Fort Stewart PCS Housing Pulse
What a housing allowance actually buys around Fort Stewart
Updated monthly. In Liberty County, the county Fort Stewart sits in, the 2026 housing allowance for an E-5 with dependents is $2,310 a month and principal and interest on the median listed home comes to about $1,834, leaving roughly $476 a month before taxes and insurance. Drive forty minutes to Bryan County and the same allowance falls about $539 a month short. Same orders, same rank, very different maths.
Data for June 2026. Last updated 2026-08-05. Free to cite and reuse with attribution.
The four counties, side by side
These are the four counties that serve Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. The last column is the one that matters on a PCS budget: whether the housing allowance covers the payment on a median home, or falls short of it.
| County | Median list price | Homes for sale | Days on market | BAH, E-5 with dependents | Principal + interest | Allowance vs payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty CountyHinesville, Flemington, Midway | $279,450 | 521 | 62 | $2,310 | $1,834 | $476 under |
| Chatham CountySavannah, Pooler, Tybee Island | $399,900 | 1,767 | 72 | $2,415 | $2,625 | $210 over |
| Bryan CountyRichmond Hill, Pembroke | $449,950 | 274 | 67 | $2,415 | $2,954 | $539 over |
| Effingham CountyRincon, Springfield, Guyton | $389,900 | 385 | 75 | $2,415 | $2,559 | $144 over |
Hunter draws more than Stewart
Fort Stewart is its own housing area (GA080); Hunter Army Airfield falls under Savannah (GA077). An E-5 with dependents gets $2,415 at Hunter and $2,310 at Stewart, so a Hunter family draws about $105 a month more while the cheaper housing sits on the Stewart side.
Liberty is the only county where the allowance wins
It is the one county of the four where the median payment lands under the allowance, and by a clear margin. The trade is commute time and a thinner supply of newer construction.
Supply is not evenly spread
Chatham has 1,767 homes listed; Bryan has 274. A family with orders and a narrow window will find far more to choose from in Savannah, and far less room to negotiate in Richmond Hill.
How these numbers were worked out
Every figure here comes from a public source, and the payment is arithmetic you can repeat. Nothing on this page is modelled, smoothed or estimated.
Sources
- Median list price, homes for sale and days on market come from the monthly county-level file published by Realtor.com Research, for June 2026.
- Housing allowance figures are the 2026 rates from the Defense Travel Management Office rate lookup, for an E-5 with dependents, taken at ZIP 31314 (Fort Stewart, GA080) and ZIP 31409 (Hunter Army Airfield, which falls in Savannah, GA077).
- Mortgage rate is the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey 30-year fixed average, 6.66 percent, as of 31 July 2026.
The payment calculation
- VA loan, nothing down, with the 2.15 percent first-use funding fee added to the loan, which is what most first-time VA buyers do.
- Thirty-year fixed at 6.66 percent, on the median list price for that county.
- Principal and interest only. Property taxes, homeowner's insurance, wind and flood coverage and any HOA dues are on top, and they vary enough between these counties that publishing one average would mislead more than it helped. Ask for a figure on a specific address instead of a county.
What this is not
- Median list price is what sellers are asking, not what homes sold for.
- A county median is a blunt instrument. Hinesville and Midway are both Liberty County and do not trade alike.
- This is not financial advice and it is not a loan quote.
Citing this
Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures. Please cite as: The ARC Platform, "Fort Stewart PCS Housing Pulse", June 2026 edition, thearcplatform.com/fort-stewart-pcs-housing-pulse/. Alex Rodino is a licensed Georgia Realtor and a medically retired Army Infantry Captain, and is happy to comment on the record on the Coastal Georgia military housing market.
Common questions
Does BAH cover a mortgage payment near Fort Stewart?
In Liberty County, yes. The 2026 BAH for an E-5 with dependents at Fort Stewart is $2,310 a month, and principal and interest on the median listed home works out to about $1,834, leaving roughly $476 a month before taxes and insurance. In Bryan County it goes the other way: the same allowance falls about $539 a month short of the payment on a median home.
Why do Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield have different BAH rates?
They sit in two different Military Housing Areas. Fort Stewart is GA080 and Hunter Army Airfield falls under Savannah, GA077. For 2026 an E-5 with dependents draws $2,310 at Fort Stewart and $2,415 at Hunter, so a Hunter family gets about $105 a month more even though the Hinesville market around Fort Stewart is considerably cheaper. It catches people out when they get orders to one and go house hunting near the other.
Where is the most house for the money right now?
Liberty County, clearly. The median listed home there is roughly $170,000 cheaper than in Bryan County, and it is the only one of the four where the BAH comfortably exceeds the payment. The trade is the commute and a smaller selection of newer construction.
Where does this data come from?
Prices, inventory and days on market come from Realtor.com's published monthly county files. The BAH figures come from the Defense Travel Management Office rate lookup for 2026. The mortgage rate is Freddie Mac's weekly survey. The methodology section below sets out exactly how the payment is calculated and what it excludes.
Got orders to Fort Stewart or Hunter?
I am a retired Army Captain and a Military Relocation Professional, and I do this for a living in these four counties. Happy to talk through the numbers for your rank, your timeline and your commute.
Talk it through with me