110 permanent installations. 43 countries. 85% of them in just two continents. The US military footprint outside its borders is large and widely known in the abstract, but the actual geographic picture, which countries, which branches, in what concentrations, is harder to grasp without a map. This interactive Tableau map charts every permanent US installation across 43 countries, filterable by branch, continent, and country. Germany and Japan top the list, 80 years after being occupied at the end of WWII. That hasn’t changed.
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Analytical Insights
Analysis of 110 US military installations across 43 countries, mapped by branch, city, and continent.
Geographic Distribution
By Country: Germany leads with 13 bases, the largest concentration by country. Most are Army installations around Stuttgart, Grafenwöhr, Kaiserslautern, and Landstuhl, reflecting the Cold War's central European positioning that became permanent. Japan is second at 11, concentrated heavily in Okinawa and anchored by Kadena Air Base, Yokosuka Naval Base, and the Marine Corps presence at Futenma.
By City: Stuttgart has the densest cluster of US Army installations outside the continental US. Singapore has four bases, two Navy and two Air Force, making it the most significant US military hub in Southeast Asia.
By Continent: Europe holds 47 bases, Asia 46. Together they account for 85% of all installations in the dataset. North America (6), Africa (6), and Oceania (5) make up the remaining 15%.
Key Conclusion: The Cold War ended more than 30 years ago. The map largely reflects where the US was in 1945 and 1950. Germany and Japan together hold 24 of the 110 bases, roughly 22% of the entire overseas footprint in just two countries.
Military Branch Distribution
Air Force: 40 bases, the largest presence of any branch. Air Force installations span Europe and Asia, with particular concentration in Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the UK.
Army: 36 bases, concentrated in Germany (13 of 36) and South Korea. Army installations include some of the largest and most significant facilities in the dataset: Ramstein (Air Force technically, but Stuttgart-area Army HQ), Camp Humphreys in South Korea, and the Grafenwöhr training area.
Navy: 18 bases across both continents. Yokosuka in Japan serves as the forward headquarters of the US 7th Fleet. Naval Station Rota in Spain is the primary Atlantic/Mediterranean staging point.
Marine Corps: 4 bases, all in Asia, three in Japan (Okinawa and Iwakuni) and one in South Korea (Pohang). No Marine Corps presence anywhere outside the Pacific theater.
Joint: 7 installations, including all four US facilities in Australia: Alice Springs, Exmouth, Darwin, and Kojarena. The "Joint" designation reflects formal US-Australian partnership arrangements rather than unilateral US basing.
Space Force: 2 bases, Pituffik Space Base in Greenland (North America) and a facility on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic (Africa). Both serve missile warning and space surveillance functions.
Key Conclusion: The Air Force and Army together account for 76 of 110 installations, 69% of the total overseas footprint. The Marine Corps operates exclusively in Asia. Space Force, the newest branch, has the smallest physical footprint but is strategically placed: one base in the high Arctic and one mid-Atlantic, covering two surveillance arcs that overlap nowhere.