Where do Marines live near Camp Lejeune?

Camp Lejeune is the Marine Corps' largest base on the East Coast, home to II Marine Expeditionary Force, and it sits on the New River estuary with the Atlantic on its east side. Marine Corps Air Station New River, the helicopter and tiltrotor base, is on the other side of Jacksonville a few minutes away. Together they anchor Onslow County, which is a Marine county: rental-heavy, built mostly since 1990, coastal, and organized by which gate you drive to.

Being stationed at Camp Lejeune

Camp Lejeune is II Marine Expeditionary Force and the 2nd Marine Division — the East Coast's operating forces — with MCAS New River's Ospreys and helicopters next door and Camp Geiger's Marine Combat Training on the base. The MEU deployment cycle sets the rhythm, and the household that stays behind is the one living in the house. Junior Marines are in the barracks; the buyers are NCOs, staff NCOs, officers and the naval hospital's medical population. Jacksonville, North Carolina is a garrison town with a low cost of living and a lot of rental stock.

Where people actually live

Jacksonville. The city that wraps the main gate and the Piney Green gate. The neighborhoods off Western Boulevard, Gum Branch Road and Piney Green Road are minutes from the base — 1970s-to-current housing, a lot of investor ownership, and every band the market has. Onslow County schools throughout the county.

Piney Green and Hubert. East of Jacksonville along Highway 24, toward the base's east side and the coast. Piney Green is at its own gate; Hubert is farther out with newer subdivisions and larger lots. Ten to twenty minutes to the main side.

Richlands and the Highway 258 corridor. Northwest of Jacksonville and closest to MCAS New River. Newer subdivisions at lower bands, small-town Richlands, and a ten-to-twenty-minute drive to either base.

Swansboro. East on Highway 24 where the White Oak River meets the sound. Coastal, historic, higher-priced, and a twenty-five-to-thirty-five-minute drive to the main gate. Officer and dual-income territory.

Sneads Ferry and Holly Ridge. South along Highway 17, at the base's back gate and minutes from Topsail Island. Newer subdivisions, waterfront, and a commute to the main side that runs through the base itself. A lot of families choose it for the beach.

Wilmington and Pender County. Farther south on Highway 17. A different, larger market; a forty-five-minute-plus commute chosen for the city, not the base.

Community by gate

What the VA appraisal sees in Onslow County

• Former rentals. A large share of Jacksonville's inventory has been a rental for years. Deferred maintenance in roofs, HVAC and water heaters is the pattern; the MPRs are a safety-and-soundness floor, and an inspection matters.
• Flood zones along the New River, the creeks and the coast; flood insurance required and escrowed if in a special flood hazard area. Hurricane history here is extensive and insurers price for it.
• Wood-destroying insects. A WDI inspection is standard practice on VA purchases in North Carolina.
• Crawlspaces and moisture under the pre-1990 housing in a wet coastal climate.
• Wells and septic in Hubert, Richlands' edges, Sneads Ferry and rural Onslow County. VA requires a water test and, typically, a septic evaluation.
• New construction in Richlands, Hubert and Holly Ridge: builder VA ID, warranty, builder-lender incentives worth pricing against an outside VA quote.

North Carolina's property tax exclusion

North Carolina excludes a fixed amount of the appraised value of a permanent residence from property tax for a veteran with a 100% permanent and total service-connected disability, or receiving benefits for specially adapted housing, under N.C.G.S. § 105-277.1C. It is a partial exclusion, not a total exemption, and it passes to an un-remarried surviving spouse. Application is with the Onslow County tax office. The federal funding fee exemption applies at any compensable rating regardless of state.

The loan side

Lejeune is a first-assignment base for a lot of Marines and a repeat one for many, so both entitlement cases show up. Full entitlement means no down payment and no VA loan limit. A Marine with a VA loan still open at a prior station is working with remaining entitlement, and the second-tier scenario shows the arithmetic — at Onslow County prices it almost always works without a down payment. If you are arriving on orders, any VA lender can qualify you on the orders and the Camp Lejeune BAH before you report; the PCS Home Buying Guide has the sequence. For a deployment-heavy assignment where the hold period is uncertain, the buy versus rent page is the honest version of the question, and renting the house out at the next PCS is what a large share of Jacksonville's owners have done. For the Army side of the same state, the Fort Bragg guide covers Fayetteville.

Next

• Check your BAH at Camp Lejeune →
• Compare the neighborhoods →

Related guides

• Fayetteville barbecue
• The PCS Home Buying Guide
• Buying Near Fort Bragg: The Fayetteville NC VA Loan Guide