops the example loan amount by 2.15% and the P&I by about $55 a month on a $300,000 purchase. You may also qualify for a Florida property tax exemption for disabled veterans; the Property Appraiser can confirm.

What’s the 2027 BAH going to be?
The DoD releases it in mid-December, effective January 1. I’ll update this post within two weeks of the release.

Sources

Payment examples are for illustration only. They use Freddie Mac’s published national survey average for conventional loans as a reference rate, a 1.35% property tax estimate, and a $3,000 annual insurance estimate; they are not rates or terms offered by Loan Factory or John Kleopoulos. Actual VA rates, taxes, insurance, flood and HOA costs vary by property, borrower and lender, and the rate may change or not be available at commitment or closing. BAH figures are from DoD tables and should be confirmed on the official DTMO calculator. This is general information, not a loan offer or financial advice.

Have orders to Patrick? Let’s run your actual numbers

Send me your pay grade, dependency status, rough timeline and the area you’re looking at, and I’ll send back a real PITI on a real price range — taxes at purchase price, an insurance estimate for that neighborhood, flood zone checked — shopped across my VA lenders so you see what the payment actually looks like against your BAH. I can work your file before you arrive and close remotely if your report date is tight. And I answer on weekends, because that’s when you’re house-hunting.

Book a call · Start a secure application (opens Loan Factory’s secure borrower portal, a separate site)

John Kleopoulos, NMLS #2686219. Loan Factory, Inc., NMLS #320841. Florida License LO-150890. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is for educational purposes only and is not a commitment to lend, an offer of credit, or financial advice. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice and to borrower and property qualification. Not all applicants will qualify. Loan Factory and John Kleopoulos are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, or any government agency. The $2,000 Best Price Guarantee is subject to the terms and conditions at loanfactory.com/best-price-guarantee.

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