About PCS Scout
What it is
PCS Scout is a free housing-search tool for military Service Members and Families preparing for a Permanent Change of Station move. It answers the questions that matter before you commit to a home in a town you have never lived in: what your housing allowance actually is, what rent or mortgage that supports, how long the drive to work really takes at rush hour, and which schools are nearby — whether you plan to rent or buy.
Why it exists
PCS moves are stressful and the information is scattered — allowance tables on one site, listings on another, commute times guessed from a map, school quality found by asking around. PCS Scout puts the decision layer in one place and hands off to the listing sites only when you are ready to look at specific homes.
What makes it different
- Official BAH, not estimates. Rates come from the Department of Defense's published Basic Allowance for Housing data.
- Budget on your terms. Search under your allowance to cover utilities or bank the difference, or over it if you choose.
- Rent or buy. Switch to Buy and PCS Scout estimates the home price your BAH could support with a $0-down VA loan — adjustable for interest rate and property tax — then links to for-sale listings.
- Real drive times. Distances follow roads, with separate morning and evening rush-hour estimates.
- Two workplaces, one fair answer. Add a spouse's job and the map shades only the area within a reasonable drive of both.
- Schools in context. The closest elementary, middle, and high schools to any spot you check, with links to their ratings.
- Free and private. No account, no advertising, no tracking. See the privacy policy.
Where the data comes from
- BAH rates — DoD Defense Travel Management Office (public domain)
- Schools — U.S. Department of Education, NCES (public domain)
- Installations — U.S. Census Bureau TIGER (public domain)
- ZIP codes and places — GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
- Maps — OpenStreetMap contributors and OpenFreeMap; satellite imagery by Esri
- Drive times — Project OSRM, Valhalla (FOSSGIS), and TomTom traffic data
Independence and limits
PCS Scout is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or any military service or installation, and it is not an official source of entitlement information.
Everything shown is for planning. BAH amounts, drive times, school listings, and rental links are drawn from third-party and government data that can be outdated or incomplete. Verify your allowance with your finance office and your housing options with your installation housing office before making any decision.
Source code
PCS Scout is open source. The complete site, data pipelines, and change history are public at github.com/Michael-W-R/pcs-housing-finder.