2018's Best & Worst Places for Veterans to Live

With Veterans Day around the corner and 71 percent of VA medical centers recently demonstrating increases in quality in the past year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2018’s Best & Worst Places for Veterans to Live as well as accompanying videos. The report compares the 100 largest U.S. cities across 18 key metrics, ranging from share of military skill-related jobs to housing affordability to availability of VA health facilities.

Best Cities for Veterans
1. Austin, TX
2. Scottsdale, AZ
3. Colorado Springs, CO
4. Raleigh, NC
5. Gilbert, AZ
6. Plano, TX
7. Virginia Beach, VA
8. Irvine, CA
9. Tampa, FL
10. Orlando, FL

Worst Cities for Veterans
91. Philadelphia, PA
92. Cleveland, OH
93. Baton Rouge, LA
94. San Bernardino, CA
95. Toledo, OH
96. Baltimore, MD
97. Fresno, CA
98. Memphis, TN
99. Newark, NJ
100. Detroit, MI

Best vs. Worst

• Virginia Beach, Virginia, has the highest veteran population, 130.43, which is 15.3 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at 8.51.
• Chesapeake, Virginia, has the highest veteran income adjusted for cost of living, $56,568, which is 2.8 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at $20,462.
• Stockton, California, has one of the lowest shares of veterans living below the poverty line, 1.91 percent, which is 11 times lower than in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the city with the highest at 21.05 percent.
• Virginia Beach, Virginia, has the lowest ratio of homeless veterans to the veteran population, 0.65, which is 49.1 times lower than in San Francisco, the city with highest at 31.89.
• Plano, Texas, has the lowest veteran unemployment rate, 2.40 percent, which is 6.5 times lower than in Detroit, the city with highest at 15.60 percent.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please click here.