This Is the State With the Most Veterans

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published May 21, 8:09AM EDT

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This Is the State With the Most Veterans — © usairforce / Flickr

The Department of Veterans Affairs says there are 19 million veterans in the United States. These include a few who served in World War II, which ended in 1945, and a large number who leave the military each year today. Those who have served get a modest set of benefits when they retire, including access to VA hospitals, pension and disability compensation, home loans and education programs.

The human toll of American military conflicts extends far beyond those killed or missing in action. About 30% of veterans nationwide have a disability, and about 41% of Americans who have served since Sept. 11, 2001, have a disability connected with their service. These typically include missing limbs, burns, spinal cord injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss and traumatic brain injuries.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. identified the state with the most veterans. Nationwide, veterans account for 6.9% of the adult population. Depending on the state, veterans make up anywhere from less than 5% of that population to over 10%.

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While there are some exceptions, many states that are home to a high concentration of veterans are also home to major military bases and many active-duty troops.

To determine the state with the most veterans, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on veteran status from the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey (ACS). States were ranked based on the number of veterans as a percentage of the 18 and older population. Supplemental data on veteran median income, disability status and labor force participation rates, as well as the percentage of veterans that fought in each major U.S, war, also came from the ACS.

The state with the most veterans is Alaska. Here are the details:

Veteran population: 10.7% of adults (57,225 total)
Post Sept. 11, 2001-era veterans: 35.0% of vets (the highest, 20,032 total)
Gulf War-era veterans, 1990-2001: 33.8% of vets (second highest, 19,323 total)
Vietnam War-era veterans: 30.2% of vets (third lowest, 17,267 total)
Korean War veterans: 2.7% of vets (the lowest, 1,545 total)
World War II veterans: 1.0% of vets (second lowest, 568 total)
Veteran population with a disability: 24.1% (third lowest)

Click here to read States With The Most Veterans

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.