This is a list of military installations owned or used by the United States Armed Forces both in the United States and around the world. This list details only current or recently closed facilities; some defunct facilities are found at :Category:Closed military installations of the United States.
An "installation" is defined as "a military base, camp, post, station, yard, center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, including leased space, that is controlled by, or primarily supports DoD's activities. An installation may consist of one or more sites" (geographically-separated real estate parcels).
The United States operates a global network of military installations and is by far the largest operator of military bases in the world, with locations in dozens of nations on every continent, with 38 "named bases" having active-duty, US National Guard, reserve, or civilian personnel as of 30 September 2014. Its largest, in terms of personnel, is Ramstein Air Base, in Germany, with almost 9,200. Due to the sensitive and often classified nature of this information, there is no comprehensive list with the exact number or location of all bases, stations and installations. The total number of foreign sites with installations and facilities that are either in active use and service, or that may be activated and operated by American military personnel and allies, is just over 1,000.
U.S. officials have been accused of collaborating with oppressive regimes and anti-democratic governments to secure their military bases, from Central America to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Democracy Index classifies many of the forty-five current non-democratic U.S. base hosts as fully "authoritarian governments." Military bases in non-democratic states were often rationalized during the Cold War by the U.S. as a necessary if undesirable necessity in defending against the communist threat posed by the Soviet Union. Few of these bases have been abandoned since the end of the Cold War.
Several rounds of closures and mergers have occurred since the end of World War II, a procedure most recently known as Base Realignment and Closure. Anti-racist agitation in the early 2020s led to calls for changing bases to remove the names of Confederate figures who fought against the United States in the American Civil War. The Naming Commission was created by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, and renaming began in December 2022.
Joint bases
Domestic
The Pentagon
Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson – located 12 kilometers (8 miles) north of Anchorage, Alaska Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam – located 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst – located 29 kilometers (18 miles) south of Trenton, New Jersey Joint Base Charleston – located 8 kilometers (5 miles) east of North Charleston, South Carolina Joint Base San Antonio – located 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of San Antonio, Texas Joint Base Langley-Eustis – located 12 kilometers (8 miles) east of Newport News, Virginia Joint Region Marianas – combines Naval Base Guam, Andersen Air Force Base and Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall – located 1 kilometer (1 mile) northwest of Arlington, Virginia Joint Expeditionary Base–Little Creek – located 20 kilometers (13 miles) northwest of Virginia Beach Joint Base Lewis-McChord – located 17 kilometers (11 miles) southwest of Tacoma, Washington Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling – located 11 kilometers (7 miles) south of Washington, D.C. Joint Base Andrews – located 22 kilometers (14 miles) south of Washington, D.C.
Foreign
War Reserve Stocks are located in many foreign states.
Australia
Pine Gap – Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG), near Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt – located on the northwest coast of Australia, 6 kilometres (4 mi) north of the town of Exmouth, Western Australia. Robertson Barracks – located in Darwin, Northern Territory. Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station – located near Kojarena 30 km east of Geraldton, Western Australia. Other U.S. bases in Australia are present and this list does not include ADF bases with U.S. access. The U.S. military has access to all major ADF training areas, northern Australian RAAF airfields, port facilities in Darwin, Fremantle, Stirling naval base in Perth, and the airfield on the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean.