JBLM PCS Guide: Gates, ZIP Codes, Where to Report, PX, CIF and Housing

Updated September 5, 2026. Buildings, hours and phone numbers were checked against the JBLM garrison site and Military OneSource on that date. Gate hours and office hours change with training schedules and construction; where this page says to call first, it means it.

The JBLM move, page by page

These pages answer the questions in the order a move asks them. Each is written for JBLM specifically, with rates carrying their effective dates.

Question	Page
How do I book the move, and who do I call at JBLM?	JBLM transportation office: phone, hours and how to book a PCS move
Should I move myself, and what would it pay?	JBLM PPM calculator: weight allowance, DLA, mileage and per diem for 2026, with your numbers
Will the military ship my car?	Military car shipping: does the military ship your car during a PCS?
What do all these abbreviations mean?	The military moving acronyms dictionary, 74 terms, searchable
What is BAH at JBLM?	JBLM BAH 2026: every rate by pay grade, what changed from 2025, and what the allowance really rents nearby
Where do families actually live, and how long is the housing wait?	JBLM housing: the 22 on-post communities and their published wait times, the barracks, and thirteen commuter towns compared

JBLM High Lights

Joint Base Lewis-McChord formed in 2010 from Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. The Army’s I Corps and the Air Force’s 62nd Airlift Wing, which flies the C-17, are the host commands, and the garrison is Army-run. The base covers 647 square miles counting the Yakima Training Center in eastern Washington; the main installation is 142 square miles in three parts. Lewis Main is the historic post with Waller Hall, the hospital and most services. Lewis North is across the freeway to the northwest. McChord Field is the airfield and the Air Force side, reached from its own exit. The garrison counts roughly 40,000 active duty, 60,000 family members and 15,000 civilian employees.

ZIP codes and mail

Place	ZIP	Notes
Lewis Main	98433	Every garrison office address uses it. Military OneSource lists it as the ZIP for the BAH lookup.
McChord Field	98438	The ID card office, commissary, post office and clinic on the McChord side all use it.
Madigan Army Medical Center	98431	The hospital’s own ZIP; its mailing city is Tacoma.
DuPont	98327	The town at the DuPont Gate.
Lakewood	98498, 98499	The city along the McChord side; the Sounder station is in 98499.
Steilacoom	98388	The waterfront town northwest of Lewis North.
Spanaway	98387	East of the base off the East Gate.

Two post offices serve the base. The Fort Lewis post office is at 4170 Kaufman Avenue on Lewis Main, 253-964-8302, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The McChord post office is at 735 5th Street, 253-982-9208, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On-post family homes carry street addresses; which ZIP a given housing community uses depends on which side of the base it is on, and the lease from the housing office is the authority. For a barracks address, use the format your unit’s mailroom gives you, not a guess from this page.

Gates: which ones are open, and how visitors get in

The gate page on the garrison site is the source for these hours. Five gates run around the clock. The rest keep business hours, and several small housing-area gates only open at commute times.

Gate	Area	Hours	Where
Liberty Gate, the main gate	Lewis Main	24 hours	I-5 Exit 120. The Lewis Main Visitor Control Center is on the right before the gate.
Madigan Gate	Lewis Main	24 hours	I-5 Exit 122, Berkeley Street. The hospital’s gate. It was closed for barrier work from late October 2025 to late March 2026; the garrison page now lists it open, but check before relying on it.
East Gate	Lewis Main	24 hours	East Gate Road and 4th Division Drive, the Roy and Spanaway side.
41st Division Gate	Lewis North	24 hours	I-5 Exit 120.
McChord Main Gate	McChord Field	24 hours	I-5 Exit 125, Bridgeport Way. The McChord visitor center is outside it.
DuPont Gate	Lewis Main	Weekdays 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; closed weekends and federal holidays	I-5 Exit 119.
Integrity Gate	Lewis North	Weekdays 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; weekends and holidays 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.	DuPont-Steilacoom Road. Also takes commercial vehicles.
Logistics Center Gate	Lewis Main	Weekdays 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.	I-5 Exit 122-B, Thorne Lane. The main commercial-vehicle gate; your moving truck goes here.
Barnes Gate	McChord Field	Daily 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.	Perimeter Road.

Getting family and visitors through

• A vehicle without an adult DoD ID cardholder goes to a Visitor Control Center for a pass: a valid driver’s license, current registration, proof of insurance, and a DoD sponsor reachable by phone. Everyone 16 and older shows photo ID.
• Lewis Main Visitor Control Center: outside Liberty Gate, daily 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., 253-967-4794. The guard shack handles visitors overnight. McChord visitor center: outside McChord Main Gate, daily 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., 253-982-2119.
• A license marked “not valid for federal purposes” needs a second identity document, or the visitor is escorted. Passes run up to 90 days; anything longer needs 72 hours’ notice. Foreign nationals need the sponsor to file a visitor request at least 30 days ahead.
• Someone who comes on base regularly without a DoD ID, such as a nanny or a contractor, applies for an Installation Access Card at the Vehicle Registration Office in Waller Hall after a first visitor pass.
• Moving trucks and other commercial vehicles use the Logistics Center Gate or the Integrity Gate. When those are closed, commercial traffic is processed at Madigan Gate.

Day one: where to report and what the first week looks like

Soldiers

Report to the Installation Reception Center, Building 2021 on Pendleton Avenue on Lewis Main. Its street address is 2021 North 6th Street. It runs 24 hours a day and answers at 253-967-7004. Sign the accountability roster between 2:00 and 10:30 a.m. Bring the sealed PCS packet from your losing unit, a copy of your orders, your leave form, an end-of-month pay statement, and for family members the marriage and birth certificates and a DEERS printout. Older guides that say to report to Waller Hall are out of date.

In-processing runs on a fixed four-day schedule that starts every Monday with Courage Day, which everyone attends, followed by one of three assigned days. It covers medical and dental, finance, the housing brief, ID cards and the Central Issue Facility. The reception center’s sponsorship desk, 253-968-6771, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., assigns a sponsor from your gaining unit who is expected to walk you through the checklist.

Airmen

Report to your unit’s Commander’s Support Staff, then in-process with the Military Personnel Flight in the Customer Service Mall on the first floor of Building 100 at McChord Field, in duty uniform. Unaccompanied Airmen E-4 and below with less than three years in service also check in at the Consolidated Dormitory Office at 566 Outer Circle Drive. Confirm the newcomer orientation date with the 62nd Airlift Wing; third-party pages describe a monthly session but the wing’s own schedule was not reachable when this page was checked.

Waller Hall and ID cards

Waller Hall, Building 2140 at 2140 Liggett Avenue, is the personnel hub for both arriving and departing Soldiers and families: the Military Personnel Division, DEERS and ID cards, finance in-processing, Army Emergency Relief, the relocation program and its lending closet, and a Subway. The ID card office there is open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., last check-in 3:15 p.m., 253-967-5065. McChord’s ID card office is in Building 100, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 253-982-9755. Appointments for both are made through the Defense Department’s online ID card scheduler; walk-ins wait.

The Exchange and the commissaries

Store	Where	Phone	Hours
Lewis Main Exchange, the PX	Building 5280, 5280 Pendleton Avenue	253-964-3161	Daily to 9:30 p.m.; the weekday opening time is listed as 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. depending on the source, so check the Exchange’s own page
McChord Exchange, the BX	Building 504	253-582-3110	Daily 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Lewis Main Commissary	5275 North 14th Street	253-967-3141	Monday to Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; early-bird hour before opening
McChord Commissary	577 Lincoln Boulevard	253-982-3285	Same hours as Lewis Main

The Lewis Main Exchange was rebuilt in 2020 at a cost the Army put at $72.6 million: about 500,000 square feet with a new mall and food court. It is the base’s mall, and it is simply called the Lewis Main Exchange. You may see “Freedom Crossing” in search results; that is the Fort Bliss mall in Texas, not JBLM. Both commissaries close on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

CIF: the Central Issue Facility moved

The Central Issue Facility is at Building 9640, 9640 I Street, on Lewis Main. It issues and takes back organizational clothing and individual equipment, OCIE, and keeps your clothing record. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; phone 253-967-3901, with 253-967-5302 as a second line. Older directories and the pages that copied them put CIF at Building 2150 on Liggett Avenue next to Waller Hall. That building is now the household goods office, so a trip there for gear is a wasted trip.

• Arriving: initial issue happens during the reception center’s in-processing days, with your sponsor.
• Leaving: Soldiers can start clearing 33 days before leave begins, or 33 days before a separation or retirement date if not taking leave, on the installation clearance record. Pull a copy of your clothing record, DA Form 3645, 45 to 60 days before the move so you know what has to come back. PCS turn-ins at Army CIFs are walk-in in duty uniform, not PT gear; confirm JBLM’s current practice when you call.
• Call before you drive over. CIF closes for inventory and posts the closure on the JBLM Facebook page, not on its directory listing.

Housing: on post, off post, and the rule people miss

On-post family housing is run by Liberty Military Housing as Lewis-McChord Communities, about 22 neighborhoods and 5,159 homes. The leasing center is Building 5128 on Pendleton Avenue, 253-912-2112. The garrison page showed 782 families on the waiting list when this page was checked, and wait times vary by rank and bedroom count; Liberty publishes them monthly as a chart. Every service member assigned to JBLM can apply, and applying early costs nothing.

The rule people miss: everyone must in-process with the Housing Services Office before signing an off-post lease. The office is Building 5038, 5038 Pendleton Avenue, 253-967-3581, open Tuesday through Thursday only, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 to 3:00 p.m., closed the fourth Thursday. It runs the housing brief on Mondays from noon to 3:00 p.m. at Building 8085 on NCO Beach Road, keeps the referral lists, reviews leases, explains your rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and mediates with landlords. Unaccompanied Soldiers E-5 and below live in the barracks and in-process through their unit and the barracks manager.

Where families live off post, grouped the way the Army groups them: DuPont, Lacey and Olympia to the south; Lakewood, Steilacoom, University Place and Tacoma to the north; Puyallup, Spanaway, Graham, Roy and Yelm to the east. All of them sit in the same housing area, so your allowance is identical wherever you choose — rent, schools, gates and noise are the only variables. On September 2026 asking rents the cheapest three-bedrooms are in Olympia, DuPont and Spanaway; Puyallup, often described as the budget option, is second dearest of the thirteen towns measured. The JBLM housing guide takes each town in turn, with the on-post waiting times, the barracks rules and the lease-termination law.

Lodging on arrival

On-post lodging is IHG Army Hotels. On Lewis Main, the Rainier Inn, Building 2107, and Bronson Hall, Building 1020, book through 253-964-0211; the Rainier Inn is pet-friendly with breakfast included. On McChord, the Candlewood Suites on Lincoln Boulevard, 253-300-9200, has full kitchens and laundry. Check-in is 4:00 p.m., check-out 11:00 a.m. Because lodging is privatized, you do not need a statement of non-availability to stay off post on Temporary Lodging Expense, which covers up to 21 days stateside. Off-post hotels along I-5 in Lakewood and DuPont quote military rates.

Medical

Madigan Army Medical Center, 9040 Jackson Avenue, is the hospital, reached through Madigan Gate at Exit 122. Appointments are 800-404-4506, weekdays 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and weekends 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or through the MHS GENESIS patient portal. Update DEERS first, then transfer your TRICARE Prime enrollment to Madigan; the enrollment desk details are on Madigan’s own site, which blocks automated checks, so confirm them there. The McChord Family Medicine Clinic at 690 Barnes Boulevard, 253-982-2222, serves the Air Force side on weekdays.

Schools

On-post elementary schools belong to the Clover Park School District, which runs six of them on the base and counts a third of its students as military-connected. Middle and high school students living on post attend their neighborhood schools off post in Lakewood. Families in DuPont and Steilacoom are in the Steilacoom Historical School District, which has no on-post schools. Lacey is North Thurston, Yelm and Spanaway are their own districts, and Puyallup and Olympia likewise. The School Liaison Office, 253-967-7195, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is the one call that sorts enrollment, records transfer and the Purple Star protections for a mid-year move.

Getting here and getting around

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is 30 to 35 miles north depending on the gate: 40 minutes with clear roads, up to 90 in traffic. There is no base-run shuttle for arriving families. Commercial airport vans serve JBLM by reservation, and rideshare works, though a driver without a DoD ID stops at the visitor center for a pass. Seattle is about 45 miles north, Tacoma 10 minutes, Olympia 20 minutes.

The base sits on both sides of Interstate 5 with almost no parallel roads, so a crash at the gates has no detour. Washington’s transportation department measures the corridor, and its 2023 figures for the 28 miles between Olympia and Tacoma are the ones to plan around:

Direction	Average	Plan for
Olympia to Tacoma, morning peak	34 minutes	49 minutes
Tacoma to Olympia, evening peak	51 minutes	75 minutes

• On base: GO Transit is a free on-demand shuttle between stops on the base, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and weekends from 8:00 a.m., booked through the TransLoc app or 253-477-3717. It does not leave the base.
• Bus: Pierce Transit Route 206 runs from Lakewood Transit Center to Madigan; a DoD ID is required to ride onto the base.
• Rail: Lakewood Station, 11424 Pacific Highway SW, is the south end of the Sounder commuter train, 21 minutes to Tacoma and 76 to Seattle, with a 620-stall garage. Sound Transit’s 594 express also links Lakewood to Seattle. The 574 stopped serving the airport on August 30, 2026; it now ends at Federal Way, where light rail continues to Sea-Tac.

Frequently asked questions

Acronyms on this page

The short version of each term used above. Where the military moving acronyms dictionary carries a fuller entry the term links to it; the dictionary defines 74 terms from PCS to VA home loan.

Term	What it means
PCS	Permanent Change of Station, the official move to your next duty station.
BAH	Basic Allowance for Housing, set by ZIP code, grade and dependents.
CIF	Central Issue Facility, where organizational clothing and equipment is issued and returned.
OCIE	Organizational Clothing and Individual Equipment, the gear on your clothing record.
PX / BX	Post Exchange and Base Exchange, the department store on an Army or Air Force installation.
MPD / MPF	Military Personnel Division (Army) and Military Personnel Flight (Air Force), the personnel offices.
DEERS	Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, the database behind ID cards and TRICARE.
TLE	Temporary Lodging Expense, reimbursement for lodging and meals around a stateside move, up to 21 days.
TRICARE	The military health plan.
SCRA	Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the law behind lease termination on orders.
Sponsor	The service member from your gaining unit assigned to help you arrive.
IRC	Installation Reception Center, where Soldiers report on arrival at JBLM.
CSS	Commander’s Support Staff, the Air Force unit-level administrative section.
VCC	Visitor Control Center, the office outside a gate that issues passes.
HSO	Housing Services Office, the garrison office for off-post housing.
DoD	Department of Defense. Its ID card is what the gates check.

Sources and data notes

• Base facts: About JBLM, garrison site; Military OneSource, JBLM overview.
• Gates, hours and pass rules: the Provost Marshal visitor and gate information page; Clover Park School District, JBLM access for the Installation Access Card; Pierce Transit, January 7, 2026 for the Madigan Gate closure.
• Reporting and in-processing: the garrison newcomers and in-processing pages; Army.mil, August 21, 2025; Waller Hall; ID cards and DEERS.
• CIF and out-processing: the Logistics Readiness Center page and the out-processing page.
• Exchange and commissaries: JBLM housing site, Exchange and commissary listings; Mortenson, JBLM Exchange project; Army.mil, Exchange grand reopening. Store hours should be confirmed on the Exchange and commissary sites, which block automated checks.
• Housing and lodging: the garrison housing, Housing Services Office, unaccompanied housing and lodging pages; JBLM housing site, lodging for the non-availability rule; VeteranPCS 2026 guide for the off-post areas.
• Medical: TRICARE, Madigan Army Medical Center.
• Schools: Clover Park School District, military families; Steilacoom Historical School District; JBLM MWR school support services.
• Getting around: WSDOT multimodal mobility dashboard, I-5 South Puget Sound (2023 data); the garrison GO Transit page; Pierce Transit Route 206; Sound Transit Route 574; Poppin’ Smoke, flying Space-A from JBLM.
• Hours and phone numbers on this page were read from the sources above on September 4, 2026. Where two sources disagreed, the garrison site won and the disagreement is noted. Where a fact could not be sourced, it was left out.