10 Of The Biggest US Military Bases In The World, Ranked By Population
Story by Joe Hindy • 3h
The U.S. had around 2.86 million people in the military as of September 2023. Those folks are spread out among the many duty stations that the U.S. runs. As of 2021, the U.S. had over 500 military installations in the country itself (many of which are in North Carolina) and around 750 in 80 countries total when you count international bases. The bases range in size tremendously, both in terms of land mass and population. Generally speaking, when people refer to large bases, they usually refer to population size.
There is some humor to the size comparisons of military bases. For example, the U.S. military formally recognizes Norma Brown Air Force Trainer as the smallest military base. For reference, it's a tabletop model of an Air Force base used for training fire protection specialists. The smallest actual base is Navy Point, which is a scant four acres in Sackets Harbor, New York. While fun, that's not why you're here. You're here to see the largest military bases that the U.S. controls.
For this list, we used the Military OneSource website. It's an official Defense Department website that updates its information about once a year. That's important because population figures at military bases can vary by tens of thousands or even more when referencing online lists. We found Military OneSource to be not only consistent but also likely to have up-to-date information as a military-owned website.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/10-of-the-biggest-us-military-bases-in-the-world-ranked-by-population/ar-AA1DMduq?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=3e1f8a4ffea74095b14889c278568dec&ei=25
