12 Worst States for Military Retirees: 2021

Slideshow May 26, 2021 at 02:51 PM
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Related: 12 Best States for Military Retirees: 2021

This year's U.S. military retirees, among whom will be the last American forces withdrawn from Afghanistan, must consider a number of socioeconomic factors when deciding where to settle down, including how state tax policies on military benefits vary and how friendly different job markets are. The going will be rougher for new retirees as high unemployment caused by the pandemic may stand as an obstacle to finding civilian jobs. WalletHub recently looked for the best and worst states for military retirement. Researchers compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across the key dimensions of economic environment, quality of life and health care, evaluating them using 30 relevant metrics, such as veterans per capita, number of VA health centers and job opportunities for veterans. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for military retirees. They then determined each state and the district's weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank the sample. See the gallery for the 12 worst choices for military retirees.   — Related on ThinkAdvisor: