Military in San Diego
Military's Impact in San Diego
>115,165
activity-duty service members are stationed in San Diego
1 out of 6
active-duty Sailors are stationed in San Diego
1 out of 4
active-duty Marines are stationed in San Diego
230,507
veterans call San Diego home
$52.6 B
is the economic impact of military
356,000
defense related jobs locally
Naval Base San Diego
The largest surface ship homeport on the West Coast and the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet surface force. Naval Base San Diego supports more than 50 ships across 13 piers, along with a naval hospital, fleet training facilities, and numerous tenant commands. It is the operational and logistical backbone of West Coast surface warfare.Official site
Naval Base Coronado
An installation complex anchored by Naval Air Station North Island and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. NAS North Island is the birthplace of naval aviation and a flagship West Coast carrier air station. The complex is also home to Naval Special Warfare Command, the parent command of the Navy SEAL teams and their combatant craft crews.Official site
Naval Base Point Loma
The center of the Navy’s submarine presence in San Diego, supporting attack submarines and submarine tenders. Point Loma is headquarters to Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), which leads the Navy’s C4ISR, cyber, and space systems work, and hosts fleet antisubmarine warfare training and research activities.Official site
Marine Corp Air Station Miramar
Home of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the West Coast hub of Marine Corps fixed wing tactical aviation. MCAS Miramar supports strike fighter, refueler, and transport squadrons, and is among the largest airfields in San Diego County. It is a centerpiece of Marine aviation readiness in the Pacific.Official site
Marine Corps Base Pendleton
The largest amphibious training installation in the western United States, spanning more than 125,000 acres of coastline between San Diego and Orange counties. Camp Pendleton is home to I Marine Expeditionary Force and the 1st Marine Division. Its air station, MCAS Camp Pendleton, operates rotary wing and tiltrotor aircraft that provide the aviation combat power paired with the ground forces training across the base.Official site
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
The Marine Corps’ western recruit training center since 1923. The Depot trains more than 21,000 recruits a year and also hosts the Drill Instructors School for the Western Recruiting Region and the Recruiters School for the entire Marine Corps. It sits beside Interstate 5 and the airport, on land that has anchored the Marine Corps presence in San Diego for more than a century.Official site
San Diego is not simply a military town. It is the operational nerve center of the United States Navy and the most concentrated hub of Marine Corps expeditionary power in the world. More than 115,000 active-duty service members are stationed here, roughly split between the Navy and the Marine Corps. Their presence shapes the region’s economy, its workforce, its research institutions, and its identity in ways that reach far beyond the base perimeter.
The San Diego Military Advisory Council exists to protect and strengthen this relationship. SDMAC advocates at the federal, state, and local levels to preserve military missions, to remove barriers to readiness, and to connect the region’s business and civic community with the military enterprise they share.
