America’s 11 Newest Military Bases Built Since 1950
On Monday, April 7, 2025, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a proposed record amount of military spending for next year. The $1 trillion defense budget proposal is a significant increase over 2024, when Congress designated $892 billion in funding for national defense. Trump said to reporters on Monday, “Nobody’s seen anything like […] The post America’s 11 Newest Military Bases Built Since 1950 appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
On Monday, April 7, 2025, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a proposed record amount of military spending for next year. The $1 trillion defense budget proposal is a significant increase over 2024, when Congress designated $892 billion in funding for national defense. Trump said to reporters on Monday, “Nobody’s seen anything like it.” He continued, “We have to build our military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something that we have to build. And we have to be strong because you’ve got a lot of bad forces out there now.”
Most U.S. military bases in the country were built during the military growth era of World War II. In 1942, the number of American military bases being built around the country was at an all-time high. By the end of the year, the U.S. had the capacity to house 4.37 million soldiers. After WWII ended, with the building surplus, there was no reason to continue building new facilities for housing. Since 1950, only 11 new U.S. military bases have been constructed in America, with the latest (Naval Station Everett) already over 30 years old.
24/7 Wall St. created a list of America’s 11 newest military bases constructed since 1950. To get our data, we reviewed and independently verified the history of active military installations listed on MilitaryBases.com. We obtained the number of active-duty personnel assigned to each base from information from the 2022 Demographics Report, compiled by Defense Department contractor Military OneSource, as well as additional base-specific information from Military OneSource. Finally, we reviewed specific unit information from each base on the list below via the base website. Installations with less than 1,000 active duty personnel, where that data is classified, or those outside the 50 states were not considered. Newly joined bases were also not included.
(This article was updated on April 9, 2025, to reflect recent economic and military news regarding remarks President Trump made on increasing the defense budget for 2025.)
Why This Matters Now
With increased budget amounts proposed for 2025, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a close look at where defense spending goes. Military installations affect the economy on national and statewide levels. Nationally, defense spending creates job opportunities across a range of industries. Locally, military outposts often employ civilians, increase residents, and encourage spending on locally made goods. We’re covering the newest military bases to help you understand how a new military installation could affect your wealth.
See the newest American military bases in the United States:
11. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms
- Year Opened: 1952
- Location: Twentynine Palms, California
- Total active-duty personnel: 12,500
- Military branch: Marines
This base was built at the site of a former airbase used to train glider crews and Army pilots during World War II and was later used as a bombing range for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Marine Corps took over the site in 1952 as a training center. Today, the combined arms training facility trains Marines in communications and electronics.
10. Little Rock Air Force Base
- Year Opened: 1955
- Location: Jacksonville, Arkansas
- Total active-duty personnel: Between 5,000 and 7,200
- Military branch: Air Force
Little Rock AFB is home to not only the largest fleet of C-130s but also numerous wings and groups of the U.S. Air Force, including the 19th Airlift Wing, which can deploy massive transport aircraft throughout the world. The base trains aircrews, including members of the Coast Guard and service members from dozens of foreign nations.
9. Grand Forks Air Force Base
- Year Opened: 1957
- Location: Grand Forks, North Dakota
- Total active-duty personnel: 2,500
- Military branch: Air Force
The Grand Forks AFB is home to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, which provides operational and infrastructural support for the Global Hawk high-altitude remotely piloted surveillance aircraft. The Global Hawk is still used over Afghanistan in intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance operations following the U.S. pullout of ground forces in August 2021.
8. Minot Air Force Base
- Year Opened: 1957
- Location: Ward County, North Dakota
- Total active-duty personnel: 5,391
- Military branch: Air Force
The Minot AFB is the headquarters of the 5th Bomb Wing Mission and its fleet of B-52H Stratofortress bombers, which can be deployed anywhere in the world to deliver precision nuclear-guided bombs and other types of artillery and munitions. Base units also maintain and operate the Minuteman III ICBMs located in underground launch facilities scattered across the northwest part of the state and other advanced cruise missiles.
7. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay
- Year Opened: 1979 (Completed in 1958, sat dormant until it transitioned to the Navy)
- Location: Camden County, Georgia
- Total active-duty personnel: 2,918
- Military branch: Navy
The NSB Kings Bay is the home port for the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet’s ballistic missile nuclear subs armed with Trident nuclear missiles. The base is the home port for six Ohio-class Trident submarines, and the USS Florida and USS Georgia guided missile subs.
6. Naval Air Station Meridian
- Year Opened: 1961
- Location: Meridian, Mississippi
- Total active-duty personnel: 3,000
- Military branch: Navy
Initially opened as an airfield in 1961, the NASM grew to become an official Naval Air Station in 1967. It is one of the U.S. Navy’s air strike fighter pilot training centers and operates a military airport for this purpose. The base also has a counterdrug training center and a support center for naval operations.
5. Naval Air Station Lemoore
- Year Opened: 1961
- Location: Kings County, Fresno County, California
- Total active-duty personnel: 6,123
- Military branch: Navy
NAS Lemoore was initially established to support the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet and supports the Strike Fighter Wing Pacific that maintains combat-ready carrier- or shore-based warplanes in the Pacific Rim. Lemoore was identified as an ideal central California location because it has ideal year-round weather for aircraft deployment and less air traffic.
4. Los Angeles Air Force Base
- Year Opened: 1964
- Location: El Segundo, California
- Total active-duty personnel: 1,435
- Military branch: Space Force
The Los Angeles AFB was first designated as an Air Force air station on the site of a former Air Research Development Command center dating back to 1954. It was re-designated as an Air Force base in 1987. The base includes Fort MacArthur, 20 miles south of the main base. The base supports U.S. Space Force operations.
3. Naval Support Activity Saratoga Springs
- Year Opened: 1974
- Location: Saratoga Springs, New York
- Total active-duty personnel: 3,000
- Military branch: Navy
NSA Saratoga Springs supports naval command activities in New York’s Capital Region in upstate New York. The base supports the nearby Naval Propulsion Training Unit in Ballston Spa, New York, one of two facilities used to train officers in the design, operation, and maintenance of nuclear propulsion systems used by submarines and aircraft carriers.
2. Schriever Space Force Base
- Year Opened: 1985
- Location: El Paso County, Colorado
- Total active-duty personnel: 1,853
- Military branch: Space Force
Though the U.S. Space Force was established in 2019 as the eighth and most recent U.S. military branch, the Schriever Space Force Base was always intended to be part of military space programs dating back to the 1970s when the Department of Defense sought to consolidate operations involving military satellites. The name of the base was changed in 2021 to reflect its realigned affiliation from the Air Force to the new Space Force.
1. Naval Station Everett
- Year Opened: 1994
- Location: Everett, Washington
- Total active-duty personnel: 2,576
- Military branch: Navy
NS Everett was selected as an ideal location on the West Coast for homeporting a naval battle group. The base is the home port of seven guided missile destroyers, including the USS John McCain, and two Coast Guard ships patrolling the Northwest coast and tending to navigational buoys.
The post America’s 11 Newest Military Bases Built Since 1950 appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
