12 Best Cities for Veterans to Live: 2024

Some 18 million military veterans live in the United States, and they often face challenges when reentering civilian life, according to a new report from WalletHub, a personal finance website. Despite promises of benefits upon retirement, some veterans cannot secure health care, jobs or shelter. On the bright side, Labor Department statistics show that veterans' unemployment rate is lower than that of the overall population "When veterans return home from serving our nation, it's important for them to live in a place that provides good education and employment opportunities, along with access to quality care for their physical and mental health," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a statement. Lupo said the best cities for veterans provide all those things, as well as bonuses such as large veteran populations for community support and many restaurants and entertainment venues that offer veteran discounts. In order to determine the best places for veterans to live, WalletHub compared the 100 most populated U.S. cities across these key dimensions:

• Employment, including job growth, share of military skill-related jobs and veteran unemployment rate
• Economy, including median veteran income, share of veterans living in poverty and veteran income growth
• Quality of life, including family and retiree friendliness, veteran population and projected veteran population growth
• Health, including VA health and benefits administration facilities per veteran population and quality of VA health facilities

Researchers evaluated those dimensions using 19 relevant metrics and graded each one on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for veterans. They then determined each city's weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score. See the accompanying gallery for the 12 best places for military veterans to live.