Abstract: Natural gas hydrate, a kind of efficient and clean new energy, is widely distributed and has large reserves, great economic value, and important strategic significance. It has attracted more and more attention in the world. Among them, the United States is the country with the most systematic investigation and research on natural gas hydrates, and is one of the first countries to establish a national hydrate research and development plan. Through inter-institutional collaboration among government agencies, research institutions, and private sectors, the United States has made a series of remarkable progress in the resource exploration, basic theoretical research, resource assessment, exploitation, and environmental assessment. In this paper, we systematically summarized the history, research and development plan, and progress of national gas hydrate research in the United States, analyzed the progress of gas hydrate exploration and development in the three most typical areas of the United States’ Gulf of Mexico, the Hydrate Ridge, and North Slope of Alaska in detail, and considered the reasons behind the success of the United States in this field. This paper is expected to provide useful references for the industrialization of natural gas hydrate in China.