Active Duty Military Personnel in the U.S.

January 3, 2022 Alex

According to the Department of Defense data, there were 1.195 million active-duty militaries and over 778 thousand reserve forces in 2021.

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the military

Rank	Rank	Total active-duty members
1	California	162,362
2	Virginia	130,857
3	Texas	118,691
4	North Carolina	100,673
5	Georgia	69,834
6	Florida	69,290
7	Washington	63,427
8	Hawaii	41,815
9	South Carolina	38,476
10	Colorado	38,086

The Army is the largest, most senior, and oldest branch of the American military; and can be traced back to the Continental U.S. Army, which was founded to fight in the Revolutionary War. The American Army includes the Regular Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve and makes up the land warfare branch of the U.S. military.

Total active-duty members for the five armed services were 426,624 for the Army, 306,272 for the Navy, 147,846 for the Marine Corps, 275,298 for the Air Force Force, and 39,029 for the Coast Guard.

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the Army forces

Rank	State	Total active-duty members
1	Texas	73,152
2	Georgia	52,576
3	North Carolina	46,994
4	Kentucky	34,675
5	Washington	28,454
6	Colorado	27,661
7	Virginia	21,118
8	Kansas	18,327
9	New York	17,635
10	Hawaii	15,493

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the Navy

Rank	State	Total active-duty members
1	Virginia	81,098
2	California	77,353
3	Florida	30,551
4	Washington	25,765
5	Illinois	15,760
6	Hawaii	12,571
7	Maryland	9,723
8	South Carolina	8,582
9	Georgia	6,340
10	Connecticut	6,174

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the Marine corps

Rank	State	Total active-duty members
1	California	54,048
2	North Carolina	41,334
3	Virginia	11,492
4	South Carolina	10,259
5	Hawaii	6,940
6	Florida	3,768
7	Arizona	3,246
8	Texas	2,282
9	District of Columbia	2,251
10	Maryland	2,163

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the Air Force

Rank	State	Total active-duty members
1	Florida	4,991
2	California	4,742
3	Virginia	4,347
4	District of Columbia	2,001
5	New Jersey	1,866
6	Alaska	1,781
7	Texas	1,777
8	Washington	1,670
9	North Carolina	1,555
10	Hawaii	1,277

The top 10 U.S. states with the total active-duty members of the Coast Guard

Rank	State	Total active-duty members
1	Florida	4991
2	California	4742
3	Virginia	4347
4	District of Columbia	2001
5	New Jersey	1866
6	Alaska	1781
7	Texas	1777
8	Washington	1670
9	North Carolina	1555
10	Hawaii	1277

Active Duty Military Personnel Per capita

The number of military personnel on active duty differs broadly, from state to state, from as few as eight active duty personnel per 100,000 residents in Iowa to 2,873 per 100,000 residents in Hawaii.

The map below shows the number of active duty military personnel per 100,000 residents.

The map of the number of active duty military personnel per 100,000 residents by U.S. state

Duty State	Total	Per 100,000 Residents
HAWAII	41815	2873.3479881067
ALASKA	20715	2824.5506148835
VIRGINIA	130857	1516.0588794879
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	10939	1105.0075357494
NORTH CAROLINA	100673	964.35729757338
NORTH DAKOTA	7513	964.3252290481
WASHINGTON	63427	823.16271139236
KENTUCKY	35215	781.54198244233
SOUTH CAROLINA	38476	751.71561564348
KANSAS	21734	739.78515119746
COLORADO	38086	659.64472781298
GEORGIA	69834	651.92867601178
NEW MEXICO	12702	599.85209126517
WYOMING	3176	550.57545189312
OKLAHOMA	21435	541.37633093084
DELAWARE	3661	530.92981603811
MARYLAND	30112	487.46815721755
CALIFORNIA	162362	410.64566811715
TEXAS	118691	407.23603862757
NEVADA	12375	398.60027687822
MISSISSIPPI	11684	394.55924281366
SOUTH DAKOTA	3488	393.38331075815
LOUISIANA	15547	333.787271427
RHODE ISLAND	3581	326.32299324117
NEBRASKA	6353	323.88412157202
FLORIDA	69290	321.70767205243
MONTANA	3355	309.43761673084
ARIZONA	19017	265.91616698143
MISSOURI	15778	256.34805885965
IDAHO	3612	196.39977249816
CONNECTICUT	7060	195.78784362708
ALABAMA	8712	173.39801392399
ILLINOIS	21646	169.08310107125
UTAH	4641	144.76172176928
ARKANSAS	3833	127.27775040146
NEW YORK	20512	101.53827617292
NEW HAMPSHIRE	1333	96.767472771898
NEW JERSEY	8327	89.643722452614
OHIO	6991	59.248534338217
MAINE	782	57.400435568011
MASSACHUSETTS	3417	48.606548270769
OREGON	1926	45.453944722717
TENNESSEE	2493	36.073762379103
VERMONT	157	24.413872677766
MICHIGAN	2052	20.362534484577
PENNSYLVANIA	2508	19.288301660424
WISCONSIN	1034	17.54410373893
INDIANA	1059	15.606744235673
MINNESOTA	642	11.250340401655
WEST VIRGINIA	186	10.36953453055
IOWA	265	8.0999726129228

In many U.S. states with high concentrations of active-duty service members, yearlong spending by the Department of Defense comes to thousands of U.S. dollars per resident. These expenses sustain the high numbers of armed forces, military bases, and other operations that can often assist shape state economies.