750 US Military Bases in 80 Countries
The largest military footprint in the history of the world. $55 billion per year to maintain.
The United States maintains approximately 750 military bases in at least 80 countries and territories outside the US. For comparison, Britain, France, and Russia combined have roughly 35 overseas bases. China has one. No empire in human history — not Rome, not Britain, not the Mongols — has maintained a military presence in as many places as the United States does right now.
~750
Overseas Bases
DoD Base Structure Report
80+
Countries
Every continent except Antarctica
$55B+
Annual Cost
RAND Corporation estimate
250K+
Troops Deployed
Stationed outside the US
Where the Bases Are: Top 10 Host Countries
🇯🇵 Japan
Largest overseas presence; Okinawa has 31 bases on an island the size of LA
🇩🇪 Germany
Legacy of WWII occupation and Cold War; Ramstein is hub for Europe/Middle East
🇰🇷 South Korea
70+ years after Korean War armistice; largest base: Camp Humphreys
🇮🇹 Italy
Naval Station Naples; Aviano Air Base; key Mediterranean hub
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall; "special relationship" basing
🇧🇭 Bahrain
Naval Support Activity Bahrain — HQ of US 5th Fleet
🇶🇦 Qatar
Al Udeid Air Base — largest US base in Middle East; CENTCOM forward HQ
🇦🇺 Australia
Pine Gap intelligence facility; growing presence for China containment
🇹🇷 Turkey
Incirlik Air Base — houses US nuclear weapons
🇩🇯 Djibouti
Camp Lemonnier — only permanent US base in Africa; $70M/year in rent
Sources: DoD Base Structure Report FY2024; David Vine, Base Nation; Congressional Research Service
No Other Country Comes Close
| Country | Overseas Bases | Countries |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | ~750 | 80 |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | ~16 | 7 |
| 🇫🇷 France | ~10 | 6 |
| 🇷🇺 Russia | ~9 | 6 |
| 🇨🇳 China | ~1 | 1 |
| 🇹🇷 Turkey | ~6 | 3 |
| 🇮🇳 India | ~0 | 0 |
The US has roughly 20 times more overseas bases than every other country on Earth combined. This is historically unprecedented. Even the British Empire at its peak in the early 1900s — which ruled a quarter of the world's landmass — did not have this many permanent foreign military installations.
How We Got Here: A Brief History
Pre-WWII (before 1941)
Philippines, Panama Canal Zone, a few Pacific islands
World War II Peak (1945)
Bases in 100+ countries; occupying Germany, Japan, Italy, Pacific islands
Early Cold War (1955)
Massive buildup against Soviet Union; NATO infrastructure, Korean bases
Vietnam Era (1968)
Southeast Asia buildup; maintained Cold War global network
End of Cold War (1991)
Expected "peace dividend" drawdown that largely never came
Post-9/11 Peak (2005)
Massive expansion into Middle East, Central Asia, Africa
Current (2024)
Still more bases than any empire in history; shifting toward Pacific
The Cost of Empire
Maintaining 750 bases in 80 countries doesn't come cheap. The RAND Corporation estimates the annual cost at $55 billion or more — though the true figure is hard to pin down because military accounting spreads base costs across multiple budget lines.
Pay, housing, family support for 250K+ troops and dependents
Utilities, repairs, contractors, local staff
New facilities, base expansions, housing construction
Payments to host countries (some, like Japan, pay the US)
Cleanup of contamination, PFAS, unexploded ordnance
Moving personnel, equipment, supplies globally
Spotlight: Okinawa — An Island Occupied
The Japanese island of Okinawa is the most vivid example of what American military basing looks like for the people who live alongside it. The island — roughly the size of Los Angeles — hosts 31 US military installations that occupy 15% of the island's land area.
For 80 years, Okinawans have lived with jet noise, military accidents, environmental contamination, and crimes committed by US personnel. In repeated referendums and protests — including a 2019 referendum where 72% voted against a new base — Okinawans have asked the US to leave or reduce its presence. The bases remain.
Okinawa represents just 0.6% of Japan's land area but hosts 70% of US military facilities in Japan. The Okinawan governor has called it “an unfair burden that no other community in the democratic world is asked to bear.”
Why Does the US Have So Many Bases?
WWII & Cold War Legacy
Most bases trace their origins to WWII occupation (Germany, Japan, Italy) or Cold War containment of the Soviet Union. After these threats diminished, the bases stayed.
Force Projection Doctrine
US military doctrine requires the ability to project power anywhere on Earth within hours. Forward-deployed bases make this possible — a carrier in Bahrain can reach the Persian Gulf in minutes, not weeks.
Bureaucratic Inertia
Closing bases faces fierce resistance from the Pentagon, defense contractors who service them, host nation governments who depend on the economic activity, and members of Congress. No one benefits from closing a base, so they stay open.
Alliance Obligations
NATO, US-Japan Security Treaty, US-ROK Alliance, and dozens of bilateral agreements require or encourage US basing. Allies often prefer US bases as a security guarantee (even when their populations don't).
Empire by Another Name
The United States doesn't call it an empire. But 750 military installations in 80 countries, maintained by a quarter million troops at a cost of $55 billion per year, is the definition of imperial infrastructure. No other nation in history has maintained this kind of global military presence.
The question is not whether this constitutes an empire — it clearly does. The question is whether this empire makes Americans safer, whether it's sustainable, and whether the $55 billion spent annually on overseas bases could be better spent at home.
Sources & Citations
- Department of Defense, Base Structure Report — Fiscal Year 2024 Baseline
- David Vine, Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World (Metropolitan Books, 2015)
- David Vine, The United States of War (University of California Press, 2020)
- RAND Corporation, “Overseas Basing of U.S. Military Forces,” 2023
- Congressional Research Service, “U.S. Military Presence in the Indo-Pacific Region,” updated 2024
- SIPRI, Foreign Military Bases and Installations, database
- Okinawa Prefectural Government, “US Military Bases in Okinawa,” official statistics
- Government Accountability Office, “Overseas Military Presence: DOD Should Improve Cost Estimates,” 2023
Last updated: March 2026
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