Special Report
States With the Most Military Personnel: All 50 States Ranked
Published:
The United States has long favored a policy of military deterrence towards its geopolitical adversaries. Effective deterrence hinges on maintaining a large, well-trained fighting force — and in keeping with this strategy, the Department of Defense ranks as one of the single largest employers in the world. (Here is a look at the size of the American military every year since the Korean War.)
More than 1.1 million active-duty service members are stationed at military bases across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Including reserve troops, the National Guard, and civilian personnel, nearly 2.6 million Americans are directly employed by the Pentagon.
Using data from the DOD report Defense Spending By State Fiscal Year 2022, 24/7 Wall St. identified the states with the most military personnel. States are ranked by the number of Defense Department personnel in each state, including civilian workers, the National Guard, reservists, and active-duty service members.
The number of military personnel in each state ranges from just under 4,000 to nearly 273,000. While some of the most populous states in the country — including California, Texas, and Florida — rank highly on this list, the number of military personnel in a given state is often attributable to the presence of one or more major military bases. (This is the county in every state with the most military personnel.)
Virginia, for example, is home to the Norfolk Naval Station, the largest navy base in the world. Partially as a result, the state is home to nearly a quarter of a million Defense Department personnel, the second most of any state, despite not even ranking among the 10 most populous states overall.
While starting salaries for new, low-ranking military enlistees are not especially high — typically below $25,000 a year — in many states, the economic impact of military payroll is considerable. Military payroll totaled $159.4 billion in fiscal 2022, accounting for over 20% of the defense budget and nearly 29% of the DOD’s total domestic expenditures.
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