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Report ranks US states that 'care' the most about veterans

By Stephanie Weaver
Published  August 20, 2024 12:44pm CDT
Veterans Issues
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DOD releases rap song to honor veterans

The song, titled "Salute," is performed by Staff Sergeant Lamar Riddick. (Credit: U.S. Department of Defense)

The Brief:

    • The organization found that the state of Virginia cared most about veterans in 2024 with a score of 67.42.
    • The study, conducted by SmileHub, compared all 50 states across three key dimensions: veteran community support, veteran health and wellness, and veteran employment and finances.
    • According to Pew Research Center, there are more than 18 million living veterans in the United States, representing about 6% of the country’s adult population.

With about 18 million veterans living in the U.S. in 2024, SmileHub has released a new report ranking the states that "care most about veterans" in 2024.

To highlight this, the non-profit organization compared each of the 50 states across three key dimensions: veteran community support, veteran health and wellness, and veteran employment and finances. 

SmileHub evaluated the dimensions using 21 metrics including the share of veteran-owned businesses to total VA spending per veteran to the share of homeless veterans.

The organization found that the state of Virginia cared most about veterans in 2024 with a score of 67.42. The state ranked highest in the categories of community support and employment and finances.

FILE - Soldiers from Ft. Lee, Virginia help mark Veterans Day ceremonies at the World War II Memorial Nov.11, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Credit: Getty Images) (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Florida took the runner-up spot with a score of 63.08. The state ranked second in the health & wellness category, right behind California. 

 According to the results, Texas came in third, South Carolina in fourth and Pennsylvania in fifth.

Most veteran friendly states

  1. Virginia
  2. Florida
  3. Texas
  4. South Carolina
  5. Pennsylvania 
  6. Illinois
  7. Maryland
  8. North Carolina
  9. Alabama
  10. Oklahoma
  11. Arkansas
  12. Hawaii
  13. California
  14. Kansas
  15. New Hampshire

See the full list here.

States with the most veterans

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the three most populated states in the nation – California, Texas and Florida, have the highest populations of veterans. The least populous states in America – Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota and Alaska, rank near the bottom for the number of veterans living there.

RELATED: These states have the most veterans

Veterans account for over 6% of the population, but there are at least four states – Alaska, Montana, Virginia and Wyoming – with a veteran population above 10%, according to Census data compiled by 24/7 Wall Street. All of those states except Montana house the largest military bases in the U.S. 

The Source:

  • Data used to create the rankings by SmileHub were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. News & World Report, Internal Revenue Service, Veteran Voices Military Research, Office of Policy Development and Research, National Drug Court Resource Center, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Conference of State Legislatures, VA Claims Insider, Military Officers Association of America and Council for Community and Economic Research. This story was reported from Los Angeles.