USAA has published a public ranking of "Top Military Communities" at usaa.com/TMC. Anyone can see the information at that link-- no login or membership required.
It's the first time that I can remember a quantitative neighborhood analysis for factors that are important to servicemembers who want to live off base. USAA started with the areas around the nation's five biggest military bases:
Fayetteville NC,
Killeen TX,
Norfolk VA,
San Diego, and
Washington DC.
I'd appreciate a reality check if you're in any of those areas-- especially if you're a military veteran or family member who's lived there for years.
USAA surveyed 6800 active-duty members (and their families) about their neighborhood priorities, and I'll say up front that the criteria are not necessarily Mustachian. Their most important ones are crime rates, affordability, and school quality. Commuting distance and neighborhood access (recreation, parks, shopping) are #4 and #5. Commutes of 25 miles/40 minutes (each way) are considered acceptable, in DC they were pushed as far as 35 miles/one hour, and in Camp Pendleton they were stretched out to 40 miles. Note that this might not include the traffic backed up at the gate.
"Affordability" from the military perspective is the E-6 housing allowance (with dependents). Each area on the website includes the median home prices and rents from DoD databases. If you want to dig into the details of E-6 BAH then you can enter ZIP codes into this calculator:
http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfmI'm reasonably familiar with the San Diego area but please post your feedback on the others. I'd like to let people know what's misleading or even not so good about this data.
I'm writing a blog post to put up in a few days. I could easily draft one like a USAA fanboi, but I'd rather try to offer constructive criticism or suggest other improvements. If this ranking gains traction with servicemembers then USAA could expand it to the rest of the nation's military bases.
A unique military perspective on commuting distance is that tours are typically 24-36 months and usually include a deployment. A servicemember might not be making that commute for too long, it would certainly be at "off-peak" hours, and they'd be willing to live 40 miles away from Camp Pendleton if their family is happy. Other servicemembers might homestead in a "military concentration area" of several large bases like the Norfolk area. One base might be a painful commute, but a follow-on tour to a different command at a closer base might be a great deal-- and the family wouldn't have to move between the two tours.
If you know of any other "best places for active-duty servicemembers" rankings based on quantitative criteria then I'll add those to the post too. Instead of crowdsourcing or a popularity contest, though, it should be derived from public databases that can be ranked & weighted for further analysis.
If you're curious, E-6 BAH (with dependents) in the ZIP code of our Central Oahu rental property is $2952/month. In an unsurprising coincidence, we charge $2900/month for a 4BR/2BA single-family home that meets all of USAA's criteria and would even support a bicycle commute of 11 miles. (The tenants still have to pay their own utilities.) Neighborhood rents for similar homes are about to break the $3000/month barrier. If USAA expanded their list to the top 25 military bases then Oahu and nearly every other large base in America would make the cut.