# Most military land by state **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273 "2008-07-04T06:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/1 "2008-07-04T06:25:42Z")
I’ve spent 20 minutes googling for military land use by state and I can’t find anything useful. I am having a hard time figuring out if Nevada or California have the most land used by various military bases (or if even perhaps I’ve overlooked some other state). Nellis and the Nevada Test Range are huge, but so is 29 Palms, Fort Irwin and China Lake. Can anyone point me in the direction a good list? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/2 "2008-07-04T07:45:58Z")
Not really an answer so much, but I had [this map](http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?pid=15925) from National Geographic on my wall for a while, outlining how much federal land there is in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/3 "2008-07-04T11:09:41Z")
I’m having trouble finding a list, but I think Alaska has got to be way up there. Red Flag Alaska has a training area of 67,000 square miles. To compare, the Nellis Training Range is like 12,000 or so, and the entire state of Nevada is 110,000 square miles. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/4 "2008-07-04T13:13:50Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I’m having trouble finding a list, but I think Alaska has got to be way up there. Red Flag Alaska has a training area of 67,000 square miles. To compare, the Nellis Training Range is like 12,000 or so, and the entire state of Nevada is 110,000 square miles. [/QUOTE] But that’s not actual federal range in its entirety; that total includes restricted airspace over non-base lands, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/5 "2008-07-04T15:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I’m having trouble finding a list, but I think Alaska has got to be way up there. [/QUOTE] [Map of land ownership in Alaska.](http://www.conservationgiscenter.org/maps/html/landown.html) Looks like military reservations make up a relatively small percentage of total ownership, though in Alaskan terms, that could easily be more than many states. No raw figures. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/6 "2008-07-04T15:51:49Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Not really an answer so much, but I had [this map](http://www.maps.com/map.aspx?pid=15925) from National Geographic on my wall for a while, outlining how much federal land there is in the US. [/QUOTE] Here’s [another one which shows federal holdings as a proportion of the state’s area](http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/291-federal-lands-in-the-us/). ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/7 "2008-07-04T18:46:58Z")
A nice map, but useless for determining the answer to the question posed in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-military-land-by-state/455273/8 "2008-07-04T19:56:18Z")
So apparently this is not easily accessible information. Spent another 30 minutes on Google and really couldn’t find anything. I’m about to resort to manually adding up the acreage and comparing. I guess it would make for a good website.